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The Welfare State within the State: The Saint Vincent de Paul Society in Glasgow, 1848–1920

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2016

Bernard Aspinwall
Bernard Aspinwall*
Affiliation:
Glasgow University
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Extract

At a great protest meeting in Glasgow against Ultramontanism in 1874, the Jesuits, those wily chameleons, were acccused of masquerading as members of the St. Vincent de Paul Society. That body was

ostensibly to benefit the poor but it is in fact a religio-political organisation. It has local, central and general councils; quarterly meetings, conferences, fetes, pilgrimages; it has passports and circular letters to its members. It adapts itself to all classes and conditions - addresses itself to the scholar, the soldier, the mechanic, the apprentice, the labourer - to the mother and the daughter, for all of whom it issues a suitable publication.’

Type
Research Article
Information
Studies in Church History , Volume 23: Voluntary Religion , 1986 , pp. 445 - 459
Copyright
Copyright © Ecclesiastical History Society 1986

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References

1 Rev. Dr. Duff of Edinburgh in Ultramontanism: A Full Report of the Great Public Meeting in the Interests of Civil and Religious Freedom, Glasgow, 7 October 1874 (Glasgow 1874) p. 46.

2 Ultramontanism p. 24. He enjoyed his most enthusiastic support in Scotland. W.L. Arnstein, Protestant versus Catholic in Mid-Victorian England: Mr. Newdegate and the Nuns. (Columbia, Mo. 1982) pp. 7, 52.

3 Annual Report of the St. Vincent de Paul Society (Glasgow 1914) pp. 13-14. Hereafter cited as A.R.S.V.P.

4 A.R.S.V.P. (1897) p. 7.

5 This paragraph is based on Report of the Second Festival of the Holy Gild of St. Joseph Friendly Society (Edinburgh 1843); Tablet, 18 April, 23 May, 1 Aug 1846. It continued to function until the 1850s. A brief account in English of the S.V.P. is in A.J. Dunn, Frederic Ozanam and the Establishment of the S.V.P. (London 1913) and Daniel T. McColgan, A Century of Charity: The First One Hundred Years of the S.V.P. in the United States (Milwaukee 1951) pp. 1-52. J.B. Duroselle. Les Débuts du Catholicisme Social en France, 1822-70 (Paris 1951) remains the classic study.

6 The Scottish Temperance Journal March, 1840, pp. 177-89 and Souvenir of the Golden Jubilee of the S.V.P. in the archdiocese of Glasgow (Glasgow 1898) which gives a summary. The originals and early printed reports, 1848-52 are lost. Rev. Peter Forbes, St. Mary’s, Glasgow had wanted a similar organisation for the poor a few years earlier. See Grand Soirée and Presentation to Rev. Pe ter Forbes, 2j April 1846 (Glasgow 1846). The only copy is in the Glasgow archdiocesan archives.

7 Glasgow City Directories 1848-53; Souvenir pp. 14-17; J. Darragh’s population figures are in D. MacRoberts ed Modern Scottish Catholicism, 1878-1978 (Glas gow 1979) p. 229.

8 Combe, George, Notes on a Visit to the U.S.A. during a Phrenological Visit, 3 vols (Edinburgh 1841) 1 pp. 135–39 and 3 pp. 227–35 Google Scholar and Buckle, T.H., History of Civilisation in England quoted in Young, James T., The Rousing of the Scottish Working Class (London 1979) p. 98 Google Scholar.

9 See the examples in ‘Shadow’, Midnight Scenes and Social Photographs (1858) ed John F. McCaffrey (Glasgow 1976) pp. 136-41. On similar strains and ten sions see R.A. Billington, The Protestant Crusade, 1800-1860: A Study of the Origins of American Nativism (New York 1938) and D. Bowen, The Protestant Crusade in Ireland, 1800-18yo (London 1978).

