[-76-]
CHAPTER VII.
LONDON CHARITIES.
WHEN Guizot visited London the principal thing that struck
him was the nature and the extent of London Charities. Undoubtedly the English
are a more charitable people than the French. When the ruinously low prices of
the Funds forbade a loan, the loyalty-loan brought forth the name of a
Lancashire cotton-spinner, the father of the lamented statesman, Sir Robert
Peel, who subscribed £60,000; and when George the Third sent the Minister Pitt
to compliment him on this truly loyal and patriotic subscription, he simply
replied that another. £60,000 would be forthcoming if it was wanted for the
defence of the country. Did Napoleon, or any French monarch, ever possess such a
patriotic subject? The spirit is still the same. What sums the nation subscribed
for the relief of the wives and widows and orphans of the Crimean heroes. What
an amount was raised at once for the victims of the Indian mutiny. An Englishman
likes to make money, and makes many a sacrifice to do it; but then how lavishly
and with what [-77-] a princely hand he gives it.
And in this respect the Londoner is a thorough Englishman - his charity covers a
multitude of sins. I am aware some of this charity is of a doubtful character. A
draper, for instance, may subscribe to the funds - of such an institution as
that for early closing - a very handsome sum, merely as a good business
advertisement; other tradesmen may and undoubtedly do the same. There is also a
spirit of rivalry in these matters - if Smith saw Jones' name down for £50, he,
thinking he was as good as Smith any day, and perhaps a good deal setter, puts
his name down for £100. Somehow or other we can scarce do good things without
introducing a little of the alloy of poor human nature; but London charities
undoubtedly cover a multitude of sins.
Associations for the voluntary relief of distress, the
reclamation of the criminal, and diffusion of Christian truth, are a noble
characteristic of the English people. There is no city in the world possessing
an equal number of charitable institutions to those of the British capital.
Taking the whole of London, and not exempting, from their distance, such as may
be correctly classed as metropolitan institutions, as Greenwich Hospital,
&c., we find there are no less than 526 charitable institutions, exclusive
of mere local endowments and trusts, parochial and local schools, &c.
According to Mr. Low, the charities comprise-
12 General medical hospitals.
50 Medical charities for special
purposes.
[-78-] 35
General dispensaries.
12 Societies and institutions for the
preservation of life and public morals.
18 Societies for reclaiming the
fallen, and staying the progress of crime.
14 Societies for the relief of
general destitution and distress.
35 Societies in connection with the
Committee of the Reformatory and Refuge Unions.
12 Societies for relief of specific
description.
14 Societies for aiding the resources
of the industrious (exclusive of loan funds and savings' banks).
11 Societies for the deaf and dumb,
and the blind.
103 Colleges, hospitals, and
institutions of almhouses for the aged.
16 Charitable pension societies.
74 Charitable and provident
societies, chiefly for specified classes.
31 Asylums for orphan and other
necessitous children.
10 Educational foundations.
4 Charitable modern ditto.
40 School societies, religious books,
Church aiding and Christian visiting societies.
35 Bible and missionary societies.
526 (This includes parent societies only, and is quite
exclusive of the numerous "auxiliaries," &c.)
These charities annually disburse in aid of their respective
objects the extraordinary amount of £1,764,733, of which upwards of £1,000,000
is raised annually by voluntary contributions; the remainder from funded
property, sale of publications, &c.
The facility with which money can be raised in Lon-[-79-]don
for charitable purposes is very astonishing. A short time back it was announced
that the London Hospital had lost about £1,500 a year by the falling in of
annuities. It was, therefore, necessary, if the Hospital was to continue its
charities to the same extent as heretofore, that additional funds should be
raised. In an incredibly short; space of time £24,000 were collected. The Times
makes an appeal about Christmas time for the refuges of the destitute in the
metropolis, and generally it raises somewhere about £10,000 - a nice addition
to the regular income of the societies. The Bishop of London, since he has been
connected with his diocese, has consecrated 29 new churches, accommodating
90,000 persons, erected by voluntary subscriptions. We may depend upon it the
various sects of dissenters are equally active in their way. During last year
the Field Lane Refuge supplied 30,302 lodgings to 6,785 men and boys, who
received 101,193 either six or eight ounce loaves of bread. At the same time 840
women were admitted during the year, to whom were supplied 10,028 lodgings,
averaging 11 nights shelter to each person, by whom 14,755 loaves were consumed.
