Quakers in Ireland

Quakers in Ireland, The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) have a long history in Ireland their first recorded Meeting for Worship in Ireland was in 1654 at the home of William Edmundson in Lurgan, Co. Armagh.^[1]

They were known for the entrepreneurship, setting up many businesses in Ireland, with many families such as the Goodbodys, Bewleys, Pims, Lambs, Jacobs, Edmundsons, Perrys and Bells were involved in milling, textiles, shipping, imports and exports, food and tobacco production, brewing, iron production and railways industries.^[2] William Penn the founder of Pennsylvania, converted to Quakerism while dealing with his father's estates in Ireland, he attended meetings in Cork.^[3]

The Quakers founded the town of Mountmellick, Co. Laois, in 1657 led by William Edmundson. There is a quaker burial ground in Rosenallis, Co, Laois.^[4]

Ballitore in Co. Kildare, in 1685 was planned as a Quaker town,^[5] it was here A Quaker School was founded by Abraham Shackleton (ancestor of the polar explorer Ernest Shackleton) in 1726, many quakers from all over ireland attended as did many non-quakers. Among the famous non-Quakers to go there were Henry Grattan, Cardinal Paul Cullen, James Napper Tandy and Edmund Burke.

In 1692 the Quakers opened a meeting house in Sycamore Street(Alley), off Dame Street in Dublin, these premises expanded with the purchase of property backing on to Eustace Street. The Quakers building on Eustace Street, purchased in 1817, is the former Eagle Tavern, it is where the Dublin Society of the United Irishmen was formed in 1791.^[6] In 1988 they sold some of their property on Eustace Street, which became the Irish Film Institute.

The Cork Street Fever Hospital, Dublin was founded by Quakers in the early 19th century. The Royal Hospital, Donnybrook in Dublin, was also originally a Quaker hospital.^[7] There was a Quaker grave yard in Cork street, and one in York Street off St. Stephen's Green which was sold and for the Building of the Royal College of Surgeons.^[8]

The Quakers were known for setting up relief measures in their localities during the Great Famine ^[9]

Quakers in Ireland today

The Ireland Yearly Meeting is unprogrammed and is more conservative than Britain Yearly Meeting. They have c.1,600 members in 28 meetings across the Republic of Ireland, and in Northern Ireland.^[10] The Friendly Word is a bimonthly magazine published by Quakers in Ireland. Rathgar Junior School, and Newtown School, Waterford are Quaker ethos schools. The Archives of the Religious Society of Friends are held in Quaker House, in Rathfarnham, and Meeting House, in Lisburn, Co. Antrim. In Dublin there are four Quaker meeting houses Eustace Street, Churchtown, Monkstown and Rathfarnham.^[11] The Friends Burial Ground, Dublin is in Temple Hill, Blackrock, Co. Dublin.

References

External links

• Quakers in Ireland Website
• Dublin Quakers