10 See Davies, John, Cardiff and the Marquesses of Bute (Cardiff 1981) pp. 22–27 Google Scholar; Hunter Blair, D., John Patrick 3rd Marquess of Bute, 1847-1900 (London 1921)Google Scholar. Monteith usually claimed to have been converted by the Irish poor. See also Ward, W.G., Ideal of the Christian Church (London 1844)Google Scholar.

11 See my articles ‘David Urquhart, Robert Monteith and the Catholic Church’ Innes Review 31 (1980) pp. 57-70 and ‘The Formation of the Catholic Community in the West of Scotland’ Innes Review 33 (1982) pp. 44-57. The Urquhart Papers, Balliol College, Oxford contain some correspondence regarding Monteith and W. Cargill who seems to be the same man as the founder of Otago, New Zealand. See Bowling, Tom, And Captain of their Souls: An Interpretative Essay on the Life and Times of Captain William Cargill (Dunedin N.Z. 1984)Google Scholar.

12 See Anderson, Michael, Family Structure in Nineteenth Century Lancashire (Cambridge 1971) esp pp. 87–8, 108, 178.Google Scholar

13 See McCaffrey, J.F., ‘Politics and the Catholic Community Since 1878’ in MacRoberts, D. pp. 140–155 Google Scholar and Wood, Ian S., ‘John Wheatley, the Irish and the Labour Movement in Scotland’ Innes Review 31 (1980) pp. 71–85.Google Scholar

14 Edinburgh, Scottish Catholic Archives, Blairs Papers, Bishop Murdoch to Rev. Dr. Kyle, 21 April and 20 Aug. 1848.

15 On this aspect see Audrey Patterson, ‘The Poor Law in Nineteenth Century Scotland’ in Derek Fraser ed The New Poor Law in the Nineteenth Century (London 1976) pp. 171-193; Thomas Ferguson, The Dawn of Scottish Social Welfare (London 1948) and his Scottish Social Welfare (Edinburgh 1958); J.H. Treble, Urban Poverty in Britain, 1830-1914 (London 1979).

16 Young, James D., The Rousing of the Scottish Working Class pp. 33–36.Google Scholar

17 Scottish Catholic Directory, hereafter cited as S.C.D. (1853) p. 94; Darragh p. 229; Handley, James E., The Irish in Scotland Google Scholar (Glasgow nd) remains the standard authority. On the containment of Irish radical sympathies in Scotland see Epstein, James, The Lion of Freedom: Feargus O’Connor and the Chartist Movement, 1832-1842 (London 1982)Google Scholar; Plummer, A., Bronterre: A Political Biography of Bronterre O’Brien, 1804-1864 (London 1971)Google Scholar; Quinlivan, P. and Rose, P., The Fenians in England, 1865-1872 (London, 1982)Google Scholar; Short, K.R.M., The Dynamite War: Irish-American Bombers in Victorian Britain (Dublin 1979)Google Scholar.

18 The classic statement is Emmet Larkin, ‘The Devotional Revolution in Ireland, 1850-1875’ AHR 77 (1982). I have derived these figures from an analysis of the opening dates of churches in the Western Catholic Calendar (Glasgow 1984).

19 For example A.R.S.V.P. (1863) pp. 8-9; (1864) pp. 8-9, (1866) pp. 6-7; (1869) p. 9.

20 A.R.S.V.P. (1867) p.8. Catholic soup kitchens were established.

21 A.R.S.V.P. (1872) p. 8. He invariably took greater interest in the society than his predecessors and tried to attend the a.g.m. each year.

22 For example Sir D.M. Stevenson in A.R.S.V.P. (1892), list of contributors. Coal in A.R.S.V.P. (1891) p. 41: numerous other examples could be cited.

23 See A.R.S.V.P. (1848-52) a composite version in the Jubilee volume cited above; A.R.S.V.P. (1914), financial statement.

