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BELFAST
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HISTORICAL RETROSPECT
The first historical notice of Belfast occurs in the records of the
twelfth century. About the middle of that period, we find that a
fort existed in this locality, which was destroyed in the year 1178, by
the celebrated John de Courcy, to whom a grant of the entire province of
Ulster had been made by Henry the Second. From that period, little
is known of the place, or the changes it underwent, until the invasion of
the celebrated Edward Bruce, in 1315, at which time we learn that Belfast
was a "good town and stronghold," the ancient fort having given
place to a substantial castle. It appears that the English and the
native Ulster Chieftains hale alternate possession of the town and castle,
during a lengthened series of sanguinary conflicts, until the year 1575,
when a large tract of territory, including the Castle of Belfast, which
had been several times, during the civil wars, destroyed and re-built, was
granted by Queen Elizabeth to Sir Thomas Smith on certain
conditions. These conditions not having been fulfilled, the entire
estate of the English was granted in 1612, to the Lord Deputy Chichester,
then newly created a Baron, his heirs, etc., lords of the castle and
manor, and authorised the borough to send two members to Parliament.
The first Sovereign was Thomas Vesey, Esq., and the first Parliamentary
representatives were Sir John Blennerhasset, Baron of the Exchequer, and
George Trevallion, Esquire.
The population of
Belfast and its vicinity, which was a distinct territory at this period,
mainly consisted of English and Scotch settlers, according to the policy
of James I., who resolved, wisely, to plant his Irish possessions with
colonists from Great Britain. The town itself was still as
exceedingly insignificant place, consisting only of the castle, a Church,
and a collection of houses, known by the name of "the
village." But under the new government it rapidly began to
enlarge itself; and, from this era, symptoms of its future prosperity and
importance began to manifest themselves.
In the year 1637,
Belfast obtained, by purchase, from the Corporation of Carrickfergus, the
right of importing commodities, at one-third of the duties payable at
other places, and it thus became a port of considerable trade. Even
in the midst of the alarms and misfortunes to which the inhabitants were
subjected during the war between Charles I and the Parliament, and the
rage of sectarian strife, which reached even this remote quarter of
English rule, the commerce of Belfast continued slowly but steadily to
increase, so much so that, in the period from 1683 to 1686, we find that
67 vessels, with an aggregate tonnage of 3,307 tons, belonged to the
port. Previously, the military defences of the town had been much
strengthened by Charles I., who granted £1,000 to the then governor,
Colonel Chichester, newly created Earl of Donegall, for that
purpose. Belfast, during the civil war, was thrice in the hands of
the Parliamentarians, and it was under the protectorate of Cromwell that
it made its first and most rapid strides towards social and commercial
importance.
The charter was
renewed in 1688 by James II., the number of burgesses being raised to
thirty-five. The policy of James was, however, so distasteful to the
inhabitants generally, that they declared for the Prince of Orange
immediately on his arrival. It was not, however, until after the
reduction of James's adherents, by the Duke of Schomberg, that Belfast
could be properly described as under the sway of the new monarch. On
the 14th of June, 1690, King William the Third visited Belfast, where he
remained for five nights, lodging in the house of Sir William Franklin,
which stood on the present site of the Donegall Arms Hotel. It was
during this visit that his Majesty authorised the grant of £1,200 a-year,
to the Presbyterian ministers of Ulster, who had suffered greatly in his
cause, and this was the origin of the Regium Donum. It was in 1642
that the first Presbytery had been held in Carrickfergus, and in 1645,
that the first Presbyterian congregation was established in Belfast.
Though the trade of
the town and port had greatly increased for some time previous to the
Revolution settlement, the town itself was extremely insignificant.
The houses were thatched; goods were exposed for sale chiefly in the open
streets, and there was no public buildings save the Castle, the Church,
the Market house, and the "Long Bridge," which had been just
finished. Nevertheless, the population was becoming numerous, and
soon began to prove how much they appreciated the blessings of peace and
good government.
The progress of the
town from this period until the time when Belfast became one of the most
flourishing and prosperous communities in the island, will be chiefly
noted by the history of each of its present institutions under their
distinctive heads. During the reign of Queen Anne and the two first
monarchs of the House of Hanover, the inhabitants were distinguished not
more for their love of the arts of peaceful industry, that for their loyal
attachment to the throne. The last remnant of the semi-barbarous
period, through the mists of which we have to look for fragmentary notices
of the early origin and progress of the town - the celebrated castle of
Belfast - was destroyed by fire in 1708, the three daughters of the then
Earl of Donegall having perished in the conflagration. Volunteer
corps were formed for the first time in the period rendered memorable by
the menaced invasion of the Pretender, and these corps were effectually
organised in 1760, when the French Admiral, Thurot, landed at
Carrickfergus, and reduced the garrison there, as a preparatory step to
the intended capture of Belfast. The Volunteers were again enrolled
in 1779, on the rumour of another French invasion; and in the course of a
few years, the movement being general throughout the country, they
presented a well disciplined force of 5,000 men, exercising a political
influence, which was at last considered so hostile to the English
Government, that it was thought necessary to extinguish the corps in
1793. Notwithstanding the proclamations of the Government, the
military organisation survived, and was directed to the vain effort of
securing independence of English rule. Arrests and penalties were
alike unavailing, and, in 1795, seventy-two associations of "United
Irishmen" were represented at a meeting in Belfast, held with the
view of completing arrangements for action. The news of another
French invasion revived the spirit of loyalty in 1798, and, when the
rebellion of that year broke out, the yeomanry of Belfast and the
adjoining counties were found on the side of the Government troops at
Antrim and Ballynahinch. After the passing of the Act of Union, the
Municipal Government of Belfast was materially altered by the appointment
of Police Commissioners and "Life Commissioners," in conjunction
with the former Corporation; these new local bodies being invested, the
former with the levying of taxes for public expenses, and the latter with
powers for regulating the paving, lighting and cleansing of the town.
The first
Sovereign, under the new order of things, was John Brown, Esq., and, under
this local Government, the borough continued until the passing of the
Municipal Act of 1841, in conformity with which, the Corporation now
consists of a Mayor, ten Aldermen, and thirty Town Councillors. The
first Mayor of Belfast, was George Dunbar, Esq. Various other public
bodies were incorporated at different times - such as the Harbour
Commissioners, the Water Commissioners, etc., under whose management, in
conjunction with the Town Council, the borough and port progressed to such
a degree of prosperity, that Belfast has, at length, earned the
acknowledged title of the commercial metropolis of Ireland.
SITE, EXTENT, POPULATION, ETC.
Belfast, properly so called, is situate in the Barony of Upper Belfast, in
the County of Antrim; but the large suburb of Ballymacarrett, which is
only separated from the town by the river Lagan, forms a portion of the
County Down. The whole comprises an area of 1,872 acres, of which
576 acres are occupied by Ballymacarrett. Of this area, 1,542 acres
are within the Municipal boundary, and 330 without.
The parish of
Belfast, otherwise called Shankhill (Shankill), in which the borough is
included, lies chiefly in the Barony of Upper Belfast and partly in the
Barony of Lower Belfast. It is nine miles and a quarter long, by
five in breadth, and contains, according to the Ordnance survey, 19,559
stature acres - exclusive of the borough, 18,263 acres. The town is
80 Irish miles distant from Dublin, in lat. 54 deg. 36 min. 8.5 sec.
North, and long. 5 deg. 55 min. 53.7 sec. West. It stands at the
mouth of the Lagan, where that river expands into the Belfast Lough.
