Dublin Female Penitentiary

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Dublin Female Penitentiary was a reform home for women in Dublin, Ireland. It was started in 1810 and opened in 1813. The home was run by the Church of Ireland and benefited from help from lay people. It stood between Berkeley Road, Eccles Street, and North Circular Road and could hold a little over 40 inmates. A committee of ladies administered the house to improve the women’s religious and moral life. Inmates came from different religious backgrounds, but they had to follow the house rules and be taught the Protestant faith.

Many laywomen supported the work, including Mrs. Paulus Aemilius Singer of Temple Street, who was secretary of the committee. The penitents worked in the laundry, washing and mangling, and also did needlework, hatmaking, and mantua-making. The institution was linked to a chapel, St. Augustine’s Church, and there was a Repository where the inmates’ work was sold to raise funds.

After about eighteen months, opportunities for leaving the laundry were sought for each inmate. Some were sent to Queensland, Australia. In 1840, the chaplaincy came under the visitation system, with clergy officiating under licence from the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin. Viscount Lorton served as Governor, and Sir Robert Shaw was treasurer. Chaplains over the years included Rev. William Burgh (1826–1847), Rev. William Jameson, Rev. N. W. Carre, Rev. Charles Brough, Rev. Robert Halpen, with Rev. John Paine Sargent and Rev. D. Flynn as assistant chaplains. Anne Kathrens served as Matron.

There were other Protestant-run homes for "fallen women" in Ireland.