by Georgina Laragy

Prior to 2008, all lone parents receiving out-of-work benefit in the United Kingdom were forced to engage with the Child Support Agency in order to secure maintenance for their child. Once they had received such support it was then taken into account when calculating their subsequent welfare payments. According to a 2012 report by lone-parent charity Gingerbread, ‘Even though the obligation to use the CSA was removed in 2008, having a CSA arrangement was still almost twice as common as having a private maintenance arrangement (37 per cent compared to 20 per cent). And 43 per cent of single parents on benefit had no maintenance arrangement at all’. (See http://gingerbread.org.uk/uploads/media/17/8361.pdf, p. 6) The system forced those on welfare to engage with the non-caring parent, (largely men, though in a small proportion of cases, women) in order to secure maintenance / support.

The welfare system in the UK is currently undergoing major reform, and earlier this year (2013) the government announced new measures which would see an injection of £20 million aimed at helping families come to maintenance arrangements themselves. To further incentivise private and voluntary arrangements between separated parents, another scheme was introduced yesterday; lone-parents seeking maintenance must now pay a fee of £20 pounds to engage the services of the new statutory body, Child Maintenance Services (which has replaced the Child Support Agency). As well as this fee, should the parents be unable to work out an arrangement voluntarily and the case goes into the ‘collections service’, a further 4% is taken from the amount collected, before it is passed on to the ‘caring parent’ and the child. According to a representative from Gingerbread who spoke on BBC Radio 4’s ‘Woman’s Hour’ programme yesterday (29 July 2013), this amounts to ‘money being taken directly from children’. Gingerbread fears that the choice between paying an upfront fee, which many will struggle to afford, or negotiate with former partners, will result in parents abandoning the system altogether. A single-mother who also spoke on the programme believed that such a measure would only push poor and separated parents ‘further into poverty’. The Minister for Work and Pensions, Steve Webb (speaking on the same programme), believes that this new measure will ‘encourage and enable families to sort things out’. He suggested that seeking the help of the state was a ‘default’ position for most poor families; however, the evidence provided by Gingerbread and described above, suggests that was not really the case (20% used CSA). How will this new measure affect that figure? And how will it affect children?

Social welfare in nineteenth century Belfast was administered under the 1838 Act for the relief of destitute poor in Ireland (1 & 2 Vic. cap. 56); child support came under the remit of that act.

            if any Person shall desert and leave his Wife, or any Child whom such Person             shall be liable to maintain, so that such Wife or Child shall become destitute and be             relieved in the Workhouse of any Union, ever such Person shall, on Conviction             thereof…  Be committed to the Common Gaol or House of Correction, there to be             kept to hard Labour for any Term not exceeding Three Calendar Months.

According to Joseph Robins, ‘the new laws gave no power to the mother to sue the father; and once she left the workhouse the liability of the father ended.’ (Robins, The lost children: a study of charity children in Ireland, 1700-1900, Dublin, 1980, p. 274) In nineteenth century Belfast there were no other means by which poor people could enforce the payment of maintenance without entering the workhouse. And it was in the interest of the local boards of guardians to prosecute those who had deserted spouse and children and who subsequently became a burden on the rates. Successful prosecutions under this law ensured some short- and long-term recompense for the trouble and cost of so doing. The most common offence prosecuted under the Irish poor laws was desertion of children and family. Between 1866 and 1917 54.5 per cent of convictions under the Poor Law Acts were for desertion. Family breakdown was and is both a cause and a consequence of poverty and the result among poorer communities can often be that families, both in nineteenth century Belfast and in 21^st century United Kingdom, must seek assistance from charities and the state in order to feed and clothe children.

The UK government is now attempting to push people away from state-reliance and make them more self-reliant in dealing with not only the emotional fall-out from a separation but also with the financial and practical aspects. In theory this does not sound like a bad idea; families can always benefit from anything that improves communication, but the evidence suggests that only a minority of individuals, mostly likely those who had no choice, actually sought the services of the CMS’s predecessor. By charging those who cannot sort out their own affairs in this respect, surely amounts to a punitive approach designed to serve the state’s interests before those of the family, or the children. In this respect it is not unlike the poor laws of the nineteenth century, when families were forced into the workhouse in order to institute proceedings against a parent for maintenance. Like the £20 charge introduced this week, the workhouse was also a deterrent, designed to persuade the poor to sort out their problems on their own. Admittedly, a £20 charge is not the same as giving up one’s home and entering the dour, Victorian institution that was the workhouse but the principle is the same. So, are these ‘reforms’ less reforming and more a regression to an older, more punitive welfare system?

As the summer heats up and the 2012-13 academic year draws to a close, we here at the QUB project ‘Poverty and public health in Belfast, 1800-1973’ have been looking over the past seven months and realised that we have some material to share with you which has emerged from the events that we organised earlier this year.