For the purposes of
commerce, it is most commodiously situated, all the natural impediments
to the navigation of the harbour and lough having been recently removed
by the energy and industry of the inhabitants. The site of the town
is low, a great portion of it consisting of land reclaimed from the sea,
and few parts being more than six feet above high water mark; owing to
which cause, the streets in the neighbourhood of the river are
occasionally inundated, the fall not being sufficient to carry off the
floods which descent, in rainy weather, from the hills in the
vicinity. Except, however, during the prevalence of epidemics, the
town is considered healthy, and, when the sanitary regulations, now
contemplated and partly in operation, are completed, few manufacturing
centres in United Kingdom will, probably, be found more generally free
from the noxious influences which induce disease. The scenery of the
suburbs and adjacent districts is not surpassed in picturesqueness by the
environs of any other Irish town. From every elevated point a series
of splendid prospects may be obtained. The harbour commands a noble
view down the Lough, which is twelve miles in length by five in width,
bounded on the Northern shore by a range of basaltic mountains, one of
which, Cave Hill, is broken on its South-Eastern face into abrupt precipes,
and, over-looking the town at a distance of only three miles, forms a
grand and peculiar feature in the landscape. The opposite, or County
Down shore, rises gently from the level of the Lough in swelling uplands,
whose wavy outline well contrasts with the sterner aspect of the Antrim
Hills. On both sides the eye rests with pleasure upon a succession
of handsome villas, richly wooded slopes, well cultivated farms, and
smiling towns. Westward and Southward, the view is equally
striking. The valley of the Lagan, a broad and fertile tract,
expands as far as the eye can reach along the base of a verdant and
graceful range of mountains, of considerable elevation, with undulating
outline. In every direction, the aspect of the suburban districts
combines the charms of rural beauty and elegant retirement, with the
enlivening evidences of manufacturing industry.
The river Lagan,
which separates the counties of Antrim and Down, is crossed by three
bridges, and several boat ferries. The Queen's Bridge, built on the
site of the old Long Bridge, is a massive granite structure, with five
arches. It was opened for public traffic in 1844.
The population of
Belfast in 1834 amounted to 60,813, of which 10,388 were members of the
Established Church; 23,576 Presbyterians; 19,712 of the Roman Catholic
persuasion; and 1137 of other persuasion. In 1841, the population,
within the municipal boundary, was 70,447; without, 4,861; total, 75,308,
of which 68,611 were in Antrim, and 6,697 in Down; the total of inhabited
houses being 10,906, averaging 6.9 persons to a house. Since the
year 1834, there is no record of the proportions belonging to the
different religious denominations. According to the census of 1851,
the population is 99,660, including Ballymacarrett; the increase between
1841 and 1851 being no less than 24,352, a larger increase than that
exhibited by any other town in Ireland within the same period,
numerically, though the rate of increase in the town of Galway has been
higher. This population of 99,660, consists of 46,443 males and
53,217 females. The total number of families is 20,553. The
total number of families is 20,553. The number of houses on the 31st
of March, 1851, the date at which the census was taken, was 15,100, of
which 12,965 were inhabited, 1,050 uninhabited, and 85 in process of
building. The increase of inhabited houses since 1841, is 3,059,
being at the rate of 28 per cent. The decrease of uninhabited
houses, during the same period, has been 856, being at the rate of 44 per
cent. The increase of houses in progress of building since 1841 has
been 22, being at the rate of 34 per cent. Both in the census of
1841 and in that of 1851, Belfast is exhibited as a separate district.
RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS
The total number of places of worship in Belfast is forty-eight; the
prevailing denominations are those of the Established, Presbyterians,
Wesleyan, and Roman Catholic Churches. The Established Church
possesses ten religious edifices, viz.:- St. Anne's (the Parish Church),
St. George's Christ Church, Magdalen Church, Shankhill Church (Shankill),
Trinity Church, Malone Chapel of Ease, St. Paul's Church, Ballymacarrett,
and the Military Chapel , Infantry Barracks. A new Episcopal Church
(St. John's), is about to be erected near Oxford Street. There are
twenty-one Presbyterian Churches, of which there are, in connection with
the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, the following,
viz.:- Rosemary Street, Fisherwick Place, May Street, Donegall Street,
Linenhall Street, York Street, Alfred Street, Alfred Place, Townsend
Street, Great George's Street, College Square, Ballymacarrett, Malone,
Berry Street, Bethel Chapel, and Crumlin Road. In connection with
the Unitarian body, the following:- First Unitarian, Second Unitarian
(both in Rosemary Street), and Third Unitarian in York Street; in
connection with the Covenanters, the following:- Dublin Road (Eastern
Reformed), and College Square South (Reformed Presbyterian). There
are seven houses of worship in connection with the Methodist Societies,
viz.:- Donegall (Wesleyan), York Street (New Connexion), Frederick Street
(Wesleyan), Ballymacarrett (Wesleyan), Wesley Place Wesleyan, Donegall
Place (Primitive, and Melbourne Street. The Roman Catholic Chapels
are four, viz.:- St. Mary's, St. Patrick's, St. Malachy's and the
Ballymacarrett Chapel. The Society of Friends have one Chapel, in
Frederick Street; the Independents one, in Donegall Street; the Baptists
one, in Academy Street; and the Latter-Day Saints, or Mormonites, one, in
King Street. There are, besides, two Wesleyan Chapels about to be
built - one in Shankhill (Shankill), and the other to accommodate the
dense manufacturing population on the Falls Road. The former is to
be in connexion with the Frederick Street Congregation, and the latter
with Donegall Square East Church. Almost every one of the leading
congregations in the town, of whatever persuasion, has a Sabbath School,
and many of them a daily school, in connexion with its place of public
worship.
The greater number
of the religious edifices are handsome structures, some of them built in a
style of considerable architectural taste. St. Anne's Church, in
Donegall Street, erected in 1778, has a fine Doric Portico, Ionic tower,
and Corinthian steeple. Trinity Church, near the Antrim Road, built
in 1843, at private expense, is a handsome Gothic structure, with an
exceedingly graceful octagonal spire. St. George's Church, in High
Street, erected in 1812, possesses one of the finest Corinthian tetrastyle
porticoes in Ireland - the gift of Dr. Alexander, then bishop of the
diocese, and formerly the chief ornament of the palace of Ballyscullion,
built by the celebrated Earl of Bristol, when Bishop of Derry. The
Church of the First Presbyterian Congregation in connexion with the
General Assembly, in Rosemary Street, is a noble edifice, with a grand
Doric portico, reached by twenty steps, and finished in the interior in a
style of costly magnificence. The Fisherwick Place Presbyterian
Church, opened in 1827, boasts of an elegant portico of four Ionic
columns, with capitals imitated from the temple of Ilyssus. It was
erected by Mr. Millar, a native architect, at a cost of £10,000.
The May Street Presbyterian Church, opened in 1829, has a recessed Ionic
portico, with two massive fluted columns and four pilasters; it is of
large dimensions, and its interior is very elegantly designed and
decorated. Christ Church possesses a massive cut stone front, with
an Ionic portico of two pillars surmounted by an entablature. The
Wesleyan Church, Donegall Square East, is an exceedingly handsome edifice,
the facade consisting almost entirely of a hexastyle Corinthian
portico. The interior is light, cheerful, and finished with great
attention to elegance and convenience. St. Malachy's Chapel, in
McClean's field, is a large brick buildings, in the Tudor style, cruciform
in shape, with several turrets surmounting the gables, and decorated in
the interior with an exquisite and elaborate traceried ceiling. The
newly erected Church of St. Paul's, in York Street, is a Gothic structure,
in the early style, with lancet windows, cut stone belfry, and crocket
finials.
EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS
Perhaps no town in the empire can boast of a greater number of educational
establishments, in proportion to its size, than Belfast. They may be
enumerated, according to their dates, as follows:- The Belfast Academy,
the Royal Academical Institution, the Brown Street Schools, the
Lancasterian or Ragged Schools, the National Schools, the Ulster
Institution for the Deaf and Dumb and the Blind, the Educational and
Industrial School, the Queen's College, and the Government School of
Design.
The Belfast Academy
- the first important seminary established in the town, was founded in
1786. It early obtained a high reputation, from the ability with
which it was conducted under its successive principals, and is still
regarded as one of the best seminaries for classical and mercantile
education in the kingdom. The success of this academy first
suggested the plan of the Royal Academical Institution.
The Royal
Academical Institution was founded by voluntary subscription in 1810, when
the proprietors became incorporated by Act of Parliament, and received a
public grant of £1,500 per annum, increased, in 1834 to £3,500. A
medical school was added in 1836. It originally included two
schools, one for the education of pupils intended for the learned
professors, and the other for instructions in the ordinary branches of
education. Lectureships were included in the foundation to the
number of seven, each professor receiving a salary of £150, besides two
professorships of divinity with a salary of £100 a-year each. The
government of the Institution consisted of a president, four
vice-presidents, twenty managers, and eight visitors. For a long
period of years the Royal Academical Institution continued to afford
instruction to the students of the Orthodox Presbyterian bodies of Ulster,
until the General Assembly ceased to be connected with it; and, in 1849,
the collegiate department was dissolved and transferred to the Queen's
College. The schools, however, still occupy the main portion of the
building, and continue in a state of great efficiency, under six
masters. The building is a large plain edifice of brick, pointed
with stone-work, fronting the noble area of College Square on the South
side.
The Brown Street
Sunday, Daily and Infant School was founded in 1812. It forms a
commodious edifice, in which about 500 children of both sexes are
instructed in the ordinary branches of a mercantile education, for the
small sum of one penny per week for each pupil. The female schools
are superintended by a committee of ladies. To this establishment,
Belfast is indebted for the rescue of a large portion of its poorer
population from vice and vice and ignorance, and their introduction to the
means of acquiring respectability and competence.
The Lancasterian
School, in Frederick Street, was founded in 1811, for the instruction of
the labouring classes. A few years since, a Female Industrial
School, for the instruction of poor girls in needle-work and embroidery,
was established in the building, supported partly by voluntary
contributions, and partly by the proceeds of the work executed. The
institution now feeds, clothes and educates ninety poor girls, fitting
them for domestic servants and other useful avocations. Here, also,
is a "ragged" school, the first of the kind established in
Ireland.
The Ulster
Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb and the Blind was
opened in 1845, at the cost of £11,000, by voluntary subscription, having
originated in a previous establishment situated in College Street, carried
on upon a much smaller scale. It is capable of affording the
blessings of religious and secular instruction to one hundred
pupils. The Institution is under the management of a committee of
the subscribers, a principal and male and female assistants. The
building is a superb structure in the Elizabethian style, situated in
Malone, and occupying a considerable area.
The Queen's College
was opened in October, 1849. It is a fundamental principle of the
establishment that the religious opinions of the students shall not be in
any way interfered with by the professors. The number of
matriculated students at the opening was 108. The building is one of
the finest in Ulster. It occupies a noble site on the Botanic Road,
in the centre of elegantly laid-out grounds, neighbouring the Botanic
Garden. The cost of the structure was nearly £30,000. It is
an edifice in the Tudor style of architecture, with a facade in front of
600 feet in length. The material is a bright red brick, profusely
ornamented with cut-stone. It consists of a lofty entrance tower, in
the basement storey of which is the Hall, two slightly recessed ranges of
building on either side, and two wings, extending backwards to a
considerable depth, and forming the Northern and Southern faces of the
edifice. In the rere, the extremities of the wings are connected
together by the cloisters or ambulatories, the whole forming a square
massive pile. The examination hall is an exceedingly large and lofty
room, being eighty feet in length, by forty in width, and forty in
height. The North wing contains the lecture-rooms, laboratory, etc.,
and the Southern, the apartments of the President and Professors.
Its government consists of a President, Vice-President, thirteen
Professors in the faculty of arts, which includes engineering and
agriculture; five in the faculty of medicine; and two in the faculty of
law. There are four Deans of Residences. a Registrar, a Librarian,
and a Bursar. The College is endowed with thirty scholarships of
£24; eleven of £20; four of £15; and ten senior scholarships of £40
each. The Queen's College, Belfast, as those of Cork and Galway, is
constituted a College of the Queen's University in Ireland, and its
Professors are considered Professors of that University.
The Government School of Design occupies the Northern wing of the
Academical Institution. It is supported partly by a Government
endowment, and partly by local aid. It gives instruction to pupils
of both sexes in the arts of design and decoration, with a special view to
the improvement to the staple manufactures of the country. The
school was opened in 1850. It is under the management of a general
committee, and is in connexion with the Parent School of Design in
Somerset House, London.
There are
twenty-eight National Schools in the town and vicinity of Belfast, besides
a considerable number of schools under the patronage of the Church
Education Society. A male and female school is attached to the
institution of the Belfast Charitable Society, to the Union Workhouse, and
to the Infantry Barracks.
LITERARY AND OTHER INSTITUTIONS
Amongst the literary and scientific institutions now existing in Belfast,
the first place must be given to the Natural History and Philosophical
Society, which holds its meetings in the Museum, a neat building situate
in College Square North. This Society was the first of its kind
established in Ireland. A paper is read twice a month by each member
in rotation, and, during the winter, a monthly lecture is given, which is
open to friends of the members. The Museum contains a fine
collection, scarcely inferior to that of the Royal Dublin Society, or of
the Trinity College Museum. It has latterly been much enriched by
the contributions of Sir James E. Tennent, M.P., one of the most
distinguished members of the Society. It is open to the public, at a
moderate charge, every day except Sunday.
The Belfast Society
for the Promotion of Knowledge, holds its meetings in the White Linen
Hall, and possesses a library containing upwards of 10,000 volumes.
There are also several minor literary societies connected with the
greater educational establishments, and a Society called the Essayist
Club, which meets once a month, for the reading and discussion of original
papers by the members. The Belfast Working Classes' Association
meets in temporary apartments in the Castle Chambers, where there is a
news-room and the nucleus of a library. This Society has it in
contemplation to found an Athenaeum for Belfast.
The Belfast Medical
Society meets once a month in the General Hospital, in the library of
which building there is a valuable collection of books for the use of the
members.
The Anacreontic
Society, instituted for the cultivation of vocal and instrumental music,
holds its meetings in the Music Hall, a spacious building in May
Street. The members meet once a week, and, in the winter, give a
series of concerts to the public.
At a short distance
from the town, in the vicinity of Queen's College, are the Gardens of the
Royal Botanical and Horticultural Society, the grounds of which are of
considerable extent, tastefully laid out, and containing a noble range of
conservatories, and a large collection of native and exotic plants.
Several times in the course of each year, there are exhibitions of plants
and flowers in the Garden, at which prizes for successful competition are
awarded.
In December 1851,
was founded a Social Inquiry Society, on the plan of the Statistical
Society of Dublin, the members of which hold their meetings in the rooms
of the Chamber of Commerce.
The Royal Society
for the Promotion and Improvement of the growth of Flax in Ireland, was
established by a number of gentlemen connected with the flax trade in
Belfast, in the year 1841, with the view of introducing a better system of
handling flax in its growth and preparation, and to increase the quantity
grown to the amount required for the British and Irish linen trade.
