Arabella Denny

Lady Arabella Fitztmaurice Denny (1707–1792) was an Irish philanthropist, founder of the Magdalen Asylum for Protestant Girls in Leeson Street, Dublin in 1765.[1]

Contents

Early life and family

Arabella Fitzmaurice was born in County Kerry to Thomas FitzMaurice, 1st Earl of Kerry, and Anna Petty (daughter of Sir William Petty). She married Colonel Arthur Denny, M.P. for Kerry, on 26 August 1727. A nephew of Lady Denny was William Petty, who became Prime Minister of Great Britain.[2]

Lady Denny lived at Peafield Cliff House (now Lios an Uisce/Lisnaskea House), in Blackrock, County Dublin where John Wesley, who founded and led the Methodist Church, visited her in 1783.[3]

Philanthropy

Lady Denny was a supporter of The Foundling Hospital for the poor of Dublin.[4] In 1760 she presented a clock to the Dublin Workhouse and put up in the nursery for foundling children, and used to regulate the feeding of infants.[5]

She was instrumental in the reforming of the Foundling Hospital and in 1764 was thanked by the Irish House of Commons for her extraordinary bounty and charity. She worked with the Dublin Society, helping introduce lace-making into workhouses, in recognition of her work with the poor she was conferred with the Freedom of the City of Dublin in 1765. She was elected honorary member of the Dublin Society in 1766.[6] In June 1767 she founded Magdalen Asylum for Protestant Girls in Leeson Street, which was a home for fallen women or penitent prostitutes, who were provided with accommodation, clothing, food and religious instruction.

In 1773, she founded the Magdalene Chapel frequented by many of high society in Dublin. The Governance of the Magadalene Asylum, became the Leeson Street Trust, which was named in her honour the Lady Arabella Denny Trust, or Denny House, which is still a registered charity today. The Protestant Adoption Society which became PACT named its office Arbella House in her honour.

Retirement and death

Arabella Denny retired in 1790 and died in Dublin on 18 March 1792. She had a fear of being buried alive and left instructions that she should not be removed from her deathbed for at least seventy-two hours.[7]

References

  1. ^ McCarthy, Rebecca Lea (2010). Origins of the Magdalene laundries: an analytical history. McFarland. pp. 238. ISBN 9780786444465. http://books.google.com/books?id=GIRJkAbmaiEC&pg=PA238&dq=%22Arabella+Denny%22+leeson+street&hl=en&ei=pEV_TujXG8qo0QXS9PC5CQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&sqi=2&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=%22Arabella%20Denny%22%20leeson%20street&f=false. Retrieved 25-09-2011. 
  2. ^ Lady Arabella Denny by Miss Beatrice Bayley Butler, Dublin Historical Record, December 1946 - February 1947 Vol IX, No. 1
  3. ^ Dudley Levistone-Cooney, The Methodists in Ireland, a short history. Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Columba Press, 2001
  4. ^ Chapter X The Foundling Hospital and its Founders
  5. ^ A HISTORY OF INFANT FEEDING PART V NINETEENTH CENTURY CONCLUDED AND TWENTIETH CENTURY BY IAN G. WICKES (RECEIVED FOR PUBLICATION, 19 October 1953)
  6. ^ Lady Arabella Denny
  7. ^ Hopkins, Frank (14-01-2010). "Soul Provider For The Damsels In Distress". Herald.ie. http://www.herald.ie/entertainment/hq/soul-provider-for-the-damsels-in-distress-2013539.html. Retrieved 17 December 2011.