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Helping the Poor

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Helping the Poor

Helping the Poor
Friendly visiting, dole charities and dole queues

Robert Whelan based on research by

Barendina Smedley

Civitas: Institute for the Study of Civil Society London

First published October 2001

© The Institute for the Study of Civil Society 2001
The Mezzanine, Elizabeth House 39 York Road, London SE1 7NQ email: books@civitas.org.uk

All rights reserved
ISBN 1-903 386-16-0

Typeset by Civitas in New Century Schoolbook Printed in Great Britain by St Edmundsbury Press Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk

Contents
Acknowledgements Authors vi viii

Introduction: Hand-outs and Leg-ups Section 1: The Visiting Charity The Charity Organisation Society 1. The Organisation of Charity 2. Preaching the ‘Gospel of Social Reform’ in West London 3. The Fulham and Hammersmith Committee and Its Cases Section 2: The Dole Charity The Mansion House Fund 4. From West End to East End 5. Lord Mayor Aid 6. The Aftermath 7. Moralities and Mathematics Appendices Appendix 1 Applications for Relief Received by the Fulham and Hammersmith District Committee of the COS, November 1879 - October 1880 Appendix 2 The 27 Extant Fulham and Hammersmith Casebooks Appendix 3 The Charity Organisation Society by Miss Octavia Hill Notes Index

1

9 24 39

51 59 85 90

99 137 164 166 182

v

Acknowledgements
This book has been made possible by a generous grant from the Wincott Foundation. The author would like to express his thanks to the trustees. The research on which the book is based was carried out by Barendina Smedley in the archive of the Charity Organisation Society (now the Family Welfare Association), held in the London Metropolitan Archives. The archive has been accessed by kind permission of Helen Dent, the present director of the Family Welfare Association. Further research was carried out by Yvonne Rigby. The author would like to

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