# Mount Street Club

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The **Mount Street Club** was a charity in Ireland for the unemployed of Dublin.[1] It took its name from the location of its premises at 81–82 [Lower Mount Street](/source/Lower_Mount_Street) and as an ironic echo of the [Kildare Street Club](/source/Kildare_Street_Club), former bastion of the [Protestant Ascendancy](/source/Protestant_Ascendancy).[2]

## History

Its premises were at 81–82 Lower Mount Street,[3] [allotments](/source/Allotment_(gardening)) beside the railway line at [Sydney Parade](/source/Sydney_Parade) and Merrion, and a farm in [Clondalkin](/source/Clondalkin).[1][4] Men as members could earn "tallies" (paper [scrip](/source/Scrip)) which they could exchange for food, clothing, fuel or furniture on a [barter](/source/Barter) or [time-banking](/source/Time_banking) system.[4][5] It was founded in 1934 by [James Hardress de Warrenne Waller](/source/James_Hardress_de_Warrenne_Waller) and Philip Somerville-Large.[1][6][7] Members produced or obtained food, clothing, and furniture.[8] Lessons in making and repairing works were given, and applied to items donated to the club.[9] The clubhouse had leisure facilities, a kitchen and dining-room for 100, workshops, washing facilities, and a barbershop.[10] When [Seanad Éireann](/source/Seanad_%C3%89ireann) was revived under the [1937 Constitution](/source/Constitution_of_Ireland), the Mount Street Club registered as a [nominating body](/source/Seanad_nominating_body) on the [Administrative Panel](/source/Administrative_Panel).[11] Two of its governors ran in both the April and August 1938 elections, with [John Newcome](/source/John_Newcome_(politician)) successful in the first, losing his seat once party politics took hold in the Seanad.[12] The club was most successful during [The Emergency](/source/The_Emergency_(Ireland)) of the Second World War, when it had 6,000 members.[1] In 1939, the Seanad debated a motion that the [Land Commission](/source/Land_Commission) should donate farmland to the club to alleviate food shortages in the city.[5] The 1942 act establishing the [Central Bank of Ireland](/source/Central_Bank_of_Ireland) prohibited "[unauthorised money](/source/Private_currency)" but made an exception for Mount Street's tallies.[13] By the 1970s its core functions had been superseded by the [Department of Social Welfare](/source/Department_of_Social_Protection).[4] In 1972 the club moved from Mount Street to [Fenian Street](/source/Fenian_Street).[14] The work of the Mount Street Club evolved over the years, and in the 1970s and 1980s it supported start-up businesses and set up training schemes for the unemployed. In the 1990s it was involved in regenerating the [Grand Canal Dock](/source/Grand_Canal_Dock).[15] The club's property was sold in 2006 and it was incorporated as a [charitable trust](/source/Charitable_trust), the **Mount Street Club Trust** in 2007. It continues to work on projects that give support to those suffering from the effects of unemployment in the [Greater Dublin Area](/source/Greater_Dublin_Area).[4][16]

## References

### Sources

- Harris, Lorelei (September 1997). ["Mount Street Club"](http://www.rte.ie/radio1/doconone/mount_street_radio-documentary.html) ([podcast](/source/Podcast) or [MP3](/source/MP3)). *[Documentary on One](/source/Documentary_on_One)*. [RTÉ Radio 1](/source/RT%C3%89_Radio_1). Retrieved 24 January 2014.
- Somerville-Large, Peter; Campbell, Sarah; Murphy, Colin; Daly, Mary E.; Perrem, Sarah (2013-05-13). [*The Mount Street Club: Dublin's Unique Response to Unemployment*](https://archive.org/details/mountstreetclubd0000some). Dufour Editions. ISBN 9781781171721. – via Internet Archive.

### Citations

1. ["Mount Street Club Trust 1934 to 2012"](https://www.pobal.ie/Publications/Documents/MSCT%201934%20to%202012.doc). Pobal. Retrieved 23 January 2014.

1. Somerville-Large et al. 2014 p. 12; Somerville-Large, Peter (2002). [*An Irish childhood*](https://archive.org/details/irishchildhood00some/page/180). London: Constable. p. 180. ISBN 978-1-84119-457-8.

1. Harris 1997, at 6m13s

1. Hickey, Kate (7 February 2013). ["Dublin's 1930s Mount Street Club tried to alleviate hardship of unemployed"](http://www.irishcentral.com/news/entertainment/dublins-1930s-mount-street-club-tried-to-alleviate-hardship-of-unemployed-photos-190235951-237563851.html). *IrishCentral*. Retrieved 23 January 2014.

1. ["Public Business. - Mount Street Club and Agricultural Production—Motion."](http://oireachtasdebates.oireachtas.ie/debates%20authoring/debateswebpack.nsf/takes/seanad1939121300008?opendocument). *Seanad Éireann debates*. 13 December 1939. pp. Vol.24 No.3 p.8 cc.286–328. Retrieved 23 January 2014.

1. Harris 1997, at 3m 15s

1. ["Waller, James Hardress de Warenne"](http://www.dia.ie/architects/view/5490/waller-jameshardressdewarenne). *Dictionary of Irish Architects*. [Irish Architectural Archive](/source/Irish_Architectural_Archive). Retrieved 23 January 2014.

1. Harris 1997, at 1m20s

1. Harris 1997, at 5m

1. Harris 1997, at 6m18s

1. ["Nominating Bodies for New Senate"](https://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/archive/wit/1938/0212/Pg004.html#Ar00401). *Weekly Irish Times*. 12 February 1938. p. 4.

1. Somerville-Large et al. 2013 p. 126

1. Somerville-Large et al. 2013 p. 10

1. Cullen, Barry (1994). [*A Programme in the Making: A Review of the Community Development Programme*](https://books.google.com/books?id=3NYHpBQn-YMC&pg=PA83). Combat Poverty Agency. p. 83. ISBN 9781871643350. Retrieved 23 January 2014.

1. Monaghan, Gabrielle (10 October 2010). ["Dig your way out of the dole queue Charity trustees hope their plans to help jobless to grow their own fruit and vegetables will flourish into a popular phenomenon that sweeps the nation"](http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/ireland/News/Irish_News/article416079.ece&hl=en&gl=ie&strip=1). *Sunday Times*. Retrieved 23 January 2014.[dead link]

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Mount Street Club](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Street_Club) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Street_Club?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.