On the whole it appears that 10,000 persons annually participate in the
advantages of this institution, and 1,222 of the most forlorn and wretched
creatures in London were taken from the streets and placed in a position where
they might earn their own bread, and all this at the cost of 3s. 6d. each per
annum. In 1851 the original Shoeblack Society sent five boys into the street to
get an honest [-80-] living by cleaning boots
rather than by picking and stealing, and now their number is about 350. Mr.
Mayhew calculates the London charities at three millions and a half per annum.
In estimating London charities we must not be unmindful of those required by
law. According to a return published a couple of years since, I find, in the
districts of the metropolis, the average amount expended for the relief of the
poor was 1s. 6¾d. in the pound. The total number of casual destitute paupers
admitted into the workhouses of the metropolitan districts during the year
amounted to 53,221 males, 62,622 females, and 25,716 children. The quantity of
food supplied to these paupers varies much in the several districts, as also the
nature of the work required. In some cases no work at all is exacted from the
casual poor, but where it is, the demand appears to be chiefly for picking oakum
and breaking stones. In some cases the dietary includes bread and cheese, with
gruel, and sometimes even the luxury of butter is added. In other cases bread
and water (very meagre fare, and insufficient to support life for any length of
time), are all that is allowed. Women suckling infants are supplied tea, broth,
or gruel in lieu of water; we can scarce wonder the poor prefer going to jail. I
have seen in jails, and convict establishments, dinners better served than are
earned even by many of the industrious poor. I find during the last year the 339
agents of the London City Mission had paid 1,528,162 visits during the year;
117,443 of these visits being [-81-] to the sick
and dying. By their means a large number of Bibles and Tracts had been
distributed, 11,200 children had been sent to school, and 580 fallen females
restored to virtue. At the annual meeting of the Ragged School Union it was
stated that in 170 Ragged School institutions, there were 199 Sunday Schools,
with 24,860 scholars; 146 day schools with 15,380 scholars, and 215 evening
schools, with 9,050 scholars: of teachers 400 were paid, and 9,690 were
voluntary. There were fifteen refuges in which 600 inmates were fed, lodged,
clothed, and educated. The midnight meeting movement, of which we have heard so
much, and respecting which opinions so much differ, according to its report, has
been very successful; through the instrumentality of the committee seven
meetings had been called; 1700 women had been addressed; 7500 scriptural cards
and books had been circulated; and 107 had been reclaimed and placed in homes,
through the agency of which, they would, it was hoped, be restored to society.
In addition to these five had been restored to their friends, one to her
husband, two placed in situations, and one had been married. In the general
charities of England London has its share. It not merely takes the initiative
but it subscribes by far the larger part. When the Crimean war broke out a fund
was raised for the wives and families of the soldiers engaged in it, amounting
to £121,139; £260,000 were subscribed for the relief of the victims of the
Indian mutiny. Well it was in [-82-] London that
the most liberal donations were made. Again, look at the Religious Societies. In
last year the income of the Church Missionary Society was £163,629. 1s. 4d.; of
the Bible Society £162,020. 13s. 5d. Of the Wesleyan Missionary Society, £141,000.
5s. 11d. Of the London Missionary Society, £93,000. Thus gigantic and
all-persuading are the charities of London. The almshouses erected by private
individuals or public subscriptions are too numerous to be described, except we
refer to the London Almshouses erected at Brixton to commemorate the passing of
the Reform Bill; nor would I forget the Charter House with its jovial and
grateful chorus:-
"Then blessed be the memory
Of good old Thomas Sutton,
Who gave us lodging, learning,
And he gave us beef and mutton."
Nor Christ's Hospital, with its annual income of £50,000; nor the Foundling
Hospital, with its 500 children; nor Alleyn's magnificent gift of Dulwich; nor
the Bethlehem Hospital, with its income of nearly £30,000 a year; nor the
Magdalene. But we must say a few words about the Hospitals; of the more than 500
Charitable Institutions of the metropolis, one quarter consists of general
medical hospitals, medical charities for special purposes, dispensaries, &c.
In 1859, in Bartholemew's, I find there were patients admitted, cured, and
discharged, 5,865 in, 86,480 out; [-83-] in
St. Thomas's 4,114 in, 44,744 out; the Charing Cross Hospital has, I believe, on
an average 1,000 in-patients, 17,000 out. Guy's, with its annual income of £30,000,
has an entire average of in and outpatients of 50,000. But we stop, the list is
not exhausted, but we fear the patience of the reader is.