Description
An Open Access edition of this book is available on the Liverpool University Press website and the OAPEN library.
Beggars and begging were ubiquitous features of pre-Famine Irish society, yet have gone largely unexamined by historians. This book explores at length for the first time the complex cultures of mendicancy, as well as how wider societal perceptions of and responses to begging were framed by social class, gender and religion. The study breaks new ground in exploring the challenges inherent in defining and measuring begging and alms-giving in pre-Famine Ireland, as well as the disparate ways in which mendicants were perceived by contemporaries. A discussion of the evolving role of parish vestries in the life of pre-Famine communities facilitates an examination of corporate responses to beggary, while a comprehensive analysis of the mendicity society movement, which flourished throughout Ireland in the three decades following 1815, highlights the significance of charitable societies and associational culture in responding to the perceived threat of mendicancy. The instance of the mendicity societies illustrates the extent to which Irish commentators and social reformers were influenced by prevailing theories and practices in the transatlantic world regarding the management of the poor and deviant. Drawing on a wide range of sources previously unused for the study of poverty and welfare, this book makes an important contribution to modern Irish social and ecclesiastical history.
About the Author
Ciaran McCabe is an Irish Research Council postdoctoral fellow at the School of History, University College Dublin. His current research project examines the survival strategies of working-class women in Dublin between 1850-1950, and this project is associated with the Dublin Tenement Museum (14 Henrietta Street).
Reviews
'McCabe initiates a much needed shift in focuses from the urgent response to a humanitarian crisis in the wake of the potato blight to a comprehensive analysis to how Irish society tackled the challenges and instituted a framework to meet the needs of the most vulnerable on a daily basis. In this way, McCabe's book is essential reading when considering the ways an analysis of class, gender and religion in Pre-Famine Ireland illuminates how a growing sense of social awareness not only surfaced in this period but shaped the way Irish society would define and advance itself into the modern era.'
Victoria Anne Pearson, Women's History Association Ireland
'This is an insightful and enlightening study, lucidly written and grounded in meticulous research in a wide range of sources, many of which have been given only cursory treatment by historians to date.'
Maura Cronin, Irish Economic and Social History
'This is an important and welcome addition to the literature on poor relief practices in nineteenth-century Europe. Ciaran McCabe has written a scholarly and thought-provoking, yet accessible book.'
Julie Marfany, Cultural and Social History
'By using philanthropy as a lens, this study allows us to learn much about the social dynamics of pre-Famine Ireland, and it will no doubt prove valuable and thought provoking for all those interested in these complex interactions.'
Joe Curran, Australasian Journal of Irish Studies
'The reader is presented with multiple vernacular perspectives of poverty of both men and women that ensures a richly variegated account of poverty in pre-Famine Ireland.'
Brian Casey, Irish Historical Studies
'Begging certainly elicited the attention of the religious of all denominations, the economic and social commentators, and the charitably minded who provided alms, who occupy a majority of the pages of this innovative and helpful study ... [McCabe] has shone a bright light on the efforts of those who contrived to alleviate the condign poverty in their midst and the considerations, both practical and ideal, that guided their deliberations and decisions.'
James Kelly, Studia Hibernia
Book Information
ISBN 9781786941572
Author Ciaran McCabe
Format Hardback
Page Count 320
Imprint Liverpool University Press
Publisher Liverpool University Press
Beggars and begging were ubiquitous features of pre-Famine Irish society, yet have gone largely unexamined by historians. This book explores at length for the first time the complex cultures of mendicancy, as well as how wider societal perceptions of and responses to begging were framed by social class, gender and religion. The study breaks new ground in exploring the challenges inherent in defining and measuring begging and alms-giving in pre-Famine Ireland, as well as the disparate ways in which mendicants were perceived by contemporaries. A discussion of the evolving role of parish vestries in the life of pre-Famine communities facilitates an examination of corporate responses to beggary, while a comprehensive analysis of the mendicity society movement, which flourished throughout Ireland in the three decades following 1815, highlights the significance of charitable societies and associational culture in responding to the perceived threat of mendicancy. The instance of the mendicity societies illustrates the extent to which Irish commentators and social reformers were influenced by prevailing theories and practices in the transatlantic world regarding the management of the poor and deviant. Drawing on a wide range of sources previously unused for the study of poverty and welfare, this book makes an important contribution to modern Irish social and ecclesiastical history.
About the Author
Ciaran McCabe is an Irish Research Council postdoctoral fellow at the School of History, University College Dublin. His current research project examines the survival strategies of working-class women in Dublin between 1850-1950, and this project is associated with the Dublin Tenement Museum (14 Henrietta Street).
Reviews
'McCabe initiates a much needed shift in focuses from the urgent response to a humanitarian crisis in the wake of the potato blight to a comprehensive analysis to how Irish society tackled the challenges and instituted a framework to meet the needs of the most vulnerable on a daily basis. In this way, McCabe's book is essential reading when considering the ways an analysis of class, gender and religion in Pre-Famine Ireland illuminates how a growing sense of social awareness not only surfaced in this period but shaped the way Irish society would define and advance itself into the modern era.'
Victoria Anne Pearson, Women's History Association Ireland
'This is an insightful and enlightening study, lucidly written and grounded in meticulous research in a wide range of sources, many of which have been given only cursory treatment by historians to date.'
Maura Cronin, Irish Economic and Social History
'This is an important and welcome addition to the literature on poor relief practices in nineteenth-century Europe. Ciaran McCabe has written a scholarly and thought-provoking, yet accessible book.'
Julie Marfany, Cultural and Social History
'By using philanthropy as a lens, this study allows us to learn much about the social dynamics of pre-Famine Ireland, and it will no doubt prove valuable and thought provoking for all those interested in these complex interactions.'
Joe Curran, Australasian Journal of Irish Studies
'The reader is presented with multiple vernacular perspectives of poverty of both men and women that ensures a richly variegated account of poverty in pre-Famine Ireland.'
Brian Casey, Irish Historical Studies
'Begging certainly elicited the attention of the religious of all denominations, the economic and social commentators, and the charitably minded who provided alms, who occupy a majority of the pages of this innovative and helpful study ... [McCabe] has shone a bright light on the efforts of those who contrived to alleviate the condign poverty in their midst and the considerations, both practical and ideal, that guided their deliberations and decisions.'
James Kelly, Studia Hibernia
Book Information
ISBN 9781786941572
Author Ciaran McCabe
Format Hardback
Page Count 320
Imprint Liverpool University Press
Publisher Liverpool University Press
