In Manchester in 1851 there were 32 Church of England buildings, 19 Independents, 17 Wesleyan Methodists, 10 Wesleyan Association, 7 Roman Catholic, 4 Unitarians, 1 Society of Friends, 5 Primitive Methodists, and 2 Jewish Synagogues.
There was also a Town Mission for Manchester, which carried out activities intermediate between the present-day ‘Jehovah’s Witnesses’ and the Salvation Army. The active members came from the Church of England, Methodists, Independents, Presbyterians and Moravians. According to their report of 1841, they had held five thousand meetings, in which one hundred thousand people heard the Gospel.
(Religious Census 1851, pp. 148-151)
Approximate return of the Increase of Churches and Chapels, With the amount of Seat Room, …, in the City of Manchester, Borough of Salford, and adjoining districts. 2.34
1840 1850
| Denomination | Churches and Chapels | Seat Room | Population Conurbation | Churches and Chapels | Seat Room | Population Conurbation |
| Church of England | 28 | 34,248 | 48 | 46,896 | ||
| Dissenters | 77 | 46,246 | 315,000 | 120 | 70,605 | 405,000 |
| Roman Catholics | 4 | 6,000 | 7 | 8,850 | ||
| 109 | 86,692 | 175 | 126,351 |
2.34 Chadwick, David., On the Social and Educational Statistics of Manchester and Salford, Manchester Statistical Society, November 1861, Table No. 46, p. 43
Medical and Social Charities
All the medical institutions were without charge to the patient. The original cost of buildings was covered by donations; the running costs of medicines etc. was covered by monthly donations, the doctors gave their services free.
Royal Infirmary and Dispensary
The institution was founded in the year 1752; the building costs were four thousand Pounds. In our period, there were six physicians and six surgeons, chosen by ballot from qualified candidates. The income to be applied to operating costs, was, in 1840, 9,000 Pounds; this came from yearly subscriptions, dividends, and individual payments. As the doctors did not charge for their services, the whole attention to the patient (who had to be a person in need, or who had had an accident) was without costs. In 1840, there were 1,800 in-patients, 14,000 out-patients, and 4,000 home patients.
Royal Lunatic Asylum
This was adjoined physically to the Infirmary. From the opening of the establishment in 1766, to the year 1841, there were 2,900 unfortunate individuals admitted, of whom 1,100 were discharged cured. The expenditure in the given period was 2,300 Pounds.
The House of Recovery
This was founded in the year 1796, as a solution to the large number of fever cases in the town. The medical profession decided that the best idea to reduce the transmission of the infection, was to recollect all the cases in a separate hospital building, i. e., not leave the persons in their houses, where they could infect other members of their families. In two years from the beginning of the project, the number of fever cases went down by a half.
The number of cases treated in the year ending June 1840 was 848. The detail information of the domiciles shows clearly the poorest areas of the town: Angel Meadow 211, London Road 167, Ancoats 201, Deansgate 114, Middle District 110, Salford 45. The yearly expenditure was nearly two thousand Pounds.
The Salford and Pendleton Royal Dispensary
Dispensaries supplied medicines and medical advice free to the poor. In the year up to July 1841, 4,453 persons were treated, of which 696 was cases of accident. The income in the same period was 561 Pounds, and the expenditure was 693 Pounds.
The Chorlton-upon-Medlock Royal Dispensary
3,245 patients during the year. Income 463 Pounds, expenditure 700 Pounds
The Ardwick and Ancoats Dispensary
4,318 patients in the year. “This institution includes in its district, nearly 100,000 souls, mostly in the humblest circumstances”. The annual subscription towards its support amounted to three hundred Pounds.
The Eye Institution
Afforded relief to poor persons with diseases of the eye. In the year 1827, 1351 patients were discharged cured and relieved.
The Lying-In Hospital
This was established in 1790. Trained midwives were sent to poor women (not unmarried!) at their houses, to assist in delivery of the baby. Without cost to the patient. In the year to May 1841, 3,455 women were helped in their time of need; probably one-half of the births in the town. Receipts 1,121 Pounds, expenditure 1,292 Pounds.
The Lock Hospital
Treatment and help for women with venereal diseases. Six to seven hundred women helped each year.