In February we hosted a very successful and interesting workshop entitled ‘Poverty and Welfare in Comparative Urban Contexts’ (February 2013). Two months later we visited the Crumlin Road Gaol and hosted a QUB Impact event, ‘Queen’s Historians go to Gaol’ (April 2013). In order to bring our efforts, and those of our contributors, to a wider audience, we have been getting to grips with the various methods available for disseminating those papers and presentations including blogging, tweeting and facebooking. We have also created a video and some audio files of said presentations.

The ‘Twitter Machine’ as it is becoming fondly known, has been a great resource for this dissemination. On foot of our video which shows Dr Olwen Purdue’s presentation entitled ‘A den of drunkenness, immorality and vice’; the workhouse and the poor in late nineteenth-century Belfast‘ (see below for link) we have received numerous re-tweets and new followers, along with 51 views of the video itself! Now while this might not compare favourably to the almost 2 billion youtube views received by that star of K-Pop Psy with his ‘Gangnam Style’, we are quite happy with Olwen’s own style! And there will be more videos to follow!

So while I am embedded in my office going through the remaining video and audio, I am leaving you with enough links to last a few weeks hopefully.  Below find a link to the Purdue ‘vimeo’ as well as some audio from various experts in Irish and British social history. If you’re curious about the operation of the Irish and English poor laws, eighteenth or nineteenth century philanthropy or 21st Century low-income families, then you will find something of interest here. Please check back soon for more videos and more presentations from the Crumlin Road Gaol event!

Vimeo

Olwen Purdue (QUB) ‘A den of drunkenness, immorality and vice’; the workhouse and the poor in late nineteenth-century Belfast‘

Audio

LarryGeary (UCC) ‘The best relief the poor can receive is from themselves’: The Society for Promoting the Comforts of the Poor

JanetGreenlees (GCU) The Church of Scotland and the poor: politics and paradoxes, c 1880-1950

VirginiaCrossman (OBU) Some reflections on the urban / rural poverty divide in Ireland 1850-1914

DavidGreen (KCL) ‘It is here that we find the English poor law system in its most complete form’: London and the poor law in the nineteenth century

GraceKelly (QUB) Family life in conditions of low income in Northern Ireland

by Stuart Irwin

‘One Sunday evening during the hour of the regular church services I walked from Royal Avenue to the Shankill Road. I was so struck by the large numbers of non-church going people that my heart was moved in a strange degree to reach them with the message of life’. (Rev. Henry Montgomery)

Belfast experienced remarkable urban growth across the nineteenth century. The population increased from 19,000 in 1801 to 350,000 by 1901. The main religious denominations responded accordingly to meet the increased need for provision, with Belfast experiencing a boom in church building during the late nineteenth century. In spite of such efforts, there remained many working-class people who had no connection with any church. Non-attendance at church was perceived as resulting in a growth of immoral behaviour, such as crime, excessive drinking, and gambling. The Witness, a Presbyterian newspaper in Belfast, offered a rather gloomy picture: ‘Abandoned by the religious, they soon learn to renounce religion itself; they become atheistic politicians, destructive anarchists, and are a menace to society and to civilization.’ Efforts were made by some concerned individuals to help those who were outside the church. One such example was the establishment of the Shankill Road Mission by the Revd Dr Henry Montgomery.

Henry Montgomery, a Presbyterian minister in the city, was committed to urban mission work and sought to offer Christian philanthropy to those who were beyond reach of the traditional church setting. In 1896 he decided to establish the Shankill Road Mission after visiting that working-class district of Belfast and being ‘so struck by the large numbers of non-church going people that my heart was moved in a strange degree to reach them with the message of life’. Montgomery set about securing private donations for the erection of multi-functional, all-purpose mission buildings on the Shankill Road, with original plans including a large semi-circular assembly hall, classrooms, medical facilities, a soup kitchen, retail units and a residential training department. Due to financial constraints, some of the more ambitious plans had to be shelved by the time the buildings were opened in November 1898.

These mission buildings provide a fascinating insight into Montgomery’s vision for the Shankill Road Mission and the values and ethos that guided his work. Previously, evangelical urban mission in the city had primarily been concerned with preaching the Gospel and saving the individual. In contrast, Montgomery wanted to promote individual conversion whilst also striving to deal with the material problems that people faced. On one occasion he stated that ‘[t]o preach religion without putting it into practice was not good anywhere, but it was unspeakably out of place when seeking to help the poor and needy.’ He envisioned the Mission as being a type of social centre, where all needs could be met.

The pioneering urban mission work that the Shankill Road Mission provided to the people of that area included the following: offering an extensive choice of activities, ranging from Gospel services and a Sunday school to a night school and music sessions; a Christmas supper for the poor and needy; and trips to the seaside to enjoy the fresh air.

The establishment of the Shankill Road Mission allowed Henry Montgomery to reach the non-churchgoing in a meaningful way by dealing ‘with a man as whole’. He was held in high esteem by the people of the Shankill Road area, as was reported in local newspapers following his death in February 1943.

‘Many people lined the streets in the area where Dr Montgomery had spent a long life of devoted service; blinds were drawn, doors of business premises were shut, and there were other evidences of the deep respect in which citizens, without distinction of creed, held the memory of the man who had long ministered to their spiritual and temporal needs.’

