Dr Ruth McManus from the School of History & Geography, DCU provides a fascinating insight into the lives of lodgers in Dublin, and specifically in the Upper Leeson Street area.

1. The Lodgers of Upper Leeson Street
(and surroundings), 1911
Dr Ruth McManus
School of History & Geography, DCU

2. Area surveyed:
Census 1911,
Thom’s, Irish Times
Please note most historic images are copyright of the National Library of Ireland (NLI), with the
exception of the postcard on Slide 6 kindly provided by Dr Joe Brady. Most contemporary images
are sourced from GoogleMaps.
Map extracts are from the Ordnance Survey of Ireland (OSI) 2nd edn (surveyed 1907-8) available
online.
Newspaper extracts are from the Irish Times archive.
Census 1901 & 1911 is available from the National Archives online.

3. Source: NLI, Lawrence Collection
Leeson Park

4. 4 Leeson Park (1911)
14 rooms occupied by 9 people
‘Boarding House Keeper’
Annie Jeffers (58) and her two
children, plus
Servant
Visitor
Boarders

5. Boarding House in Leeson Park, 1911

6. Lodgers/Boarders: 5% of Dublin’s 1911 population
1906 – Joe Brady collection

7. Definitions?
• Lodgers – rented rooms in private dwellings, or
bed in specialised ‘lodging house’, enumerated
separately in census
• Boarder – pay for meals as well as lodgings (vs.
‘dine out’), share common table with family
• BUT in practice, inconsistency and often
interchangeable use
• Other terms in use, especially ‘paying guest’

8. male
68%
female
32%
Gender of Boarders and Lodgers in Dublin 1911
>24,400 individuals

9. Male
55%
Female
45%
Gender of Boarders & Lodgers (ULSARA 1911)
288 individuals

10. single
81%
married
9%
widowed
10%
Marital status of Lodgers/Boarders in Dublin, 1911

11. Married
9%
Widow
10%
Single
81%
Marital Status of Boarders & Lodgers (ULSARA 1911)

12. 0.0
5.0
10.0
15.0
20.0
25.0
30.0
35.0
0 to 9 10 to 19 20 to 29 30 to 39 40 to 49 50 to 59 60 to 69 70 to 79 80 to 89 90 to 99
Age profile of Lodger/Boarders 1911%

13. 0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
0-9 10-19 20-29 30-39 40-49 50-59 60-69 70-79 80-89
% Age of Boarders & Lodgers (ULSARA 1911)

14. Prevalence and Cultural Significance
• Short stories featuring
lodgers –
Joyce Dubliners etc.
• Newspaper advice columns
– cover theft of belongings
of lodger, failure to pay rent,
disagreement over terms
• Jokes in Weekly Irish Times

15. The Boarding House (Dubliners), 1914
• Mrs. Mooney, separated from her husband, set up a
boarding house in Hardwicke Street
• ‘Her house had a floating population made up of tourists
from Liverpool and the Isle of Man and, occasionally,
artistes from the music halls. Its resident population was
made up of clerks from the city
• ‘Mrs. Mooney's young men paid fifteen shillings a week for
board and lodgings … shared in common tastes and
occupations … were very chummy with one another.
• ‘On Sunday nights there would often be a reunion in Mrs.
Mooney's front drawing-room. The music-hall artistes
would oblige; and Sheridan played waltzes and polkas …

16. Clarke collection NLI, 1890-1910 –
Are these boarders at breakfast? Breakfast was over in the boarding
house... Mary collect(ed) the crusts
and pieces of broken bread to help
to make Tuesday's bread-
pudding... the table was cleared,
the sugar and butter safe under
lock and key…

17. Genteel suburban lodgers and “PGs”
• Importance of ‘respectability’
• Perceptions: ‘having to take
lodgers’
• ‘…as to taking lodgers, all the
quality does it now’
(Ackland, IT 1909)
• Advert:
‘Lady on Morehampton Road
will receive Paying Guest; no
children or lodgers’
(IT, 17 June 1905)

18. Extract from ‘Slumland under
Limelight’, Weekly Irish Times,
1905
Lowering the
tone in
Pembroke
township?

19. ULSARA area, 1911
• Census returns list 43 lodgers and 245
boarders in the ULSARA area
– Probably an under-count
• Widespread: almost every street has boarders
• Specific types of boarders: individual living in a
family home (linked by origin/occupation etc),
‘boarding house’, living with employer
• Also some ‘flats’ being advertised

20. Raglan Road: NO boarders!
Source: NLI, Raglan Road by Robert French

21. 1 Appian Way
Boarding house keeper: Frances Kenny (48,
widow, RC, Limerick)
Daughter Daisy Kenny (29, single)
3 servants, including a cook
5 female boarders, aged 50-70, living off
dividends (where income specified)
1 male boarder (28, solicitor, single)
Both RC and CofI
16 rooms occupied by 11 people