24 See A.R.S.V.P. (1899); (1905); (1880).

25 See A.R.S.V.P. (1903); (1848-52) for oratorios and bazaars from the earliest days.

26 A.R.S.V.P. (1864) p. 35 and (1865) p. 38.

27 A.R.S.V.P. (1901) p. 8.

28 A.R.S.V.P. (1905) p. 16.

29 Handley, James E., The Celtic Story: a history of Celtic F.C. (London 1960)Google Scholar remains the standard account. Nearly every A.R.S.V.P. gives details of gifts. Bute’s considerable generosity also appears in virtually every issue.

30 Burn, J. Dawson, Autobiography of a Beggar Boy (London 1855) p. 19.Google Scholar

31 For example, Lynn Hollin Lees, Exiles of Erin: Irish Immigrants in Victorian London (Manchester 1979) pp. 165-69, 184. Also ‘Shadow’ cited above and Howie, R., The Churches and the Churchless in Scotland (Glasgow 1893)Google Scholar especially p. xxviii on Catholic success with the working classes.

32 The Census of Religious Worship 18} 1 - Glasgow.

33 Capes, J.M., ‘The Wants of the Times’ Rambler 5 (1850) pp. 485–504 Google Scholar esp p. 502. Capes who had been corresponding with Scottish Catholic figures wrote a remarkable commentary on the Scottish condition in Rambler 3 (1849) pp. 597-99 in which he said ‘If ever there was a principle and a body of men existing in a kingdom and not of it, it is Catholicism and Catholics in Calvinistic and Puritan Scotland.’

34 J.M. Capes in Rambler 4 (1849) pp. 473-81.

35 D. Urquhart, Wealth and Want, or Taxation as Influencing Private Riches and Public Liberty (London 1845) p. 6. Also see his The Spirit of the East 2 vols (London 1839) 2 p. 201; Turkey and Its Resources (London 1833) pp. 254-55. Henry Formby, A Visit to the East (London 1843) betrays similar Urquhartite sentiments throughout.

36 Chalmers, T., The Right Christian and Civic Economy for a Nation with a more special reference to its large towns 3 vols (London 1848 ed) 1 pp. 387–88 Google Scholar also p. 405.

37 Tablet, 28 April 1848; see also 22 Feb. 1845, Monteith gave the toast; 18 Sept. 1847, 28] une 1851, 12 Feb. 1853.

38 Tablet, 3 May 1851.

39 Edinburgh, Scottish Catholic Archives, Blairs Papers, R. Monteith to Rev. P. McLachlan, 20 Aug. 1848.

40 His convert lawyer friend, R. Skerrington and Edward Caswall spent some time writing hymns in Edinburgh while as noted above Formby expressed very Urquhartite views. See Stone, J.M., Eleanor Leslie, A Memoir (London 1898) pp. 162–64 Google Scholar.

41 A.R.S.V.P. (1871) p. 7. See Skerrington, R., Petition to the Lords and Commons to appoint a Superintendent of Roman Catholic Pauper Children in Scotland (Edinburgh 1861)Google Scholar. Robert Hay, Catholicity in Glasgow Thirty Years Ago (Glas gow 1868) gives details of the problems of Catholic orphans. No Catholic became a Scottish M.P. before 1914 and before 1881 at least no Catholic served on Glasgow city council.

42 A.R.S.V.P. p. 10 and (1866) p. 43. These developments are summarised in the Souvenir Jubilee cited above pp. 20-1. See also The Childrens Refuge Annual Report (1897) and (1905). According to the Catholic Directory there were almost 60,000 children in the archdiocesan schools.

43 Tablet, 1 Aug. 1884 and the reports included in A.R.S.V.P.

44 Annual Report of the Industrial School (Glasgow 1869). 1879, 1880 and 1889 all have similar figures. Also see Jubilee Souvenir.