The Society has latterly directed its attention chiefly to the provinces
of Leinster, Munster and Connaught. It keeps up a staff of
agriculturists, who are trained in Belgium, in the most approved system of
management, and who are sent to give instructions to all parts of Ireland,
where there are farming societies or landed proprietors subscribing to its
funds. The Lord Lieutenant has, during the last four years, annually
placed a sum of £1,000 at the disposal of the Society, in aid of its
operations in the South and West. The Queen and Prince Albert are
patrons of the Society. The Lord Lieutenant vice-patron, and the
Marquis of Downshire its president.
The Chemico-Agricultural
Society of Ulster, instituted for the dissemination of practical knowledge
on the connection of chemistry with agriculture, and for the analysis of
soils and manures, etc., meets every Friday. The President is the
Marquis of Downshire, and the chemist, who is its principal practical
officer, and to whose labours its success from the commencement is mainly
attributable, is Professor Hodges, M.D. To forward the views of this
Society, a laboratory has been opened, where analyses and experiments are
made, advice given, and pupils instructed. Arrangements are in
progress for an appropriate museum and library. The newspapers
published in Belfast are the following:- The News-Letter, published
continuously since A.D. 1737 (three times a week); the Commercial
Chronicle (three times a week); the Northern Whig (three times a week);
the Banner of Ulster (twice a week); the Mercury (three times a week); the
Vindicator, Mercantile Register, and Ulster General Advertiser (once a
week). In the winter of 1850, an Association for the Promotion of
the Fine Arts was founded, and its first exhibition of paintings and
sculpture was opened with so much success, that these is reason to believe
it will be a permanent Institution.
There are several
news-rooms - viz., the Commercial News-room, in the Commercial Buildings;
the Linen Hall News-room, in the White Linen Hall; the People's News-room,
17 Castle Place; and others of a minor character. A public
news-room, on a large scale and liberal terms, is about to be established
in the magnificent hall of the newly erected Corn Exchange, Victoria
Street.
The monetary
institutions of Belfast are the following :- The Belfast Banking Company,
whose establishment, a beautiful structure in the Italian Palatial style,
occupies the site of the Old Exchange, at the foot of Donegall Street; the
Northern Banking Company, who have recently erected a magnificent Bank of
cut Portland stone in the Ionic style, in Victoria Street, the most costly
structure in the town, proportionally to its size; the Bank of Ireland,
Donegall Place; the Ulster Banking Company, Waring Street; the Provincial
Banking Company, Donegall Street; and the Belfast Savings' Bank, King
Street.
The principal
poor-relief institutions are those of the Belfast Charitable Society, and
the Union Workhouse. The Charitable Society was incorporated by Act
of Parliament, in 1774. Its Poorhouse and Infirmary constitute a
handsome structure, ornamented with a turret and spire, on the Antrim
Road, at the head of Donegall Street. It provides in-door relief to
decayed persons of both sexes, besides many children who are instructed in
useful avocations, and afterwards apprenticed out to the trading
community. It originally derived its main support from annual
subscriptions, but having, by its Act, obtained special privileges, grants
of ground, etc., the proceeds therefrom, with the interest of bequests,
render it nearly independent of the contributions of the public. The
Union Workhouse was opened in 1841, but has since been nearly doubled in
extent by the addition of new buildings for in-door relief, schools, and a
large infirmary with 600 beds. It supports the great mass of the
pauperism of the district. The Union comprises twelve electoral
districts, for which there are twenty-two elected, and twelve ex-officio
guardians. Besides these establishments, there is a Destitute
Sick Society, a Clothing Society, a Ladies' Connaught Relief Society, a
Girls' Industrial School, the Ulster Female Penitentiary (established
1831), and the Magdalen Asylum, founded in 1842, in connexion with which
is an Episcopal Chapel, supporting a chaplaincy, in Donegall Pass.
The following are
the principal benevolent associations:- The Association for
Discountenancing Vice, the Auxiliary Bible Society, the Auxiliary to the
Hibernian School Society, the Auxiliary to the Society for promoting
Christianity among the Jews, and the Seamen's Friend Society.
HARBOUR AND QUAYS
The Harbour of Belfast was originally a creek of the river Lagan, in the
entrance to the stream now arched over in High Street, and was under no
regular government. In 1637, the Earl of Stafford, having purchased
from the Corporation of Carrickfergus the privilege of receiving to their
use one-third of all the custom duties imported into that town, with other
trading monopolies, the trade of Belfast for the first time became
important, and in 1729, by Act of Parliament, a separate Corporation was
appointed for the conservancy of the Harbour, whose powers were increased
by the 25th George III. chap. 64. The artificial fords were soon
after removed, and the river deepened. In 1791 a platform for
graving was made, and one graving dock was opened in 1800, and another in
1826. Up to 1829, however, very little beyond this had been done for
the improvement of the Harbour, notwithstanding the increasing trade of
the port, partly because the proprietors of the town and all the property
in its vicinity - the Donegall family - themselves wished to form the
Harbour, and were, therefore, reluctant to lease any ground for the
purpose to the Ballast Corporation; and partly because the question was
taken up and held in suspense by the Government for several years.
The Government, however, having abandoned the undertaking, and the
Corporation being left to their own resources, the latter obtained copies
of all reports and estimates in possession of the Government, and, in
addition called in the services of several eminent engineers.
Amongst these were Messrs. Walker & Burges, whose plan having met with
the approbation of all parties interested, was adopted by the Harbour
Corporation, and an amended Act, obtained in August 1831, at length gave
the necessary powers to carry into effect the improvement of the
port. The old winding channel, always tedious of navigation, was
superseded in 1840, by the first portion of a new channel, which was then
completed to the extent of one mile, extending from Prince's Dock to below
the Mile-end water. In 1841, another bill was obtained, for the
purpose of completing this improvement, and under its provisions the New
Cut was continued (with a short interval yet unfinished) to Garmoyle, by
an embanked channel, which was opened on the 10th of July, 1849. The
new channel has nine feet of water at low tides, thus enabling steamers
and large sailing vessels to come up to the quays at neap tides, and
vessels drawing eighteen feet of water, at spring tides. Within the
last few years the most extensive improvements have been made in the
quayage of the port, which now consists of two splendid quays, extending
on either side of the river from Queen's Bridge to the Mile-water, and two
capacious docks, called respectively the Prince's (formerly Dunbar's) and
the Clarendon Docks. The former is reserved for foreign
shipping. The latter was opened in September, 1850, by his
Excellency the Earl of Clarendon, during a visit to the town. On the
North, or Antrim side of the river, the quays are exclusively reserved for
steamers and vessels in the foreign trade. These are flanked by
extensive stores, offices, etc., and a range of handsome sheds. On
the opposite side there are a coal exchange, and offices and yards, for
the accommodation of the coal merchants; and the quay itself is reserved
for colliers and coasting vessels. Opposite the Eastern extremity of
the Southern, or Queen's Quay, is Queen's Island, upon which has been
erected a Patent Slip, which gives accommodation to vessels of 1,000 tons
register, whilst undergoing repairs. Adjoining the ship-building
ground of Messrs. A. McLaine and Sons, there is a second Patent Slip, for
vessels under 400 tons register. The island is neatly planted and
laid out with promenades, for the recreation of the public. There is
a Battery at the Eastern extremity; and nearly in the centre was erected,
in the summer of 1851, an elegant structure of glass and wood, for the
purpose of annual bazaars, or fetes, in aid of the General Hospital.
