A history of English philanthropy : from the dissolution of the monasteries to the taking of the first census / by B. Kirkman Gray.

  • Gray, B. Kirkman (Benjamin Kirkman), 1862-1907.
Date:
1905
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: A history of English philanthropy : from the dissolution of the monasteries to the taking of the first census / by B. Kirkman Gray. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    disappointing. Preference was given to the more innocent among the girls, chiefly to those who had suffered seduction, and might be saved from worse. Yet, as was natural, many of them were not amenable. It was felt that some power of compulsory detention was necessary, and this was just what, within the limits of private philanthropy, it was so difficult to secure. The device hit upon was to have an agreement signed on admission by which the girl would pay £10 for maintenance if she left within three years without the assent of the Committee ; but there could have been no power of enforcing this in the case of destitute girls.1 An unexpected economic result of this and similar institutions became in no long time obvious and serious. The work done in them was cheap work which bore no relation to its cost of production. In any case the expenses had to be borne by charity; anything that the work could fetch, however small, would lighten this burden on the subscribers. It was more profitable to sell at less than not to sell at all. Cheap charity work became very popular. Books were published containing patterns and full instructions, by the aid of which the work might be accomplished by the most inexperienced. There was a large demand for clothes for giving away. It was a doubly good work to give to the poor and at the same time support other poor objects. But there were large numbers of women belonging to the monotonous middle rank who had earned their living by doing plain work. It was these women, too prosaic to excite sympathy, who felt the pressure of the cheap work supplied by the charities, and it was they who by way of impaired earnings supplied the difference between what the philanthropists expended and what they themselves paid for the support of charitable institutions.2 Even before Hanway began his work on behalf of friend- less girls, he had essayed to do something for the boys. The Marine Society was intended firstly to recruit men and 1 “ Plan of the Magdalen House ” (1758), p. 15. 2 “ Instructions for Cutting out Apparel for the Poor ” (1789); Lett- som’s “ Hints,” i., 265.