22. Irish Times, 16 May 1911
Map: OSI 2nd Edn

23. Dartmouth Square: variety of
arrangements
• At 56: John Hooper (34, single, RC, Cork-born) clerk
in dept of agriculture, boarding with Richard
Kinsley (61, single, Episcopalian, Liverpool,
compositor), his 2 nieces and servant
• At 66: Sarah Shields (66, single, RC) and her sister
have 1 boarder and 3 lodgers, insurance clerk,
insurance inspector, librarian, dividends
• At 31: 3 households enumerated, including Robert
J. Young , Frances & Nannie Gainfort (actually
boarders rather than separate households)

24. House & Buildings Return form:
• Sarah Davey – 3 rooms occupied by 4 people
• Robert J. Younge – 2 rooms, 1 person
• Frances Gainsfort – 3 rooms, 2 people
• Was there physical subdivision in house?
Unlikely, as residents described themselves
as boarders

25. Chelmsford Road
44 boarders / lodgers enumerated
Source: NLI, Eason collection

26. Margaret Byrne, 34 Chelmsford Road: 6 rooms, 5 inhabitants (Form A missing)
Irish Times: 19 April 1910

27. Baggot Street Upper
Source: NLI Fergus O’Connor collection

28. Baggot St Upper (Thom’s 1910)

29. • 10: confectioners Margaret Milliner (19, King’s
Co.), Mary Clifford (23, Kerry), Margaret
Bracklee (25, Westmeath), Kate Leavy (26,
Dublin) and shop assistant (Emily Fogarty (30,
Dublin) boarding with owner, Mary Swords
• 21: ironmonger’s assistant Henry Kierans (27)
boarding with extended Weir family
• 32: chemist’s assistant John Ford (36)
boarding with general manager and family

30. Pembroke Road
Source: NLI, French collection

31. Pembroke Road 1911
• 1911: 48 boarders, 4 lodgers
• 132 houses (13 subdivided/multiple families)
• 691 residents
– i.e. 7.5% are lodger/boarders (above city average)
• Lodgers in 28 houses (21%, more than 1 in 5)

32. Boarding House Keepers
• Ellen Adams (45, widow, Presbyterian), No. 18
• 3 boarders, 1 servant
• 8 rooms occupied by 5 people
• She is a ‘boarding house keeper’ in census but
house listed as ‘private dwelling’

33. Individual Boarders
• E.g. 23 Pembroke Road
William Wheeler (51, single)
schoolmaster, MA Oxford, boarding with
Henry Wimble, schoolmaster and family,
plus 3 servants

34. Seeking Accommodation (1911)
Irish Times, 13 Sept 1911
Irish Times, 28 August 1911

35. 12 December 1910
2 May 1911
27 May 1910
Accommodation offered…

36. 19 May 1910
Source: NLI French collection

37. 11 October 1910

38. 33 Waterloo Road
Atkinson sisters,
living ‘chiefly from
dividends’, with
servant and 71-
year-old boarder,
Frances Lawler

39. Lodgers on Morehampton Road?
Source: NLI

40. 19 Morehampton Road: ‘English lady takes a few paying guests…’
Ellen Worke (50, widow), parents Henry & Augusta Northorn (82, 78)
Boarders:
Sara Campbell (82, widow, Fermanagh)
Colin Campbell (52, married, Westmeath) retired banker
Jane Malloy (50, widow, Antrim)
Servants:
Bridget Dunn (40, single, Dublin) cook, cannot read or write
Johanna Johnston (21, single, Dublin) housemaid

41. Irish Times, 13 March 1911

42. Census 1901:
P.G.-type arrangement?
34 Morehampton Road: elderly widow living off investments,
boarder of similar age of no occupation, never married; 6
roomed house with cook and parlourmaid

43. Daniel Condon in 1901 and 1911
• Is there a boarding lifecycle?

44. 1901, 23 years old, single, tram driver, boarding with tram
conductor and family at 22 Morehampton Road

45. 1911, Married 2 years, 1 child, living at 5 Elmwood
Avenue, has a 23-year-old tram conductor as boarder

46. Census 1911
10 Morehampton Road, boarding house keeper! 7 boarders:
students and house property, plus young relative listed as
boarder

47. I.T. 6 January 1910
65.2: Margaret Glynn (67, CofI, widow) income from
investments, from Fermanagh
Also Catherine McManus (32, RC, single) servant,
Fermanagh
65.1: James Joseph Power (66, RC, widower) retired
bank manager from Waterford, living in a single room
but enumerated as separate head of household

48. Lodgers and Boarders of ULSARA area
• Common arrangement
– Income for widows/single women, companionship
– Accommodation for range of ages, occupations
• Different arrangements, basis and duration
– weekly/monthly/annual basis, furnished/unfurnished,
board/partial board / dine out
• Subtle differences: ‘paying guests’, boarding house
• Unknowns:
– Degree of separateness within the house?
– Availability of self-contained flats vs. rooms with shared
spaces…

49. Dr Ruth McManus Ruth.McManus@dcu.ie

50. School of History & Geography
Dublin City University
MA in History
Understanding Ireland
For information
www.dcu.ie/MA-History.shtml