The cost of the recent improvements of the port amounted to £405,519,
raised in loans, on the security of the harbour dues. Several
ship-building yards occupy a large space in the vicinity of the
docks. A screw-pile light-house, connected with which is a pilot
establishment, stands near the embouchure of the river; it rises thirty
feet above high water, and exhibits a fixed red light. There is a
second light-house, besides beacons. There are thirty-nine pilots
belonging to the harbour. The present Custom House is an old
unsightly building, quite inadequate to the wants of the port; but it is
to be replaced by a handsome and commodious structure. It may be
mentioned here that, during the progress of the Harbour Improvements of
Belfast, in deepening the river, the steam dredges then in use for that
purpose turned up, in the course of those operations, some of the stones
from which it is stated Belfast originally derived its name, Beala-fearsad,
"The Town of the Ford." Mr. McWilliams, who has at present
the charge of the Harbour Commissioners' machinery on Queen's Island,
discovered that those stones were worn upon the upper surface, and that
the causeway, or ford, has been about 40 feet in width. It was
protected from the action of the influx and efflux of the tide by piles at
either side, the removal of which, in the course of the Harbour
Improvements, was a matter of very considerable difficulty, and one which,
before the cause was discovered, very considerably injured the machinery
of the river deepening apparatus. We are not aware that the whole of
these remarkable relics have been preserved, but we believe that the
antiquarian can have access to some of them, on making inquiry in the
proper quarter.
In 1786, the total
number of ships that entered the port of Belfast amounted to 772 vessels,
with a tonnage of 34, 287 tons, and a tonnage revenue of £1,553; in 1850,
the number of vessels entering the port was 4,490, with a tonnage of
624,223 tons, and a revenue of £29,012. At the close of the year
1851, the number of vessels registered as belonging to the port was 448,
with an aggregate tonnage of 74,540 tons, of which, in the foreign trade,
were 137 vessels, with a tonnage of 57,996 tons, and in the coasting
trade, 311 vessels, with a tonnage of 16,544 tons. During the year
1851, 17 vessels, with a registered tonnage of 10,506 tons, were added to
the foreign-trade shipping; and, during the same period, 22 vessels,
registered at 1,544 tons, were added to those engaged in the coasting
trade. The aggregate tonnage of the steamers trading between Belfast
and England and Scotland, amounts to 7,298 tons. The total number of
vessels which entered the harbour in 1851 was 5,016. The aggregate
tonnage was 650,938: viz., steamers, 309, 783; foreign vessels, 84,716;
cross-Channel and coasters, 244,830; Irish Channel, 13,609. The
harbour rates on goods, in 1851, amounted to £8,330 9s. 10d., being an
increase of £868 12s. 8d. over 1850. The tonnage dues in 1851
amounted to £10,735, being an increase of £422 over 1850. The
quayage dues in 1851 amounted to £2,670 14s., being an increase of £326.
12s. over 1850. The ballast dues in 1851 amounted to £2,670 14s.,
being an increase of £500 18s. over 1850. The quantity of coals
delivered at the quays in 1851 was 295,513 tons, being an increase of
nearly 42,000 tons over 1850 - a fair test by which to form an opinion as
to the increased manufacturing industry and general comfort of the
community.
The customs duties
paid at the port of Belfast, for each of the last three years, ending 5th
Jan., amounted, for 1849, to £346,426 16s. 2d.; for 1850, to £362,990
12s. 2d.; for 1851, to £369,415 12s. 1d. The increase of the year
ending 5th January, 1852, over that ending 5th January, 1851, is,
therefore, £6,424 19s. 11d.; and over the year preceding, £22,988 16s.
11d.
The commerce of
Belfast is greater than that of any other port in Ireland. It ranks
next to that of Leith. The principal exports consist of corn, meal
and flour, cured provisions, linen yarn, feathers, flax and tow, cotton
manufacturers, linen cloth, green and tanned hides, horses, eggs,
etc. The chief articles of export, however, are the various linen
fabrics, value £3,320,000; muslins and other cotton manufacturers,
£1,400,000; cured provisions, £400,000; flax and tow (unmanufactured),
£40,000; and the total value of the general exports amounts to about
£5,600,000. By much the largest proportion of the exports of
Belfast are transferred, for re-shipment, to Liverpool, London, Greenock,
etc., forming in value, perhaps, almost one-half of the entire value of
exports from the first of those ports, thus establishing the character of
Belfast as the chief commercial port of Ireland. The chief imports
are timber, grain, flax, flaxseed, sugar, barilla, fruit, etc.
With the West
Indian colonies of Great Britain the direct trade of the port is
considerable, but principally with Demerara, Barbadoes, and Antigua.
In the trade to these ports a large amount of the tonnage registered at
Belfast is regularly engaged, in addition to chartered vessels. By
far the largest proportion of the Colonial produce imported into Belfast
is first landed at Liverpool, Greenock, or other ports, and conveyed
across Channel by steamers.
An import trade
from the East to this port, after having been in abeyance for a very
considerable period, was re-opened about the year 1844, through the agency
of an enterprising merchant of the town, to whom was consigned the first
cargo of tea, directly imported, that has ever landed in Ireland.
The bottom in which this cargo was brought to our shores had been
chartered in China for the purpose. The commerce of Belfast with the
Eastern possessions of Britain, as also with China, is steadily
increasing, and, as late as last year, vessels owned by Belfast merchants
are recorded in Lloyd's Register as engaged in the regular trade between
ports in the East - as Bombay, Calcutta, Hong-Kong, Shanghae,
Singapore, etc. - and British ports. Indeed a very large amount of
the tonnage registered as belonging to the port of Belfast is not engaged
in its own trade. A number of the largest ships belonging to the
port have never entered he harbour, but are engaged either in the
cotton-carrying, the East India, or the African trades.
The general
interests of Trade and Commerce are attended to by the Chamber of
Commerce, a voluntary association formed in 1783. Its business is
now transacted in suitable rooms in Waring Street. This association
has, of late years, proved of essential advantage to the mercantile
interests of the town, and it numbers in its body the great proportion of
the respectable merchants and traders.
The amount of
Postage collected in the town of Belfast was, in 1842, £4,588; in 1851,
it was £7,246.
The Stamp Duties
received in the Belfast collection were, in 1846, £22,021; in 1850, they
amounted to £26,991.
The Inland Revenue
collected in the Belfast district amounted, in 1850, to £206,278.
STEAM NAVIGATION
Shortly after the introduction of Steam Navigation upon the Clyde some
enterprising gentleman in Glasgow conceived that a cross0channel trade
might, probably, prove remunerative, and speculation pointed out as the
first point, the nearest commercial port of Ireland, to wit,
Belfast. The only trade between those two ports, now so important in
the annals of British commerce, was at that time conducted by casual
vessels, the freight ships being, in general, those which, having
discharged cargoes of coals, afterwards accepted an occasional
freight. The passenger trade to Scotland or England was, generally,
conducted by means of vessels trading between Donaghadee and Portpatrick,
or Parkgate, in Cheshire. About the year 1819, after Steam
Navigation had been tested upon the Clyde, and when the capability of
steamers for cross channel, or deep sea navigation, had been proved, the
merchants of Glasgow, always foremost in matters of judicious enterprise,
started a small steamer, with the object of plying between two ports whose
interests were so closely connected. The vessel chosen by them for
this purpose was one which, in the present age of improvement, would be
considered very small indeed, and quite insufficient for the object
intended. She was named the Clydesdale, a small boat of about 100
tons, forty horse-power, flush-decked, and with far less shelter from a
shower, or from the sea spray, than at present is to be had in a canvas
tent - no bridge, no suitable convenience, in short, of any kind.
The Clydesdale ran for two or three years, when she was replaced by
another steamer, not larger or more elegant, named the Rob Roy. The
Clydesdale was afterwards burned, during a voyage between the Clyde and
Belfast, and her helmsman, by name Cochrane, had a pension awarded him by
public subscription in Scotland, in recognition of his gallantry in
holding by the wheel whilst the vessel was on fire under his feet.
