Charity Movements in Eighteenth-Century Ireland

Relates charity movements to religious impulse, Enlightenment 'improvement' and the fears of the Protestant ruling elite that growing social problems, unless addressed, would weaken their rule. The philanthropic impulse to engage in charitable work and to encourage economic "improvement" was sharpened in eighteenth-century Ireland as Irish Protestants became increasingly aware of the threat that social problems, such aspoverty, disease and criminality, posed to their rule. One response to this t