Religiously-based workhouse-type facilities for women in Ireland
Magdalene laundry in England, early twentieth century [1]
Magdalene asylums, also known as Magdalene laundries, were initially Protestant but later mostly Roman Catholic institutions that operated from the 18th to the late 20th centuries, ostensibly to house "fallen women". The term referred to female sexual promiscuity or sex workers, young women who became pregnant outside of marriage, or young girls and teenagers who did not have familial support.[2] They were required to work without pay apart from meagre food provisions, while the institutions operated large commercial laundries, serving customers outside their bases.
Many of these "laundries" were effectively operated as penitentiary workhouses. The strict regimes in the institutions were often more severe than those found in prisons. This contradicted the perceived outlook that they were meant to help women as opposed to punishing them. A survivor said of the working conditions: "The heat was unbelievable. You couldn't leave your station unless a bell went."[3] Laundries such as this operated in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Sweden, Canada, the United States, and Australia, for much of the 19th and well into the 20th century, the last one closing in 1996.[4] The institutions were named after the Biblical figure Mary Magdalene.
The first Magdalene institution was founded in late 1758 in Whitechapel, England.[5] A similar institution was established in Ireland by 1767.[5] The first Magdalene asylum in the United States was the Magdalen Society of Philadelphia, founded in 1800. All these were Protestant institutions. Other cities followed, especially from around 1800, with Catholic institutions also being opened. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Magdalene asylums were common in several countries.[6] By 1900, there were more than 300 asylums in England and more than 20 in Scotland.[5][7]
^from Frances Finnegan, Do Penance or Perish (Fig. 5) Congrave Press, 2001
^Campsie, Alison (3 March 2017). "Scotland's Magdalene Asylums for "fallen women"". The Scotsman. Archived from the original on 8 May 2019. Retrieved 23 September 2019.
^Reilly, Gavan (5 February 2013). "In their own words: Survivors' accounts of life inside a Magdalene Laundry". TheJournal.ie. Archived from the original on 29 April 2019. Retrieved 23 September 2019.
^Culliton, Gary (25 September 1996). "LAST DAYS OF A LAUNDRY". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 30 April 2019. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
^ abcFinnegan 2001, p. 8
^Cite error: The named reference Smithxv was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^"Magdalen Hospital for the Reception of Penitent Prostitutes". St-George-in-the-East Church. Archived from the original on 1 December 2016. Retrieved 18 February 2013.
Magdaleneasylums, also known as Magdalene laundries, were initially Protestant but later mostly Roman Catholic institutions that operated from the 18th...
The Magdalene Laundries in Ireland, also known as Magdaleneasylums, were institutions usually run by Roman Catholic orders, which operated from the 18th...
The Magdalene Sisters is a 2002 drama film written and directed by Peter Mullan, about three teenage girls who were sent to Magdaleneasylums (also known...
The Ulster MagdaleneAsylum was founded in 1839 at Donegall Pass, Belfast (now in Northern Ireland), by the Church of Ireland. It cared for "fallen women"...
Magdalene asylum or Magdalene Laundries, Catholic institutions for “fallen women” Magdalene (comics), a Marvel Comics character Magdalene (sculpture)...
Cronin, 1932 – 2017) was a young woman in Ireland who was sent to a Magdaleneasylum, where her name was changed and she was imprisoned until removed by...
girls and girls dressed "immorally." In Glasgow, the MagdaleneAsylum evolved into the Magdalene Institution with a new Glasgow System created to deal...
screenwriting with the controversial film The Magdalene Sisters, based on life in an Irish Magdaleneasylum. He won a Golden Lion at 59th Venice International...
Mary Magdalene (sometimes called Mary of Magdala, or simply the Magdalene, Magdalena or the Madeleine) was a woman who, according to the four canonical...
of Charity were one of four Catholic organisations that ran Magdalene laundries (or asylums) in Ireland. These institutions operated from the 18th to the...
Anti-psychiatry Child abuse Canadian Indian residential school system Magdaleneasylum Religious abuse Project MKUltra Crimes against humanity CTV.ca News...
O'Beirne described childhood abuse she had reputedly suffered in a Magdaleneasylum. Kelly claimed that initial doubts that he had while reading her book...
a teenager by her employer's son, and her family sends her to the Magdaleneasylum. Desperate to escape, she steals her brother Eamonn's (Tony Curran)...
Street, 1925). Women as theological figures Women in Christianity Magdaleneasylum Genealogy of Jesus: Tamar, Rahab, and Bathsheba Quoted in Stevens,...
for return of mother's body – buried in mass grave after 27 years in Magdaleneasylum". mirror.co.uk. 16 July 2015. Retrieved 18 November 2020. "Eileen Flynn:...
provided education for "girls of respectable Protestant parents", and the MagdaleneAsylum on Lower Leeson St aided "Protestant women after a first fall" and...
Santa Maria Maddalena dei Pazzi is a Renaissance-style Roman Catholic church and a former convent located in Borgo Pinti in central Florence, Italy. The...
1890s to the 1960s, most Australian state capitals had a Magdaleneasylum, also known as Magdalene laundry, a large convent where teenage girls were placed...
Magdalen hospitals in England and Ireland, which were named for Mary Magdalene. Similarly designated groups were soon started in other American cities...
Haypark Residential Home. The home closed in 1926. Magdalene laundries in Ireland Ulster MagdaleneAsylum Bethany Home Dublin Female Penitentiary Magdalen...
institution providing an alternative life to former prostitutes, akin to a Magdaleneasylum. Venice, like many large and well-traveled cities in Europe, had a...
Global Information