Limerick - protestant orphanage

Hello Primrose, I personally have no idea and am at a loss to know where to investiagte; however I will show this message on the face book pages that I manage if you have no objections and a few friends who are in the journalist business may be able to point us in the right direction

Jennifer Jean   Volunteer for (email)  killeedy1@irelandxo.com

Hello Jennifer,

Thank you for offering to do that for me. Greatly appreciated.

Cheryl (Primrose)

Hi Cheryl

I have made numorous enquiries about the orphanages in Ireland: yesterday a five year study on the state of mother and baby homes in this country - which did encompass the state of orphanages has just been published and is available on line in it's entirity, I guessed that you will be in a position to access this better than I will: it aparently makes for harrowing reading but you may find some information of use. Apart from this I have spoken to Root Ireland and the following is their response::-    "orphanages were generally run by religious organisations, so Protestant and Catholic children would generally (but not always) be sent to the relevant orphanages. There were also benevolent or charitable societies set up specifically to support Protestant or Catholic orphanages. A simple google search should give you examples of these. We do not hold any Orphanage records on Roots Ireland". 

I will keep trtying but I will ask, am I being too intrusive to ask you why you need this specific information and is it because you are tracing a family link? Maybe we can help you further with this;do you have a name or a date or even an area?

No worries if you do not wish to discuss but you now know where we are should we be able to help you further. Of course, if I learn anything new, I will surely let you know. Meantime we wish you very good luck in your search

Jennifer Jean  killeedy1@irelandxo.com or jenniemac2000@gmail.com

It's me again Cheryl,

You might try downloading Bethany and Denny Homes; these are both in the report apparently but I have no idea when they started. I know in England children's homes (I was in several) were not really monitored until the 1800's - mostly they were run by private charities or benefactors. Charles Dickens was one of the first to raise the plight of orphan children. Here in Ireland the Church was the main adversary and then they used the children to raise funds for their organisations by selling the orphans to the Americas, Canadians and later to Australia of course

Hope you find these two places but now there is a determination to investigate all homes that have been abolished or the grounds used for other building projects or even where there could have been such a place on a farm etc. so there is some 140 more to uncover in Limerick alone

Talk again

Jennifer Jean killeedy1@irelandxo.com

Hi Cheryl, How are you getting on with all this info I wonder? Well here is a little more for you to follow,

If you are still wondering about Protestant adoptions I have come across some items that may interest you.

from 1808 onwards the precursor of the County Council was the Grand Jury.  It was made up of about 15 to 25 landowners across the county.  They met at the assizes and approved money for roads, bridges, bridewells etc I found form 1836 onwards they were granting £5 per annum to a named person for the upkeep of a foundling.  The numbers of foundling increased year on year so by 1843 they decided to reduce the amount to £4 per annum.  

The Church of Ireland kept bi annual accounts , some of the booklets are in the research section in the Granary , Limerick city.  I was consulting some of them last year to see if I could find out anything new about Rathronan Church. I didn't.  However I noticed that they had a fund for orphaned children esp children of deceased RIC officers.  They were paying for the children to be apprenticed.  Names dates and amounts are listed.  Genealogical gold.

In Dublin a Protestant home for Orphan and Destitute Girls was established in 1841 at 27 Harrold's Cross Dublin.  It moved in the 1940s to Wicklow, as the Westbank Orphanage.  This was poorly run and abuse was rife. 

 if you should get stuck, please contact us

Jennifer Jean  killeedy1@irelandxo.com

J. Jean

You will find out nothing from the County Grand Jury Books I have studied them for a Thesis. The Grand Jury before 1838 gave people who took in ''Foundlings'' £5 a year for taking a foundling it does not say that this was every year or not. However after 1838 with the building of the Workhouses they were given into the care of that body. In many cases where they had no idea of the name they were called after the Master---Limerick = Dundon, Kilmallock = Gubbins.

You might look up the Protestant School ( I think it was founded in 1808) called Villiars Endowed School it was endowed by Mrs Villiars for the welfare of Protestant Children. It still operates as a school with 600 students but is interdominational and caters for all religions and none. 

That is only a long shot but worth a try.