Soup Kitchen
Started in January 1841, and installed near St. Peter’s Church, to help the hungry people during the recession up to 1842. The amount was about 16,000 quarts a week. Each 100 gallons contained 100 pounds of beef, 67 pounds of barley, 53 pounds of whole white peas, 10 pounds of onions, 10 pounds of salt, 10 ounces of black pepper. With these amounts, per week 32,000 persons were relieved, “many of whom assured the directors, when fetching the soup, that it was their only mode of sustenance.” The cost of the equipment and of the meat, etc. was covered by private subscription.
The Boroughreeve’s Charity
This was a charity, formed by a number of charitable bequests in the past, which directed that the yearly interest in each case should be used for the needs of the poor. In 1841, the income was 1,763 Pounds, and the outgoings were also 1,763 Pounds, with which were bought: 3000 blankets, 3250 pieces of calico, 1000 counterpanes [bedspreads], and small sums of cash equal to 247 Pounds.
The Night Asylum for the Homeless Poor
The object was to “provide an asylum, during the rain and the chilling blasts of a winter’s night, to the aged, the destitute, and the stranger in distress.” In the year 1841, 16,935 males, 5,178 females, and 2,341 children were given entrance. Of these, 11,313 were artizans and mechanics, and 5,622 were labourers, who were temporarily out of employment. Suscriptions and donations were about 800 Pounds.
The District Provident Society
The main object of this institution was “to elevate and improve the condition of the working classes, and to assist in conveying the offerings of private benevolence into a proper and desrving channel. Through the medium of domicilary visiting, the society seeks to cultivate a kindly feeling between the rich and the poor; and to improve the condition of the latter, by encouraging cleanly, provident, and contented habits.” The mechanism was that the visitors collected the weekly savings of the poor, which were returned to them with a premium. In 1840, the sums so collected, were 4,698 Pounds.
The Asylum for Female Penitents
This was a building where the females (“fallen women”) were given accomodation, clothing and food, and were employed in needlework, family washing, etc. Those who conducted themselves well, could remain in the asylum for two years, after which period, they would be restored to their friends or found work in domestic service. Funds were not really sufficient (eight hundred Pounds), so the number of inmates could not go above 40 persons.
The Ladies’ Jubilee School
“This charity had its origin in 1806, in the benevolence of several ladies. In 1809, a house was procured in Broughton-lane, and ten girls were educated. Over the centre door of the present building is the following inscription:
“JUBILEE FEMALE CHARITY SCHOOL,
Erected 1801
BY PUBLIC SUBSCRIPTION, IN COMMEMORATION OF THE
50TH YEAR OF HIS MAJESTY, GEORGE III.”
Shortly after the completion of the building, the number of girls was increased to thirty. The children are instructed in reading and writing, in knitting, sewing, and in the duties of kitchen and house servants; and the regularity to which they are accustomed, makes them most valuable, their age and strength considered, when they are put out, under the protection of the Committee, to service.” 2.35
2.35 Axon, William Edward Armytage, “Annals of Manchester”, 1886, ref. 1810. p. 77
School for the Deaf and Dumb
The accomodation was for one hundred children, besides containing apartments for the masters and private pupils (cost of construction: eleven thousand Pounds). If the parents were in “indigent circumstances”, the children would be instructed and maintained without charge. In other cases, the cost would be between 2 Shillings per week and 20 Pounds per annum, after revising the financial possibilities of the parents. The total period of education was five years. The numbers of pupils at March 1841 were: boys 53, girls 29.
PICTURE
The Blind Asylum
This occupied a second part of the building of the Deaf and Dumb School; the construction costs were 30,000 Pounds, 20,000 from a bequest of a Mr. Henshaw of Oldham, and 10,000 by public subscription. Up to 1842, 53 persons had been admitted, of which 8 had left to take up employment; the asylum would be able to take up 150 patients.
Chetham College
This was founded in 1653, in accordance with the will of Humphry Chetham. His executors bought the building of the manor house of Manchester. Chetham’s will stipulated the establishment of a free public Library, “for the use of schollars and others well affected”, and a School for the education of forty poor boys from honest families. It is the oldest free-access library in the United Kingdom.
The Blue Coat School
This was housed in the same building as the library. There were 80 students in 1840 (all poor children, without charge).
