by Georgina Laragy

Yesterday an article by the project’s Sean Lucey noted that condemnation of unmarried mothers in twentieth century Ireland was not confined to members of the Catholic clergy, but was widespread within Irish society. The establishment of a Babies Home in Fitzroy House, University Avenue (now Duke’s Hotel) in Belfast in 1912 reveals further examples of middle-class condemnation of illegitimacy.

Newspaper clippings relating to the Ulster Children’s Aid Society (U.C.A.S. – established in 1910 to assist poor, delinquent and neglected children in Belfast) can be found in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland. The society, modeled on a similar society established in London and New York in the mid-nineteenth century, became active in various schemes to improve the lives of poor children: dental clinics, newsboys clubs, school inspections and the babies home on Fitzroy Avenue were all instituted in the first two years of the society. It was also instrumental in channeling Belfast children into industrial schools, believing that it was a much better alternative to the much-maligned workhouse. Frequent newspaper articles in the Belfast Newsletter and Northern Whig contain their criticism of the Belfast Corporation who, U.C.A.S. argued, reneged on their duty to financially support poor children in these industrial schools.

In creating a Babies Home, U.C.A.S. attempted to provide healthy and dedicated care for young babies, both legitimate and illegitimate, whose mothers’ were unable to care for them. This was an attempt to fight the infant mortality rate in Belfast which was then ‘exceptionally high’. Lady Dufferin commented at the opening of the Babies’ Home in March 1912, that ‘while there were many institutions ready to take the older children, there was none except the workhouse open to the child of tender years. That home [U.C.A.S. on University Avenue] had two objects. The first was to save infant life. The second was to train nurses in the management of children committed to their care.’ (Evening Telegraph, 8 March 1912)

There were many ladies of the middle- and upper-classes involved in this project. However, it was not welcomed by everyone. Letters written to the Northern Whig and Belfast Newsletter (8 February 1912 and 9 February 1912 respectively) a month before the opening demonstrate the extent to which locals opposed, albeit unsuccessfully, the creation of the Home. Mr McC., who lived not far from the home, noted that although he did not want to ‘deprecate the good work the society may be doing’ wished that the ‘object with which Fitzroy House, University Street, has been rented should be more fully stated. This is one of the finest private residences in the city, next to a ladies’ boarding and day school, and in the vicinity of a large number of costly residences paying a very large amount of taxes. The report states that it is intended to provide accommodation for fifty babies, but does not say, as the society’s extended report does, that these will be largely, if not altogether, illegitimate…’ The writer added that ‘the place for such a purpose is very ill-chosen and will injure property and annoy the residents of the district, and this part of the society’s work could very well have been left out.’ In a final flurry of indignation he asked that ‘the Ladies’ Illegitimate Children’s Committee…. Each ask themselves how they would like fifty illegitimate children next their homes, and if they do to others as they would wish others to do to them I can confidently rely on their answer.’  (Northern Whig, 8 February 1912)

A letter in support of Mr McC.’s sentiments appeared the following day in the Northern Whig (9 February 1912) calling the scheme and Babies’ Home ‘little short of an outrage upon a respectable residential community’. He felt surely that another property could have been easily secured for what he described as a ‘most laudable purpose, and for many reasons more suitable in the outskirts of the city, away from private residences, schools etc.’

This attempt to physically and socially ostracize illegitimate children was based on numerous factors, demonstrated here in the concerns of, and for, the ‘owners of property in Botanic Avenue, University Street, and immediate neighborhood’. They believed that the value of their property would be diminished by the presence of a Babies’ Home, a suggestion that wider middle- and upper-class communities beyond the immediate vicinity would also agree that such an institution was not to be welcomed in a wealthy neighborhood.  Such children, imperiled by poverty, ill-health and a lack of welfare provision beyond the workhouse, represented a danger to property, moral health and the financial well-being in the eyes of some ratepayers in Edwardian Belfast.