The Ulster Magdalene Asylum was founded in 1839 at
Donegall Pass
Ormeau Road is a road in south Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland.
Ormeau Park is adjacent to it. It forms part of the A24.
History
The road, as currently laid out, dates from the first decades of the 19th century when a bridge was built ...
,
Belfast
Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...
(now in
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
), by the
Church of Ireland
The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the second ...
. It cared for "fallen women" like other
Magdalene asylum
Magdalene asylums, also known as Magdalene laundries, were initially Protestant but later mostly Roman Catholic institutions that operated from the 18th to the late 20th centuries, ostensibly to house "fallen women". The term referred to femal ...
s.
[Government, politics and institutions in Belfast in the early 20th century](_blank)
National Archives of Ireland. It was founded as part of the St. Mary Magdalene Parish and was to provide an asylum for "penitent females" with a chapel attached and named the Ulster Magdalene Asylum and Episcopal Chapel (St Mary Magdalene Chapel). It was opened on December 1, 1839. While the laundry closed in 1916, the institution survived and the home operated until the 1960s. Set up to rehabilitate the women, generally, women who were
pregnant
Pregnancy is the time during which one or more offspring develops (gestation, gestates) inside a woman, woman's uterus (womb). A multiple birth, multiple pregnancy involves more than one offspring, such as with twins.
Pregnancy usually occur ...
out of wedlock, women involved in
prostitution
Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in Sex work, sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, n ...
and others convicted of
petty crime
A summary offence or petty offence is a violation in some common law jurisdictions that can be proceeded against summarily, without the right to a jury trial and/or indictment (required for an indictable offence).
Canada
In Canada, summary offenc ...
s. It was described, "For the reception of erring and repentant females". As the residents, in keeping with similar institutions, worked in a laundry, the Asylum was sometimes termed the "steam laundry".
The English architect (and future MP and Mayor of Belfast)
Sir Charles Lanyon renowned for many buildings in Ireland, particularly in Belfast, designed a new
Gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
styled school and chapel for the Ulster Magdalene Asylum in 1851. The Ulster Magdalene Asylum in Belfast maintained a close relationship with other Protestant evangelical organisations set up in the Victorian era such as the ''Belfast Midnight Mission'' (which was a rescue for "unfortunate women and their offspring") as well as the ''Belfast Female Mission'', a School was affiliated to the Asylum run by the ''Church Education Society'' these organisations shared members and trustees. The Magdalene Asylum was run by a board of trustees, five clergymen and four lay members of the church.
While the Ulster Magdalene Asylum was established by the Church of Ireland, similar institutions in Belfast were established for other denominations such as the Catholic refuge was set up at the
Good Shepherd Convent, Ballynafeigh (established in 1867), or the earlier
Ulster Female Penitentiary and Laundry,
''Edgar Home'', named after its founder Rev.
John Edgar, initially non-denominational but became associated with the
Presbyterian Church
Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...
. The Salvation Army also had a shelter.
The Ulster Magdalene Asylum was closed as a steam laundry in 1916 and demolished in 1918. During its existence from 1849–1916 it supplied shelter, maintenance, employment, instruction and encouragement to upwards of 3,000 women. The Church provided services to women after the closure, as well as other services provided by the Belfast Mission.
Chaplains to the Asylum include a Rev. T.F. Miller, and Rev. Walter Riddell.
The Chapel survives as the parish of St Mary Magdalene, Donegall Pass, Belfast, and it celebrated its 175 anniversary in 2014.
St Mary Magdalene Celebrates 175 years
Diocese of Connor, December 3, 2014.
See also
* Magdalene laundries in Ireland
* Ulster Female Penitentiary
*Bethany Home
Bethany Home (sometimes called Bethany House or Bethany Mother and Child Home) was a residential home in Dublin, Ireland, mainly for women of the Protestant faith, who were convicted of petty theft, prostitution, infanticide, as well as women who ...
* Dublin Female Penitentiary
References
{{coord missing, Belfast
1839 establishments in Ireland
Buildings and structures demolished in 1918
1960s disestablishments in Northern Ireland
Church of Ireland buildings and structures in Ireland
History of Belfast
Defunct prisons in Northern Ireland
Magdalene asylums
Women's prisons in the United Kingdom
History of women in the United Kingdom