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The campaign for the Catholic workhouse children, 1834–68

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 September 2015

Jean Olwen Maynard*
Affiliation:
15 Wingrad House, Jubilee Street, London E1 3BJ. Email: omaynard@cafod.org.uk

Abstract

The systematic proselytisation of Catholic children institutionalised under the New Poor Law of 1834 was felt by the Catholic community as a very serious grievance. The legislation was framed so as to make the ministrations of the state church an integral part of the workhouse regime, while providing safeguards for the religious rights of non-Anglicans, both adults and children, through a conscience clause which however was not envisaged as applicable to children perceived as having no meaningful family connections. Loose wording allowed locally elected poor law bodies to frustrate the intentions of Parliament, and nullify all efforts of relatives and others to secure appropriate religious upbringing for Catholic children. The problem was particularly acute in the London area. Earlier lobbying initiatives came to nothing, but a fresh campaign begun in 1859, waged with the participation of Catholics at all levels of society, and persisting in the face of repeated setbacks, succeeded in 1868 in bringing about a change in the law, whereby procedures were established to enable the transfer of all poor law children of proven Catholic background to voluntary institutions under Catholic management, with funding for their maintenance paid from the poor rates.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© Trustees of the Catholic Record Society 2015. Published by Cambridge University Press 

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Footnotes

*

I would like to express my thanks to the staff of the British Library (particularly the Newspaper section), London Metropolitan Archives, Westminster Archdiocesan Archives, Catholic National Library, Maughan Library, Tower Hamlets Archives and Local History Library, and the volunteer archives team at Virgo Fidelis Convent. Above all I am deeply grateful to those who went to so much trouble to review earlier drafts of this article, and who provided invaluable help, support and encouragement.

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44 Kelly to Wiseman, 24 August 1855, W2/3/5/14, AAW.

45 Nicholas Wiseman (1802–65) had been effectively in charge of the London District since August 1847 and Vicar Apostolic from 1849. In 1850 he was appointed as the first Archbishop of Westminster, and made a cardinal.

46 Kelly to Wiseman, 31 August 1855, W2/3/5/45, AAW; Weekly Register, 23 May 1874, 333.

47 Tablet, 27 July 1861, 475.

48 Catholic Directory (1863), 210–11. Full lists of public institutions in London such as workhouses, hospitals and prisons, showing in each case the mission ‘from which they are attended’, were not published before 1863, but references to pastoral responsibility for specified Poor Law institutions can often be found in earlier years under entries for individual missions.

49 James McQuoin, born in London 1825 and ordained 1848, was appointed in 1856 to Stratford where he replaced the old chapel with the present church, opened in 1868, and facilitated the establishment in East London of several communities of active women religious. He died of cancer in 1870 at the Convent of Mercy founded by his sister in Douglas, Isle of Man.

50 Minutes of the Whitechapel Board of Guardians, 3 November 1857, ST/BG/WH/22, London Metropolitan Archives (LMA); Minutes of the Poplar Board of Guardians, 10 November 1857, PO/BG/13–4, LMA.

51 Whitechapel Guardians, 8 December 1857, ST/BG/WH/22, LMA.

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53 Tablet, 4 May 1859, 156.

54 Whitechapel Guardians, 12 April 1859, ST/BG/WH/25, LMA. The Garden of the Soul was a devotional work originally published c. 1740 by Bishop Richard Challoner (1691–1781), and reflected the undemonstrative piety of its time: to treat it as contentious was simply absurd.

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57 Edward Bagshawe (1829–1915) was the son of Henry Ridgard Bagshawe Q.C., a convert to Catholicism who was active in the Catholic Institute during the 1840s, and a younger brother of William Henry Bagshawe Q.C.; both father and brother went on to become county court judges. See Tablet, 12 April 1845, 230; 15 November 1924, 646–7. Edward Bagshawe was appointed Bishop of Nottingham in 1874. For an appraisal of his views on social justice see: McEntee, Georgiana Putnam, The Social Catholic Movement in Great Britain (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1927), 299301 Google Scholar.

