| Collection Description | The fund for the education of the daughters (and, separately, the sons) of deceased freemasons was
started in 1792, but the school took another seven or eight years to establish. The school moved
several times, but after the Burlington Road site was disapproved by Medical Officers, on grounds of
overcrowding, it moved to Merrion Road, near the Royal Dublin Society in 1882. |
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| Description | Among material relating to fund raising events:
Masonic Bazaar and Fancy Fair, 1882 in aid of the Masonic Female Orphan School
Committee Minutes, 1881-1882, with accounts. 'It was resolved to give Medals for the best furniture & utensils for the New School. Specimens to be exhibited at the Bazaar'. Many women involved, acting in a separate Ladies Committee.
Bazaar programme, Easter week, 1882, contains brief history and description of the work of the school, and description of stalls, stallholders and saleables, as freshly churned butter, a Nickel-Plated Revolver, screens and gypsy tables, and programmes of entertainments.
The 1892 Grand Centenary Celebration programme is similar, with photographs, descriptions of provincial lodges, stalls, stallholders names and goods, and programmes of entertainments. Some 96,000 people attended the centenary celebrations over the five days they were held. The set designer from the Gaiety Theatre was called in to design the layout of the exhibition and stalls.
Belfast Masonic Widows' Fund, 1874-1978.
Mainly lists of members, bequests, memorial funds and accounts.
Belfast Masonic Charity Fund, 1875-1972. These are mainly lists of members of the committee, subscriptions and accounts.
Also reports of, for example, the Orphans' Welfare Committee: 'the majority of the applications which come before the Committee are on behalf of young people, who lack only the opportunity to become industrious and well-doing members of the community', December, 1921.
Victoria Jubilee Masonic Annuity Fund, 1890-1928. |
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