Hart and soul
In April 1883, Alice Hart and her husband Ernest journeyed from London to the Northwest corner of Ireland. After reading newspaper reports of the deprivation in Co Donegal, the philanthropically minded couple decided to investigate the situation.
If anyone was equipped for this mission, it was the Harts.
Alice had previously put her father’s oil fortune to good use by studying medicine in Paris and by teaching children in London slums.
Ernest was a successful physician and editor of the British Medical Journal.
Their previous experiences, however, had failed to prepare the Harts for the abject poverty they found in South Donegal.
One little town in particular caught Alice’s eye.
Surrounded by bog covered mountains, Ardara is a quaint little town by the sea, as are almost all towns here. The fishing and processing of herring was the main industry, but Alice Hart noticed the looms and spinning wheels lurking in the dark, …
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