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59 Peter Rouelle was one of three priests maintained by the Sisters of the Faithful Virgin, who managed the girls’ orphanage in Norwood, to provide chaplaincy services for the convent, boarding school and orphanage. Papers in the archives of Virgo Fidelis Convent, Norwood, Drawer 21, show that he was seconded to Norwood in 1857 from the Diocese of Bayeux, and in 1875 recalled to France by his bishop. During 1860 he was active in forwarding applications for named Catholic children in the North Surrey District School to the Poor Law Board and pressing for the right to instruct them. See Workhouse Papers, November 1860; The Record, 23 March 1860, 4.

60 Chelsea Guardians, 10 November 1858, 8 December 1858, 22 December 1858, CHBG/14, LMA; Tablet, 4 June 1859, 359; 8 June 1861, 359.

61 Tablet, 22 June 1861, 391; 29 June 1861, 405–6.

62 Minutes of the Stepney Board of Guardians, 17 February–7 March 1859, ST/BG/L/26, LMA; Tablet, 2 April 1859, 213.

63 Feheney, , ‘The Poor Law Board August Order’, 8586 Google Scholar; Schiefen, Nicholas Wiseman, 268–9; Tablet, 17 July 1858, 453.

64 Edward Ryley (c 1812–96) had a first career as a sculptor before becoming an actuary, and later an average adjuster. See obituary in The Times, 15 April 1896, 10.

65 Correspondence between Mr. Ryley and the secretary to the Poor Law Board, HO 45/6840, National Archives.

66 Tablet, 11 February 1859, 104.

67 Quinn, Dermot, Patronage and Piety (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1993), 4856 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

68 Tablet, 12 October 1861, 656; Weekly Register, 23 May 1874, 333.

69 East London Observer (ELO), 2 April 1859; Tablet, 2 April 1859, 213.

70 Tablet, 9 April 859, 231.

71 Printed copy of letters to newspapers on The Workhouse Question, appending list of Catholic children in poor law institutions, sent by Kelly to Wiseman, 1859, W3/13, AAW; Tablet, 28 May 1859, 344.

72 Stepney Guardians, 26 May 1859, 16 June 1859, 23 June 1859 and 21 July 1859, ST/BG/L/27, LMA; Whitechapel Guardians, 31 May 1859, 14 June 1859 and 28 June 1859, ST/BG/WH/25, LMA; St George’s in the East Guardians, 27 May 1859, 24 June 1859 and 22 July 1859, ST/BG/SG/7, LMA.

73 ELO, 14 May 1859; Tablet, 21 May 1859, 325–6; 28 May 1859, 341.

74 Chelsea Guardians 26 January–4 April 1859, CHBG/15, LMA; Tablet, 4 June 1859, 359.

75 ELO, 5 November 1859, 3; Tablet, 29 June 1861, 405; St George’s in the East Guardians, 13 May 1859, ST/BG/SG/7, LMA; Whitechapel Guardians, 5 May–9 June 1859, ST/BG/WH/25, LMA.

76 Tablet, 16 April 1859, 246.

77 Stepney Guardians, 5 May 1859, 12 May 1859, 26 May 1859 and 9 June 1859, ST/BG/L/26–7, LMA.

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81 Charles Arthur Russell was born in Newry, Co. Down, Ireland in 1832, and called to the bar in London in 1859. A Liberal in politics, he was MP for Dundalk 1880–85 and for Hackney South 1885–95. He served briefly as Attorney General in 1886, and again from 1892 to 1894 when he was given a life peerage, taking the title Baron Russell of Killowen, and appointed Lord Chief Justice of England, remaining in office up to his death in London in 1900. See O’Brien, R. Barry, The Life of Lord Russell of Killowen (London, Thomas Nelson & Sons, n.d.)Google Scholar.

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83 Henry Edward Manning (1808–92), formerly Anglican Archdeacon of Chichester, had become a Catholic in 1851 and shortly afterwards been ordained as a Catholic priest. He would succeed Wiseman as Archbishop of Westminster in 1865, and be made a cardinal in 1875.