45 A.R.S.V.P. (1870) p. 8.

46 A.R.S.V.P. (1895) St. Mary’s return. See the annual figures for example in (1892) p. 8, (1893) p. 20.

47 Rev. Fr. O’Brien, Limerick and T.E. Bradley, editor of the Lamp came. Tablet 8, 22 July 1854, 12 July, 15 Dec. 1855.

48 See Glasgow Archdiocesan Archives, League of the Cross Returns, 1901. In addition there were nearly 7,300 women and children members. Two years later the grand total was 25,178 members: Mackintosh Papers, J. Brady to Archbishop Mackintosh 3 Nov. 1913; Eyre Papers, Rev. O’Reilly S.J. to Archbishop Eyre, 24. Sept. 1888. There is also a full census of the archdiocese in 1888.

49 A.R.S.V.P. (1864); (1869) p. 12; (1892) p. 57.

50 Glasgow Archdiocesan Archives, Miscellaneous, J.M. McGlinchey to Mgr. J. Ritchie, 13 Nov. 1920; Reports of the Catholic Institute, 1913-22. The father of Sir Denis Brogan served on the committee. Dr. W.E. Brown, a lecturer in History, Glasgow University, became a Catholic priest after his conversion and later served as chaplain to the Catholic undergraduates. I am indebted to Dr. John Durkan for this and information on Rev. P.J. Flood. Also see J.M. Cleary, Catholic Social Action in Britain 1909-1959 (Oxfore 1961) p. 84.

51 See the numerous annual tributes to Dr. Colvin and many fellow doctors in the A.R.S.V.P. 1890-1920.

52 Glasgow, A. Arch., Miscellaneous, D.Mullen to Archbishop Mackintosh 10 Oct. 1924; A.R.S.V.P. (1926) p. 13; (1927) pp. 88-9.

53 St. Elizabeth’s Home Annual Reports (1897–1916) and Glasgow, A. Arch., Misc., Memorandum, 3 Feb. 1903.

54 A.R.S.V.P. (1866) p. 26. Funeral payments will be found in virtually every report.

55 A.R.S.V.P. (1895-1914) include appendices with Discharged Catholic Prisoners Aid Society Reports. Rev. Cornelius’s obituary is in (1907).

56 Glasgow, A. Arch., Misc., D. Shields to Archbishop Maguire, 1 Mar. 1904, 13 Mar. 190J; Annual reports Apostleship of the Sea (1925-29).

57 Margaret Keddle, Caroline Chisholm (Melbourne 1951); Rambler 3 (1848) pp. 30-33; Many A.R.S.V.P. mention children and others helped.

58 See the differences between the then Bishop Maguire and J. Brand J.P. at the a.g.m. A.R.S.V.P. (1895) which presents a classic difference of attitude.

59 Glasgow, A. Arch., Misc., D. Mullen to Canon Ritchie, 12 Feb. 1912.

60 A.R.S.V.P. (1912-1914) and (1926) p. 12. Glasgow, A. Arch, Misc., Mgr. Geo.V. Hudson, Birmingham to J.F. Higgins, 13 July 1925; J.F. Higgins to Mgr. J. Ritchie, 12 Aug. 1925. Abbe P. Casgrain to Abp. of Glasgow 3 Feb. 1925; on the background see H.L. Malchow, Population Pressures: Emigration and Government in Late Nineteenth Century Britain (Palo Alto, Cal, 1979).

61 Glasgow, A. Arch, Misc., F. Higgins to Archbishop Mackintosh, 29 June 1925, and Circular regarding Rev. Alfred Gallacher, appointed as emigrants supervisory priest.

62 My conclusions differ somewhat from W.M. Walker,’Irish Immigrants in Scot land: Their Priests, Politics and Parochial Life’ HJ 15 (1972) pp. 649-66 and agree more with R.J. Morris, ‘Voluntary Societies and British Urban Elites, 1780-1850: An Analysis’ HJ 26 (1983) pp. 95-113.