Stuart is a PhD student at the School of History and Anthropology at Queen’s University, Belfast. His Master’s thesis was on the subject of the Shankill Road Mission, and is he is pursuing the history of Belfast by looking at the ‘Belfast Corporation, 1880-1914: managing a mature industrial city’. To find out more please click here.

by Robyn Atcheson

‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.’

For the residents of Belfast in the nineteenth century, Scriptural authority carried a great deal of weight.  This verse from the Gospel of Luke (ch.14 v.21) was frequently used as an example of Christian charity by religious leaders in the town, an example they encouraged their flocks to follow.  Officially, the main churches in Belfast did not adopt policies on poor relief until much later in the century but rather, advocated involvement in voluntary societies to help the poor.  A wide range of such philanthropic organisations existed in Belfast but even if secular in outlook and action, the people involved in such activities frequently had religious motivations.  Donating, collecting, administering and organising charity was commonly seen as a virtuous task and a fulfillment of Christian duty.

Philanthropy could take many forms such as providing basic education for children, offering medical aid, donating clothing, collecting and donating money, or simply providing opportunities for the poor to help themselves.  The idea of self-help was popular throughout the nineteenth century as was the belief that through moral improvement, the poor could better their conditions.  Causes such as rescuing ‘fallen women’ and providing alternative evening activities other than drinking are illustrative of this attempt to boost the morality of the poor.  Some organisations offered purely spiritual aid, visiting the poor in their own homes to read the Bible and encourage them to live morally righteous lives.  The success of such endeavours is questionable but in attempting to help those in need, these philanthropic individuals have provided historians with incredible insight into the lives of the poor.  One such account offers a glimpse into a charitable Christmas Eve in Belfast in 1834 when an agent of the Belfast Town Mission noted that ‘In one house I found a woman and her little child sitting on a wet ground-floor, with little clothing, and no fire. She told me she had no fire since yesterday, and that she had no meat, nor any prospect of getting it; and her neighbours could not relieve her for the present, and a kind lady, upon whom I called, sent her 2s. 6d.’

The reports of charities and their agents offer a first-hand account of some of the conditions and help to build a greater understanding of what it was like to be poor in nineteenth-century Belfast.

Note on author:

This post was contributed by Robyn Atcheson. Robyn is a PhD student on the AHRC-funded project ‘Poverty and public health in Belfast and its region, 1800-1973’ and she presented this poster at our Crumlin Road Gaol event in April 2013. See here for more details on Robyn and click on the image above to view her poster more closely. Come back by the end of the week to see the poster contributed by Stuart Irwin on the ‘Shankill Town Mission’.

For this cloudy Wednesday afternoon let Sean Lucey take you to Belfast between the First and Second World Wars to provide a picture of the public health provision that was available for the people of the city. Click on the link below to hear Sean’s lecture at Crumlin Road Gaol on 17 April 2013. You can view the powerpoint presentation at the same time!

Audio: Public Health in Interwar Belfast

Powerpoint: Public Health in inter-war Belfast

One of the members of our research team, Dr Olwen Purdue, can be heard providing historical narration to a slideshow of photographs that depict the backstreets of Belfast a century ago. The images, taken by photographer Alex Hogg around 1913, can now be found in the National Museums Northern Ireland, Belfast City Council and Linen Hall Library. These photographs, as Olwen notes, were most likely never seen by the people captured in the images themselves but for those of us living in 21st century Belfast, they provide a rare look in the rear-view mirror. They have been collated into a slideshow produced by the BBC and you can see and listen here.

We just wanted to say a quick thank you to everyone attended our event in Crumlin Road Gaol on Wednesday last (17 April). It was well attended and we really enjoyed being on site where so much interesting history has taken place. We will be posting the audio recordings, powerpoints and photographs in the coming days so please keep an eye on the website.

ALL WELCOME.

Crumlin Road Gaol, Belfast

Time: 2.30 -4.30 pm

Date: Wednesday 17 April 2013

Venue: Crumlin Road Gaol,   53-55 Crumlin Road, Belfast, BT14 6ST (Lanyon Suite) see www.crumlinroadgaol.com for information on where it is.

Contact: g.laragy@qub.ac.uk

Listen here for further information on the event http://www.rte.ie/radio1/the-history-show/podcasts/

Programme Continue reading →

Just a quick note to let you fine people out there, caught up in the world wide web, that we are now tweeting as well, on the twitter machine. You can follow us (please do) @BelfastSickPoor. Also, feel free to comment on our twitter handle, is it a bit too ‘blue’? Not historical enough? How does one come up with a suitable, catchy and relevant name that demonstrates our purpose while attracting people at the same time?

There will be research updates here soon! Also a review of The Spirit of ’45, the new film by Ken Loach about Britain’s social welfare system. See the movie website for more, http://www.thespiritof45.com/. It is currently playing at the Queen’s Film Theatre, and elsewhere around the British Isles.