Social work in London, 1869 to 1912 : a history of the Charity Organisation Society / by Helen Bosanquet.
- Helen Bosanquet
- Date:
- 1914
Licence: In copyright
Credit: Social work in London, 1869 to 1912 : a history of the Charity Organisation Society / by Helen Bosanquet. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.
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![I.] RELIEF SOCIETIES n of Distress, but administered at the discretion of a very few individuals ; and the East End ReHef and Mission Fund, which in the distress of recent winters has distributed large sums of money. Mention is also made of large Coal and Bread Clubs; and Soup Kitchens, the influence of which on the independence and self-respect of large classes of the poor seem, in the opinion of several persons best qualified to judge, of anything but a salutary kind. There were also Visiting and Bible Societies, to which almsgiving, if indulged in at all, was only a secondary aim. As one of the best of them we may mention the Parochial Mission Women Fund, which is constantly spoken of with approbation by contemporary speakers and writers. It was worked upon the now well-known principle that the poor can often be best helped by collecting their savings for them; and at the time in question it collected annually just about the same amount as was expended in alms by the largest relief association, i.e. ^10,000. It was also one of the first agencies to provide skilled nursing in the homes of the poor. Of the hospitals little need be said. Their work for in- patients and out-patients was much the same as it is now, though on a smaller scale, and with less attempt at regulation. The charitable dispensaries also were strong. There remains a small group of agencies, which may be considered as to some extent forerunners of the Charity Organisation Society. In December 1868 the Rev. Martyn Hart started his system of free mendicity tickets in Blackheath. Every householder was supplied with tickets with which to refer beggars to a central office. Cases were enquired into by an experienced officer; if hungry they were fed, and if capable of being permanently assisted they were helped from funds raised in the district. All cases belonging properly to the Guardians were referred to them and left entirely to their care. It is perhaps little wonder that the originator of this scheme claimed subsequently that the](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21359362_0031.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