The Rob Roy was supplanted by the George Canning and the Britannia, worse
boats than even the two former ones. The next vessel on the line was
the Eclipse; and, shortly after, competition having commenced, the Swift,
a Leith and London smack, converted into a steamer, was put into this
trade by a rival company. The history of this competition is
curious. It was carried on with very considerable spirit for some
months; at last one of the vessels advertised that its rate of passage to
Glasgow would be only 3d. Immediately upon this, the opposition
steamer announced that it would carry passengers to Glasgow for
nothing. It was then considered that the opposition was at an
end. However, the morning previous to the departure of the next
steamer on the other side, it was announced that the vessel would not only
take deck passengers for nothing, but that, in order to enable them to
proceed on their voyage comfortable, they would each be furnished with a
pint of strong beer! The first steamer, however, which took cargo
from Belfast to Glasgow, was the Aimwell, a small vessel not more than 100
tons burthen, and 40 horse-power. The Aimwell performed her voyages
very unsatisfactorily to the Belfast merchants, inasmuch as, instead of
being accomplished within the 12 hours, they were generally protracted to
what would now be considered an extraordinary time, namely, 24 hours, if
not, as sometimes happened, 36 hours. The present daily
communication is eight hours from Greenock.
In 1826, the
Messrs. Langtrys & Herdman (then Langtry & Co.) opened a line of
steam communication from this port to Liverpool. Their first
steamer, the Chieftain, was built at Port-Glasgow. She was a
double-decked vessel of imposing appearance, with very tall masts, and
rigged like an East Indiaman. On her arrival here, in 1826,
thousands flocked to the quay to inspect her. The same firm have
since then kept on the line a regular supply of first-class steamers,
these being the Corsair - a favourite vessel - in 1827; Falcon, 1835;
Reindeer, 1838; Sea-King, 1845; and Blenheim, 1848, which steamer at
present runs regularly on the line. About 1830, the importance of
Belfast, as a commercial port became acknowledged by the Dublin Steam
Packet Company, in consequence of which, they placed one of their vessels
to ply once a week between Belfast and Liverpool. Previously to
this, the only direct communication between Belfast and Liverpool was that
afforded by the steamer of Messrs. Langtry & Co., until the year
1835. It is now proposed to establish a new company, for the purpose
of having daily steam communication with Liverpool, under the immediate
and sole control of the Belfast merchants, and steps have been already
taken for carrying out the necessary arrangements.
In the year 1829, a
trade was established between Belfast and London, with the provision that
the vessels were to call at Plymouth, Devonport and Dublin. The
merchants of Belfast contracted with Messrs. Fawcett & Co., of
Liverpool, for a steamer of 200 horse-power and 500 tons burden, to be
suited for the navigation between this port and London. This vessel,
the Erin, was launched, and plied for two years. She did not turn
out very well, proving a watery vessel. The Erin left London in the
middle of June, 1844, on her last voyage, and was seen off Ilfracombe,
drifting into the bay, and next morning struck on Lundy Island, where she
was totally lost, with all hands. No other steamer replaced the Erin
on this line. The next experiment in the opening of a trade between
the two ports, was in that of screw-propelled steamers; previously,
however, there had been a line of sailing vessels which made regular
passages, calling occasionally at Whitehaven. Two screw steamers
commenced plying in 1849. The first of these was built in the
Thames, and having turned out very well, the system of screw-propulsion
having been tested to advantage, and the trade between Belfast and London
offering a reasonable investment for capital, the keel of a ship of
considerable tonnage was laid down at Dumbarton, on a slip belonging to
Messrs. Denny, Brothers, the builders of several steamers which have
acquired a high reputation.
There are now
thirty-two steamers regularly plying between this port and London,
Liverpool, Fleetwood, Glasgow, Ardrossan, Morecambe, Whitehaven, Dublin,
and Londonderry.
THE CORPORATION, ETC.
The Borough of Belfast is governed by a Corporation, elected by the five
wards - St. Anne's, Dock, Smithfield, St. George's and Cromac - each Ward
returning two Aldermen and six Councillors; from the former a Mayor is
annually chosen. The Corporation have recently effected the most
salutary and extensive improvements in the town, under various acts of
Parliament, which have enabled them to build new and handsome streets,
purchase the sites and lots of the markets, and otherwise promote the
convenience and prosperity of the inhabitants.
There are twelve
principal markets, viz., May's Market, for the daily sale of grain and
meal; George's Market, for butcher's meat, poultry, eggs, butter, cheese,
etc., on Tuesdays and Fridays; the Flax and fruit Market, daily; the
Bogwood, Turf, and Grass Market, daily; the Cattle Market, Mondays,
Wednesdays and Fridays; the Pork Market, daily; the Butter Market, daily;
the Smithfield Market, miscellaneous produce, daily; the Potato Market,
daily; Castle Market, fruit, vegetable, butchers' meat, etc., daily;
Ormond Market, for similar sales, daily; the retail Fish Market, daily;
and the Monthly Cattle and Horse Fair, on the first Wednesday of each
month. The income arising from the tolls of these markets is
increasing yearly, and is expected soon to form a considerable fund for
Corporation purposes. The present Town-hall is a mean and
inconvenient structure; but it is in contemplation to erect a new
Town-hall, in a commanding site, and on a scale of great magnificence,
which, if constructed according to the model of the Corporation architect.
already completed, will be by far the noblest public building in the town.
The paving,
lighting, and cleansing of the town are vested in a Police Committee,
chosen by the Town Council under a special act; the average annual
expenditure being £9,000.
WATER COMMISSIONERS
The supply of pipe water, which is obtained from three capacious
reservoirs, situate about one mile North of the town, is under a Board of
Water Commissioners, incorporated in 1840, and elected by the
ratepayers. The grounds belonging to the Commissioners are situated
near the Antrim Road, and are most beautifully laid out for the recreation
of the respectable inhabitants. The view from the walk surrounding
the principal sheet of water is unrivalled, comprehending the hills of the
County Down, and an extensive view of the Lough down the channel.
The Commercial
Buildings, erected by subscription, at a cost of £20,000, in 1820, are
situate in front of the Southern extremity of Donegall Street, at the
angle of Bridge Street and Waring Street. The building is of
granite, and presents a fine, imposing appearance. It is adorned in
front with eight Ionic pillars, supported on a broad cornice above the
windows of the lower storey, the principal portion of which is occupied by
a subscription News Room, which is furnished with a valuable collection of
maps, charts, etc. In this room, the merchants meet on ;Change at
two o'clock, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Above the News
Room, on the upper floor, is the Assembly Room, a beautiful apartment,
usually devoted to public meetings, exhibitions, etc. The roof and
sides of this chamber are enriched with the most sumptuous decorations,
coloured in imitation of the rarer marbles.
The Corn merchants of
Belfast have recently formed themselves into an association, for the
greater facility of business, and by private subscriptions have erected a
Corn Exchange, situate in Victoria Street. This building is a chaste
and elegant edifice, of cut stone, with an open balustrade in front, and a
range of handsome shops in the basement storey. The Exchange
occupies a large and elaborately decorated hall on the first floor,
lighted by the side windows and a range of roof lights. It is
contemplated to establish a public News Room in connexion with the Corn
Exchange.
Amongst the public
buildings about to be erected in Belfast is an extensive and suitable
range of offices, to contain the Customs, Inland Revenue, and Post Office
departments, the premises now devoted to these purposes being altogether
unsuited to the respectability, and inadequate to the wants, of the town.
