When I was a boy I discovered that my father helped unemployed men with something he called “the Club”. He’d go off to meetings and occasionally when we were driving through Dublin he would stop at a premises on Fenian Street so he could pop in. It was not until years later, in publishing this history of “the Club”, that I have come to fully realise what my father and all his fellow philanthropists were up to.
It all began in 1934, a time when most businessmen and professionals would have looked outside Ireland for their charitable endeavours. A few fellows, including Major James Waller and Paddy Somerville-Large, took it upon themselves to do something about the destitution they saw all around them. A commentator of the day in 1934 said that Dublin had some of the “worst slums in Europe”.
The men didn’t want to start a charity; they wanted to give the unemployed a chance to work and move forward. Taking a lease for 34 Mount Street – a former hotel which was in a terrible state, the men humorously called their new endeavour the Mount Street Club, in direct reference to the Kildare Street Club – the gentlemen’s club down the road.
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Launched by the lord mayor, Alfie Byrne, in 1935 and praised for its innovation at a time where social welfare was not developed, the club gave men occupation – the idea was that they would work for “tallies” instead of money – using their skills and learning new ones. The tallies would be used to buy food, supplies and other needful items for the family, while the men had somewhere to go, were busy and, importantly, able to move themselves forward in skills and occupation.
Within a few years, the club was producing its own food with allotments in Sydney Parade and Merrion, then a farm in Clondalkin, and hundreds of men “on the books”. The club put on a variety show each year to raise funds, had a band performing in Mount Street for families and a boxing club, and was a signal of hope to many. Some of these personal stories we have got in the book, and we hope more will emerge.
Sir William Beveridge, the great welfare reformer, knew and was interested in the model; other clubs were started in Waterford, Limerick and elsewhere based on the same principles. The club, at the height of its powers, was leading the way in Dublin, fighting back for the poor.
Some of the challenges were quite fascinating – on the one hand, they were accused of interfering with workers’ rights by the unions as the men did not receive wages for their work. On the other hand, they were labelled communists for their seeming use of fraternal principles in labour, which appeared non-capitalist.
The founders fought hard to avoid such criticism, arguing that labour needed exercising – the club’s record of securing employment for members is the strongest example of this. The other criticism came from men of great importance such as Archbishop McQuaid, who kept files on the founders, speaking out against their work – mainly due to the Protestant origins of the original founders.
The club may not have succeeded in creating a widespread revolution. However, its early work stands as a force for good in the innovation of welfare and the development of skills and hope for people. The welfare reforms after the second World War meant the club’s work had to change. in the succeeding decades the Irish Nautical Trust was initiated in Ringsend and lots of initiatives and partnerships were pursued. The premises was moved from Mount Street to Fenian Street, which was later sold at the height of the property boom – for once, the money went to an organisation that uses it for good.
In recent years the Mount Street Club Trust has been working to support projects which target those suffering from poverty and long-term unemployment in disadvantaged areas of greater Dublin. This includes the Community Growers Fund Project, which represents something of a return to the origins of the club.
Its almost 80 years since the club started, and it’s a family legacy for me. My grandfather, Guy Perrem, was club manager and acted as a governor and my father, Peter, is still involved. Bill Somerville-Large, a son of a founder, is a trustee, and some of the other trustees have been active in the club since the 1980s and 1990s, making this whole effort the work of a community of Dublin people.
It’s been a labour of love for all of us finding old documents and stories from former members. My brilliant authors, Dr Mary Daly, Sarah Campbell, Colin Murphy, Peter Somerville-Large and Sarah Perrem have done sterling work on the book and helped us mark an era in Dublin’s history. I hope it stands as a testament to what can be done when people decide to work together to make a difference.
The work of the trust continues, and the hope is others will read this book and be led to find ways to combat unemployment and its consequences in the city just as “the club” set out to do 80 years ago. The Mount Street Club is published by Mercier Press, priced €14.99
