General Chat

Copy and paste from Yahoo News:
"A report into the running of the Magdalene laundries in Ireland is due to be published.

The religious-run institutions started in the late 1700s as places to rehabilitate so-called "fallen" women.

It is estimated that around 30,000 women, mainly single mothers and teenage girls, were placed in the laundries to work.

There were 10 Magdalene laundries across Ireland and the last one closed its doors in 1996."

This was one of lead stories on BBC News this morning. A lot of the "magdalenes" (which I believe means "woman of ill repute") are still alive. Some very young. Some were interviewed this morning and appear extremely respectable. But many lives have been damaged, it appears.

you know john i am so glad you put this up
i am doing some research for somebody
about a lady who dissapeared
and this rang the bell i was looking for

i wondered why
she was removed from Grangetown in Middlesbrough and sent to Ireland
after attacking her mum and this could be the answer :-D

Had never heard of this "Penitentiary" before this morning, Joy. And doubt it affects my family personally.

My grandfather had a cousin who was orphaned aged 8 in about 1890 and she was put into an RC convent for her education and eventually became a laundrymaid in Manchester (for de Trafford family). Later Head Laundrymaid at Arundel Castle in Sussex. But I don't think she "fell" in any way - it was just that a lot of young orphan girls left convent for jobs in service with Catholic families, I think.

Magdalene Laundries were also in England.
There are lots of true stories written by the young women that were in the Magdalene's.
Have a look on Amazon for them..
Briliant reads.

Sue. I am now wondering about the one in my family. When she was orphaned aged 8, she went to live with her aunt in Liverpool. Then aunt died and she was passed around. My gt grandfather was Protestant and was very distressed when she went "missing".

He searched and searched for her and eventually found her in Manchester area working in laundry of a large stately home (de Traffords). She would have been about 20 by then, then she went down to Arundel Castle with Howerds and she got married aged 28 in Hope St RC chapel in Wallasey with my gt grandfather and gt grandmother (both staunch Protestants) acting as her father and mother.

Think I need to read about these Magdalene penitentaries in England and see if I can find out why she finished up in the laundry of the de Traffords and was lost to her quite close family for about 10 years. :-S :-S

I remember watching a film (cannot remember the name) about Magdalene Laundries based on one womans account,

She was raped at a very young age by her uncle? and her family had her sent to that institution after she had given birth,

Edit, I think this link is a report about the Magdalene Laundries and the film

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2003/feb/16/features.review1

Roy

Edit she was raped by her cousin

Roy, many thanks for that link. Sounds like a very interesting film.

I thought at first this was purely in Ireland and purely a Roman Catholic issue. But the more I think about it, even in my lifetime fallen girls of all and no religion were packaged off to homes to have their babies and then have them adopted and sometimes mothers found it difficult to be accepted back into their families.

Probably still happening today in some places :-( :-( :-(

I deleted one of my posts cos it had put 2 on.

John if you want to read a book about Magdelene Laundries.

one here is a brilliant read.

"Kathy's Story:A Childhood Hell Inside the Magdelene Laundries.

I got a copy off Amazon for 1p,p & p £2-80.
but well worth it.

John, Can i just say that your assumption that "sometimes mothers found it difficult to be accepted back into their families" from the accounts Ive read most of this was driven by Men/Fathers, and Mothers in most cases had no say in the matter,
May be because these so called men had something to hide and this was the perfect solution to that problem


Roy

Probably right, Roy. In both cases I am thinking of (adoptions about 1960), am sure that was not a factor. Both mothers knew the father and were reunited with their adopted babies later in life. Yet both mothers were expected to go their own way once they had had their baby adopted.

And in both cases it was a social issue. Both fathers and mothers were much more conscious of how things looked in those days and they saw little of their daughters for many years. In both cases, daughter eventually having a respectable marriage and giving them "proper" grandchildren helped to bring the daughter back into the fold.

All that "culture" seemed to change during the 1960's and anyone born after about 1950 will think we are talking nonsense, I suspect :-)

John can I ask why you have put this particular subject up considering you claim never to have heard about it, which in is absolutely unbelievable

:-S :-S :-S

I see a wisp of snipe on the horizon. How lovely :-D :-D :-D

Sylvia, wouldn't you think that John might have put the topic up BECAUSE he has just heard of it and it interested him? That would be my assumption if anyone posted a thread on a topic they knew little about. I have certainly posted threads on topics that have 'just come to my attention' :-)

I don't think it's unbelievable that John ...or anyone else...has only just heard of it...before the last few years on this board and via books/films , a lot of us hadn't. Where there is 'shame', there is always corresponding 'secrecy'.

I have never heard of the Magdalene's and have found this
very interesting.

Sue in Leeds thank you for info re Kathy's Story will have
a look and will download to kindle if possible.

Emma :-)

Ask George III, aivlyS. He was very specific about who were "proper" grandchildren. There were plenty of others who today would have come to the throne before Queen Victoria.

But, no, I am not going to answer any questions from you. You try to trap me and others. Yet never seem to offer anything yourself. Had quite enough of it. Ignorance is bliss.

You have to consider the economic implications as well as the social and religious ones ( and the religious ones were and are often the strongest consideration...or at least that which held the most 'shame').

A father whose daughter had an illegitimate child, if they kept it, has to provide for that child ( in the days when women married and brought up the children rather than working) as well as possibly his own. You see it so often that the illegitimate child of a daughter is listed as the child of its grandparents....who hasn't seen that on a census?

You mean I never offer you the information you want about me John ... ? Don't need to try and trap you you you tell stories and trap yourself .

:-\ :-\ :-\

You can purchase the Magdalene Sisters DVD for as little as £1-98 on Amazon. if you enter Magdalene into the Amazon search box you will find many books about life in the the laundries at a very reasonable price.

I thought this thread was about a serious topic, but once again it has been side tracked.