BENEVOLENT INSTITUTIONS
The Belfast General Hospital, the most extensive and important institution
of its kind in Ulster, originated in a General Dispensary, which was
founded in the year 1792, by voluntary subscriptions. In the year
1798, a project for establishing an hospital for fever cases, in connexion
with the dispensary, was undertaken and accomplished; but it was not until
1815 that the first stone of the present Hospital was laid by the then
Marquis of Donegall, the charity having become fully acknowledged as one
of the necessary institutions of the town. The Hospital was
completed and opened in 1817, and immediately gave accommodation to 212
intern patients. A medical school and chemical lectures were
established in connection with it. In 1846, consequent upon the
erection of the new Fever Hospital in Malone, the General Dispensary,
hitherto connected with the Hospital, was placed under separate
management, and the institution formally received the title of "The
Belfast General Hospital," to be under the management of a president,
vice-presidents, life governors, and a committee. The building,
which is the principal ornament of that portion of the town in which it
stands (Frederick Street), is 160 feet in length in front. It is
surrounded by a considerable area, both in front and rere; it is flanked
on the one side by the Dispensary rooms, and on the other by the Committee
room and porter lodge. At the eastern wall runs a long shed,
originally used for fever cases, and kept now as a reserve ward. The
Hospital has, during recent years, received considerable aid from the
public, through the proceeds of annual fetes.
The District
Lunatic Asylum, for the Counties of Antrim and Down, and the County of the
Town of Carrickfergus, is situate near the Falls Road, within a mile of
the town. It is a handsome and commodious edifice with extensive
grounds attached. It was opened in 1820. The number of
patients is generally about 150.
The
Lying-in-Hospital, a square building on the Antrim Road, was opened for
the accommodation of poor women in 1830, at the cost of £1,200. It
is supported by voluntary contributions, and is under the direction of a
committee of benevolent ladies. It affords relief to an annual
average of 191 patients.
COUNTY GAOL AND COURT-HOUSE
The new County Gaol stands on an elevated and healthy situation on the
Crumlin Road, on an area of ten acres. It was designed after the
model of the Pentonville prison, near London. The central portion
consists of board, reception, and waiting rooms, the governor's
department, and the chapel and inspection. From the centre hall four wings
diverge, two for males, with three storeys or ranges, and a like number
for females. The Church is divided into compartments, which admit of
348 prisoners. The management of the gaol is under a board of
superintendence; and the officers connected therewith, are those of an
inspector, three chaplains, a surgeon, an apothecary, and a resident
governor.
Opposite to the new
Gaol, and connected with it by means of a subterranean passage, is the new
County Court-house, built in consequence of the late transfer of the
Assize business from Carrickfergus to Belfast, and the proclamation of
Belfast as the county town. It is a truly splendid structure, and
acknowledged to be the finest County Court-house in Ireland. It is
in the Corinthian order of architecture, with an imposing portico of eight
columns of 30 feet in height, in the centre of the front facade, and wings
enriched with pilasters. A bold cornice is carried round three sides
of the building, and on the apex of the pediment stands a fine figure of
Justice. The public hall, in the interior, and the Crown and Record
Courts, are models of chaste design. The whole building, as well as
the Gaol, reflecting the greatest credit on the able architect, C. Lanyon,
Esq., C.E,. The Court-house was opened in the Summer of 1850.
Besides the Assize
Courts, there are held in Belfast a Court of Quarter Sessions, a Manor
Court, and daily Petty Sessions.
The town is the
head quarters of the Northern military district of Ireland; and these are
extensive Barracks for Cavalry and Infantry, situate in North Queen
Street. The garrison usually consists of a troop of horse and a
regiment of infantry. Belfast is also the residence of the County
resident Magistrate, and is the head quarters of the Constabulary for the
district, comprising the stations of Belfast, Lisburn, and Whitewell Brae.
RAILWAYS
There are three Railways, the head offices and principal termini of which
are situated in Belfast, viz.; the Ulster Railway (from Belfast to Armagh);
the Belfast and Ballymena Railway, with branches to Carrickfergus and
Randalstown; and the Belfast and County Down Railway, with a branch to
Holywood. The Belfast terminus of the Ulster Railway, in Great
Victoria Street, is an imposing structure, with a central portico of four
massive columns and two wings, and an exceedingly spacious and handsome
Station-house in the rear. The terminus of the Belfast and County
Down Railway, on the Queen's Quay, is an elegant cut stone edifice.
That of the Belfast and Ballymena line is, as yet, only partially
completed, but when finished will be most commodious.
The principal
manufacturers carried on in Belfast and its vicinity - at least those, to
which it is chiefly indebted for its present state of prosperity - are,
the linen yarn, linen, cotton, and sewed muslin manufactures.
THE LINEN TRADE
The climate and soil of Ulster are admirably adapted for the cultivation
of flax; but it is only, within recent years, that its culture has
received any large share of attention. In 1841, the establishment of
the Royal Flax Society greatly assisted in the developement of this grand
national resource, and the growth of flax has become concentrated in
Ulster since the employment of machinery in spinning yarn. The flax
planted in Ulster alone, in 1851, reached the very great breadth of
138,619 acres. So large a quantity, grown as it were at the very
doors of the manufacturers, with an extensive local demand for their
yarns, has given them considerable advantages over their rivals in other
parts of the United Kingdom, who are obliged principally to depend upon
the supply of the raw material from abroad. Improved modes of
steeping the flax, and of scutching the fibre, of recent introduction,
have also given a great stimulus to the trade; and its extent may be
judged of from the fact, that the number of spindles in operation in
Ireland for the spinning of flax, on the 1st of January, 1851, was
500,000, of which by far the greater proportion is employed in Belfast,
and the districts adjacent; and that the number of persons engaged in
connexion with the trade is estimated at 200,000; and the amount invested
in buildings, machinery, and the requisite floating capital, at
£3,000,000.
The exports of
Irish linen manufacturers have steadily increased almost from the earliest
establishment of the trade, notwithstanding the apparent decline previous
to the introduction of machinery. This increase became most apparent
after the abolition of the bounties, which, under the Linen Board, were
paid on the export of some description of linen fabrics. These
bounties ceased in 1830. The apparent amount of exports of linen
from Ireland is now small, arising from the fact that nearly all is sent
by the cross Channel steamers to the English and Scotch ports, whence it
is trans-shipped to foreign countries. The entire export from
Ireland to Great Britain, and all foreign countries, reaches about
106,000,000 yards; value, £4,400,000.
The restrictive
policy adopted by most of the European states, and which these seems
little disposition to relax, is a bar to the more rapid progress of the
linen trade, which now mainly depends upon the export to North and South
America, and the West Indies, in addition to the home consumption, which
has not kept pace with the increase of the export trade.
The establishment
of Schools of Design is likely to benefit the damask and printed linen
manufacture, and afford employment to an important class of individuals in
a manufacturing community. The value attached to the ornaments used
in preparing packets of linen for the foreign markets, and the taste with
which it is thought necessary to get them up, render them no unimportant
article of trade; and by the help of the School of Design, there is every
prospect that the "linen bands" will become a home manufacture,
and secure to the town of Belfast an annual expenditure of £60,000, now
paid to strangers and foreigners.
Belfast is the
great centre of the Irish flax spinning and linen trades. Of the
sixty-six factories in connection with these manufacturies in Ulster, no
fewer than thirty-five were located in Belfast and its suburbs, in 1851,
and their number is constantly increasing. One of the Belfast
factories employs 25,000 spindles, and several from 10,000 to
20,000. It is considered that the advantages which Belfast offers
for the location of a flax factory, as being the centre of the trade,
where the chief purchases of yarns are made by the manufacturers, and the
greater convenience of obtaining skilled workers, are sufficient to
counterbalance the greater cheapness of water power in other
localities. Hence the chief increase of spinning machinery is found
to be in and around Belfast.