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90 ELO, 8 October 1859, 2; 5 November 1859, 3; 12 November 1859, 2; 26 November 1859, 2.

91 Tablet, 22 June 1861, 391.

92 Tablet, 29 June 1861, 406.

93 ELO, 26 December 1859; 24 December 1859; 31 December 1859.

94 Weekly Register, 17 December 1859, 2.

95 John Morris, born in India in 1826, was educated at Harrow and Cambridge. Having converted to Catholicism he was ordained in 1849, and appointed a canon first of Northampton and later of Westminster. He acted as secretary to both Wiseman and Manning before becoming a Jesuit in 1867, and died in Wimbledon in 1893. See Pollen, John Hungerford, The Life and Letters of Father John Morris S.J (London: Burns and Oates, 1896)Google Scholar.

96 Tablet, 28 January 1860, 57.

97 William Bernard, 12th Baron Petre (1817–84), acted as premier Catholic peer during the final illness of the 14th Duke of Norfolk and minority of the 15th Duke.

98 Lord Edward Howard (1818–83), a younger son of the 13th Duke of Norfolk, sat as MP for Horsham and Arundel 1848–68, and ‘devoted his life to the cause of Catholic elementary education and with considerable success’: John Martin Robinson, The Dukes of Norfolk 1995), 203. Shortly after succeeding Langdale as Chairman of the Catholic Poor School Committee he was created a peer in his own right, as Lord Howard of Glossop, by Gladstone in 1869.

99 Weekly Register, 23 May 1874, 333.

100 Lady Georgiana Fullerton (1812–85) derived her title from her father Granville Leveson Gower, First Earl Granville. Following her marriage to Alexander Fullerton she became quite widely known as a novelist, publishing a number of successful novels both before and after her conversion to Catholicism.

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106 Stepney Guardians, 22 November 1860, ST/BG/L/28, LMA.

107 Weekly Register, 20 February 1864, 116.

108 Weekly Register, 27 June 1863, 403; 31 December 1864, 422.

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110 Catholic Directory (1862), 245; Weekly Register, 2 July 1864, 5.

111 Tablet, 22 June 1861, 395.

112 Weekly Register, 23 May 1874, 333.

113 Ross, , Care and Education of Pauper Children, 134136 Google Scholar; Journal of the Workhouse Visiting Society (March 1861): 391.

114 Journal of the Workhouse Visiting Society (November 1860): 300; (January 1861): 342. For a summary of Twining’s career as founder of the W.V.S. see Longmate, The Workhouse, 141–3.

115 Hansard, 161: 8 February 1861, 224–47.

116 Tablet, 29 June 1861, 406.

117 Tablet, 6 July 1861, 419, 421.

118 Pollen, Life and Letters of Father John Morris, 146.

119 Tablet, 1 June 1861, 342.

120 Tablet, 1 June 1861, 343; 8 June 1861, 358–9; 22 June 1861, 391; 29 June 1861, 405–6; Weekly Register, 10 August 1861, 9.

121 Tablet, 15 June 1861, 373–4.

122 Weekly Register, 31 December 1864, 422.

123 Tablet, 22 June 1861, 392.

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125 Journal of the Workhouse Visiting Society (September 1862), 703–5.

126 Weekly Register, 13 February 1864, 107.

127 Weekly Register, 27 June 1863, 403.

128 Feheney, J. M.Towards Religious Equality for Catholic Pauper Children 1861–68’ in British Journal of Educational Studies, 30 (June 1983): 143144 Google Scholar Tablet, 29 September 1866, 611.

129 Weekly Register, 24 December 1864, 404; 14 January 1865, 20–1; 28 January 1865, 52; 11 February, 1865 84; 23 May 1874, 333; Tablet, 4 February 1865, 69; 18 March 1865, 161; 25 March 1865, 181–2; 25 March 1865, 181–2; 20 May 1865, 315.

