Next week (from 29^th October) the Linen Hall Library in Belfast are hosting an exhibition that displays photographs of the Belfast poor and the work of the Belfast Central Mission from the early 20^th century. These fascinating images taken by one of Belfast’s most prominent early photographers A.R. Hogg make real the poverty of earlier generations. Hogg photographed the streets and people of Belfast between 1880 and 1939 and his work for Belfast Central Mission shows a sympathetic and campaigning eye, by drawing the attention of the viewer towards some of the city’s most vulnerable citizens. In this way the images are in the tradition of Jacob Riis, whose photographs of nineteenth century New York poverty got him the reputation of being a ‘muckraking’ journalist! (See here and here for links about ‘muckrakers’!)

Photograph by A.R. Hogg from Belfast Central Mission Archive.

Many of the charities that operate today emerged in the nineteenth century, such as National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (N.S.P.C.C.) and the Soldiers and Sailors Families Association (now the S.S.A.F.A). A number of those 19th century charities emerged from the efforts of churches and Christian organizations including St Vincent de Paul and the Belfast Central Mission. The BCM was established in 1889 and emerged from within the Methodist Church in Belfast. Today its activities include a wide range of charitable endeavors including housing support for vulnerable young and old people, as well as providing assistance to families coping with autism diagnoses.

Its early incarnation tried to alleviate the sufferings of the poor in inner-city Belfast. This involved feeding the homeless, and bringing inner-city children to the seaside; a perfect antidote to the slums of the industrial city.

For more information on this FREE exhibition read the Belfast Telegraph article from yesterday’s paper. For more on the Linen Hall Library and Belfast Central Mission just click on the links.

Well the summer is definitely over, and we are back in the swing things here in the Belfast Poverty and Public Health/AHRC project. Some of us are teaching and some of us are getting a break from teaching to focus on the project so much work being done.

We are planning our summative conference for Spring next year and will have further details on that in the near future. It will be a collaborative event that will bring in an exhibition element as well as a straight conference so looking forward to cutting our teeth on a new type of output!

(Photo of the Children’s Dormitory at the Carrickmacross Workhouse, original photographs can be viewed at their website photo gallery)

In other workhouse-related news, we thought we would bring you some details of a recently refurbished workhouse just south of the border – Carrickmacross. Local community groups have been working away to recover this example of Monaghan’s architectural and social heritage and they have a number of events coming up, including a textile art exhibit on 24th October and a public lecture by Prof Mary Daly formerly of UCD. For further details see their Workhouse facebook page or their website.