It is estimated
that the coal consumed in driving the steam engines of the flax mills in
Belfast (upwards of thirty in number), and bleach greens, is above 160,000
tons annually, employing fifty vessels, and 300 seamen. 400,000
spindles are now at work, giving employment to about 20,000 operatives,
and about £40,000 are annually paid in wages. The ratio of increase
in the persons employed in factory labour here is fifty-two per cent,
whilst in England it is 30½; and in Scotland only 13½ per cent.
In 1725, machinery
was first applied to the operations of washing, rubbing and beetling
linen, in the parish of Belfast. The only acid in the process of
bleaching, up to 1761, was buttermilk. In 1764, Dr. Ferguson, of
Belfast, received from the Linen Board a premium of £300, for the
successful application of lime in the bleaching process. In 1770, he
introduced the use of sulphuric acid; in 1780, potash was first used; and
in 1795, chloride of lime was introduced. Recent improvements have
enabled some bleachers to perfect the process in ten days, and very lately
it was stated in the Belfast News-Letter, that in one establishment linen
is perfectly bleached and finished, without injury to the fabric, in the
short space of three days. The proprietors of the bleach greens
either bleach linen for hire, are themselves manufacturers, bleaching and
exporting their own fabrics, or are purchasers of brown linen, and export
it when bleached.
The articles
manufactured by the trade are very numerous. Among these may be
named, ordinary shirtings, light and heavy, of all degrees of texture;
sheetings. drills, plain and striped; checks; bed-ticks; damasks and
diapers; grey damasks for stair and carpet coverings; mosquito netting;
lawns; cambric and cambric handkerchiefs; printed lawns and cambrics;
sacking; canvass; ropes and cordage; yarn for carpeting; sewing threads.
etc.
The neighbourhoods
of Belfast and Lisburn chiefly excel in the production of damask, as that
of Lurgan excels in the manufacture of lawns and cambrics; Armagh of light
linens; Ballymena of heavy linens, and so on. The damask manufacture
was introduced into Ireland about 1764. Mr. Coulson, of Lisburn,
received several sums of money from the Linen Board, to assist him in
improving the manufacture. In 1828, the Ardoyne damask manufactory
was established by Mr. Andrews. At the present time, the fabric has
reached a high point of excellence, and the finest quality is not
excelled, if it is even equalled, by the choicest products of
Saxony. These productions consist of double and single damasks and
diapers. The first named are considered articles of luxury, not so
much from the intrinsic cost of manufacture, as from the great expense of
getting up special designs for customers, to whom cost is no object.
The second division comprises the great bulk of coarse goods for home sale
and export.
There has of late
been considerable improvement in the printing of linens and lawns for
ladies' dresses, and of the borders of cambric handkerchiefs - a branch of
the trade which is likely to become of extreme importance and value, when
our native designs equal or excel those of foreign pattern drawers, as it
is expected will be the case, when the pupils of the School of Design have
had sufficient instruction and experience.
Mr. J. McAdam,
jun., to whose excellent papers in the fourth volume of the Journal of
Design we are chiefly indebted for the information above given, says,
"There are many reasons for believing that the future progress of the
Irish linen trade will at least keep pace with its past development.
One cause of linen fabrics being dearer than cotton is, that the great
mass of the latter are woven by power, while all the former, except some
of the coarsest kinds, are woven by hand. Although many attempts
have been made to adapt the power loom to linens, they have hitherto not
been successful, chiefly owing to the fact, that flax-fibre is not so
elastic a substance as cotton-wool. Nevertheless, late experiments
have given more satisfactory results, although not yet sufficiently
matured to warrant the belief that the power-loom can be soon made
generally available. A Belfast damask manufacturer has been able to
produce some light damasks, of fair quality, by power, and is at present
erecting a steam engine and factory to carry on the manufacture on a more
extended scale. It is scarcely possible that the difficulties which
have heretofore prevented power-loom weaving from being adopted in the
linen manufacture, should prove insuperable. Mechanical science has
achieved many triumphs, where much greater obstacles lay in the way.
We may, therefore, conclude that, sooner or later, the system will be
fully carried out, and its results will have a powerful effect on the
advancement of the manufacture."
The greater number
of the factories connected with this trade in Belfast are gigantic
structures, erected at great expense, and some of them are of elegant
architectural design. The forest of chimney stalks along the Falls
Road, where the greater number of them are situated, is a very peculiar
feature in the view of the town, from whatever direction it be
taken. There are, however, few parts of the suburban districts where
these immense foci of industry do not attract the attention of the passer
by. The largest flax-mill in Belfast, which is also one of the
largest in the United Kingdom, is that of the York Street Spinning
Company. It employs 25,000 spindles, and 1,000 hands; and the value
of the flax under process amounts to upwards of £100,000.
The Linen Hall,
which was erected in 1785, at a cost of £10,000, for the accommodation of
the Belfast linen merchants, is a spacious building, forming a quadrangle,
two storeys in height, and occupying the area of Donegall Square.
Its front, which faces Donegall Place, is ornamented with a pediment,
clock - turret, and cupola. The extreme neatness of the edifice,
both within and without, and the good taste displayed in the ordering of
the ornamental grounds attached to it, enhance the interest which its
attractions, as the seat of an immense traffic, distributing the blessings
of industry to upwards of half-a-million of individuals, cannot fail to
create.
In the Brown Linen
Hall, situate in Donegall Street, considerable quantities of yard-wide
brown linens are sold on each Tuesday and Friday.
PLAIN AND SEWED MUSLIN TRADE
Next in importance to the linen trade, among the local manufactures of
Belfast, are the plain and sewed muslin trades. The greatest part of
the cotton yarn used in the manufacture is imported, chiefly from the
neighbourhood of Manchester, and afterwards goes through its subsequent
processes in the establishments here, passing through from fourteen to
twenty hands in its different stages, viz., winding, warping, weaving,
etc. The fabric is then printed with a lithographed impression of
the pattern to be worked and given out to the embroiderers, among whom it
passes through four or five stages.
This important
trade, in all its branches, employs very nearly, 500,000 individuals, the
embroiderers being exclusively females, great numbers of them living at
remote distances from the seat of the manufacture. In the sewed
muslin branch alone, wages to the amount of from £900,000 to one million
sterling are annually paid by upwards of forty firms now established in
Belfast; and in the plain muslin trade throughout the country, the annual
expenditure in wages, altogether for manual labour, is from £300,000 to
£400,000. The wages of learners average from 6d. to 1s. per
week. Regular workers of the middling qualities of sewing earn from
2s. to 5s. per week; and the better classes of workers from 6s. to 9s.
weekly. The best descriptions of sewed muslins are produced by the
Belfast establishments, or the Scotch houses, which have branch
establishments here. The importance to Ireland of this manufacture,
in a social point of view, cannot be over-rated, since it gives employment
to so many thousands of persons and carries comfort and independence into
many a cottage which would otherwise be the scene of misery and
degradation.
The cotton mills in
and about Belfast are five in number, viz.: - Messrs. Leppers', containing
about 30,000 spindles; Mr. McCracken's, 20,500 ditto; Mr. Gamble's
(Ballynure), 17,000 ditto; Mr. Cochrane's (Bangor), 13,000 ditto; and Mr.
Wallace's (Bangor), 9,000 ditto. These mills produce only the
coarser kinds of yarn.
We have thus
presented our readers with a more general sketch of Belfast as it now
is. In our next volume, it is our intention to enter into much more
enlarged and minute particulars of the town and trade of Belfast.
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