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opinion upon the whole question, which could only be attained through the individual knowledge and experience acquired by men and women as visitors, who should bring pressure from the outside to bear upon the closed doors and proceedings of workhouse management, about which, up to that time, there was little knowledge or thought. It was evident that, many of the ladies who took up the work being wives and daughters of members of Parliament and men of high position and influence, the results of what they saw and heard could not fail to reach those who had power to influence the public opinion of the country.

In the year 1859 it was felt that some organ of information and communication was necessary for the new society, and accordingly a journal was started, to be published at first every two months and then quarterly, for circulation amongst the members. It was open to correspondence and suggestions from all, and as it

was continued till 1865, it was doubtless the means of diffusing valuable information on the subject to a large circle of influential persons.

The first meeting of the society was held in May, 1859.* This, as it was said at the time, was "the first occasion on which the claims of workhouse inmates on the sympathy of the public have been advocated, and it was hoped that it would be the means of widely extending a knowledge of, and interest in, the cause." This hope has, we think, not been disappointed, for from that time the progress was steady and increasing. A committee of visitors for one of the city workhouses was formed under the auspices of the then Lady Mayoress, Mrs. Finnis, and it worked well and diligently for many years till the old building of the West London Union was given up, and the inmates removed to a new one in the suburbs. In the

* Under the presidency of the Hon. W. Cowper; the Bishops of London (Dr. Tait), and Bath and Wells, both spoke, besides many clergymen and laymen.

year 1860 a committee of ladies was appointed to visit St. Pancras Workhouse, with the consent of the guardians, and the work has been continued to the present time. This was not, however, directly connected with the central At the present time a lady is acting as guardian on that Board.*

society.

The interest shown in the new society was proved by the extensive correspondence which ensued from all parts of the country, in more than one hundred unions, and many persons who had been working singly, or wishing to work, received gladly the idea of co-operation and help, endeavouring to obtain the sanction of Boards of Guardians for the introduction of the plan. As the work advanced, the various needs of the different classes who formed the heterogeneous populations of workhouses be

* That women should be elected as guardians, according to their legal right, has always been urged, and we are glad to say that in a few other instances a lady is now acting with great advantage.

came the subject of thought and discussion, as to hopes and endeavours of improvement. The first branch, or division, that seemed to call loudly for help, was that of the able-bodied young girls and women, who, good and bad together, were found to be mixed up in one hopeless class, which was (in the larger London workhouses especially) the despair, and almost terror, of the officials. Into these same wards it was found that all above the age of sixteen, and often below it, were placed together; the hardened outcast and the decent girl, who had recently been sent from the comparative shelter of the school to a "place," which for some reason or other she had not been able to keep. When this fatal plan was observed or commented upon to the officials, the answer was, that the Poor Law recognized no distinction of character, but only destitution, and that all must be treated alike; indeed, had any separation of the inmates been made, there would

have been little use in it, when no moral or other personal influence was at hand to be brought to bear upon them.

Thus arose the desire to obtain the means of rescuing the more hopeful of the young women and girls by taking them away from the workhouse, and, with the sanction of the guardians, placing them in a home apart from these evil associations. The difficulty was, however, to obtain the necessary legal payments for such persons, as outdoor relief for the able-bodied did not come within the rules. The proposal was, nevertheless, laid before the Board of Guardians of the Strand Union, and by them referred to the Poor Law Board; a lengthened correspondence ensued during more than a year, which was only brought to a successful termination, when, all obstacles overcome, the plan was actually begun in 1861, and a house opened under my superintendence, for the *This was printed as a report in the same year.

*

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