St. Patricks Day

In preparation for St. Patrick’s Day on Saturday it seemed apt to have an Irish theme to this week’s blog. Of course our founder Leonard Kilbee Shaw originated from Dublin, Ireland, but there were also a number of children who passed through the charity’s doors seeking refuge, who had come from the same Emerald Isle. Today we are focussing on one of those children’s stories...

Cake made for the Together Trust's St. Patrick's Day Party, March 2012

Arthur

Arthur came to the charity in February 1901. As he was already a young man of 18 he applied for residency at the Working Lads’ Institute on Great Ducie Street. This home had been opened in 1888 to provide lodgings for young men who had a job and regular income. The charity realised early on that sometimes those starting in the working world may require some help, as well as the other classes of children they provided for. For admittance the men had to pay around 10 shillings a week (about £28.50 in today’s money) from their wage and provide references for honesty and good behaviour.

Letter of Reference for Arthur, 1901

 
Arthur came to England from the small village of Bruckless in County Donegal, Ireland. He became a Postal Clerk for the General Post Office in Manchester around November 1900 and had previously been paying lodgings to a lady in Old Trafford, along with another Irish immigrant, Ralph. Due to the ‘inconvenient distance’ of their lodgings to the Post Office, both applied and were accepted to the Working Lad’s Institute. Ralph was described as a "sober, reliable, respectable young man" in his reference to the charity. They both stayed around a year at the Refuge before making their own way into the world. In the 1911 census we find Arthur living in Levenshulme having not felt the urge to return to his homeland. With a wife and child now to provide for, the security of a good job allowed him to make roots in his adopted country.

Many of Ireland’s population made their way across the Irish Sea in search of a better life in England. The Refuge helped those children or young men who found themselves in Manchester and needed a little extra help to make roots, wherever they came from.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone!