Protestant female philanthropy in Dublin in the early 20th century

C.S. Andrews said of his youth in turn-of-the-century Dublin that as far as inner-city Catholics were concerned ‘there was no such thing as a poor Protestant’. However, the scale of charitable activity both directed towards, and organised by, Protestants in the city would seem to indicate otherwise. The nineteenth century saw a great increase in the number of charitable institutions in Dublin generally, but from the 1870s onwards there was an intensification of Protestant philanthropy in the city. Women in particular played a major role in this invigorated movement, both as administrators and recipients, working with the mainstream movements and, on occasion, carving out autonomous positions for themselves within specific organisations.