130 Tablet, 25 March 1865, 181–2.

131 Weekly Register, 1 April 1865, 196.

132 Marylebone Mercury, 15 April 1865; Universe, 6 May 1865, 5; East London Advertiser, 22 April 1865; Tablet, 16 June 1866, 373.

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136 Universe, 3 February 1866, 8; Tablet, 10 February 1866, 85.

137 Tablet, 3 March 1866, 134.

138 Frances Taylor, a member of Lady Fullerton’s circle and associate of Manning, had personal experience of workhouse visiting. She was proprietor and editor of The Lamp 1862–71, and in 1864, in collaboration with the Jesuits, founded The Month, going on to found a religious congregation, the Poor Servants of the Mother of God. ‘The Cry of the Workhouse Orphans’ was serialised in The Lamp 27 January–17 February 1866, and has recently been reissued in booklet form by her congregation. ‘De Profundis’ was serialised in The Month March–April 1866, and ‘Facts Not Fiction’ in The Lamp 14 April–19 May 1866, both anonymously. Taylor is considered the most likely author of ‘Facts Not Fiction’. Robert Gray, Cardinal Manning, 207 speculates that Manning might have authored ‘De Profundis’, but it is possible that Taylor wrote all three. See Francis Charles Devas, Mother Magdalen Taylor (London: Burns Oates and Washbourne, 1927), 52–3, and with grateful thanks to Paul Shaw, Archivist, Poor Servants of the Mother of God, for providing copies of the articles and suggestions as to authorship.

139 Tablet, 16 June 1866, 373–4; 18 May 1867, 309–10.

140 Feheney, ‘The Poor Law Board August Order’, 90.

141 Poor Law Chronicle, 7 August 1868, 27.

142 Hansard, 184: 26 July 1866 1581–7; 6 August 1866, 2096–7.

143 Hansard, 184: 1 August 1866, 1885–7.

144 Minutes of the Strand Board of Guardians, 11 September 1866, 18 September 1866, 6 November 1866 and 27 November 1866, WE/BG/ST/27–8, LMA.

145 Weekly Register, 9 March 1867, 149.

146 For example, the St. Marylebone Guardians at a meeting in August 1867 considered a letter from the Poor Law Board notifying them of an application for the transfer of Mary Ann and Elizabeth Fitzpatrick to a Catholic institution, and requesting their observations; not until March 1868 did they receive notification that the Poor Law Board was about to issue an order for the children’s removal, to which they responded with a furiously worded protest. See Minutes of the St Marylebone Board of Guardians 2 August 1867 and 20 March 1868, ST/M/BG/1, LMA.

147 Poor Law Amendment Act 1868 with notes and index by Hugh Owen, Jun., Esq. (London: Knight & Co, 1868) 17 n. a; Ross, Care and Education of Pauper Children, 140–1.

148 Tablet, 16 June 1866, 374.

149 Universe, 23 June 1866, 2.

150 Feheney, Changing attitudes in the Catholic Church, 72.

151 Tablet, 2 January 1869, 309, details the plans of the Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle to set up a certified school; Bennett, ‘The Care of the Poor’, 568–9 shows that by 1887 all but four Catholic dioceses had provided accommodation for poor law children.

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153 Universe, 14 September 1867, 2.

154 Poor Law Amendment Act 1868 with notes and index by Hugh Owen, 14 n. a.

155 Hansard, 192: 28 May 1868, 946–9.

156 St Marylebone Guardians, 10 July 1868, ST/M/BG/2, LMA.

157 Hansard, 193: 21 July 1868, 1605–10.

158 Wolffe, John, The Protestant Crusade in Great Britain (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991), 269271 Google Scholar.

159 Hansard, 193: 21 July 1868, 1607–14.

160 For a detailed study of Charles Newdegate’s career see Arnstein, Walter L., Protestant versus Catholic in Mid–Victorian England (Columbia, University of Missouri Press, 1982)Google Scholar.

161 Hansard, 193: 27 July 1868, 1871–86.

162 Hansard, 193: 28 July 1868, 1908–16.

163 Hansard, 57: 29 March 1841, 691–8.