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38
Extract from Mr Oxley's account of the "poor and stranger's friend
society" at Hull. by William Wilberforce. Esq pp 295-302 Dated 18th April
1798.
In September 1795 a society was instituted at Hull, for inquiring into and
alleviating the distresses of the poor in that place, particularly of such as
were strangers and friendless:- the object of it being :-
1st - By a personal attendance at the houses of the persons recommended or
applying for relief to the society, to ascertain their real circumstances, and
to distinguish cases of real misery from those of fictitious distress; so as by
timely relief in the one instance, and by proper correction in the other, to
serve the cause of the real poor, and to prevent the misapplication of charity.
2ndly - By application to parishes, whether in the neighbourhood or at a
distance, in behalf of persons in distress being parishioners of those parishes
respectively, to procure relief for them, or to provide for their comfortable
removal, according to the circumstances of the case; thereby preventing part of
them becoming street beggars, and
by removing the others to be maintained by their own parishes.
3rdly - By offering every assistance to honest industry, and refusing at the
same time, relief to those, who are too indolent to do any thing for themselves,
or who persevere in a profane and irreligious course of life, to hold out to the
poor a prevalent encouragement to exertion and virtue; and, by such means to
explain to them the way of effectually serving themselves, and of training up
their children in religion, in good habits, and industry.
4thly - By providing medical aid for poor families in case of sickness,
and by promoting the means of cleanliness among them, to increase their health
and comfort.
In the execution of this plan it has been the rule of the society, not to supply
the poor in general with money, but rather to lay it out for them; as the surest
way of directing the relief economically and with effect; and every acting
member of the society gives not merely his contribution, but his time, to the
objects of the institution without
salary or allowance; so that the funds are entirely applied to the purposes of
the charity, and the effects thereby greatly increased and extended.
The business of the society is conducted by a committee of 17 persons, a
treasurer, two stewards, a surgeon, and twenty visitors, of whom five are
ladies. Three hundred sick persons have been admitted on their books as
patients, in the course of two years and a half, ending 31st March 1798. Two
hundred and ten of these have been entirely cured, thirty-six relieved, sixteen
have proved incurable, or have been sent to the infirmary; twenty seven have
died, and the remaining eleven were under cure. The expence of this part of the
charity has amounted to only £73-6s-10d; the apothecary attending gratis, and
supplying the medicines at prime cost.
The account of the receipts and payments of this charity during the preceding
period of two and a half years is as follows :-
Receipts.
1798 March 31st Annual Subscriptions
212-0s-6d
Benefactions from Subscribers
340-8s-11d
Allowance by Treasurer of Interest
14-3s-9d
Total 566-13s-2d
Payments
1798 March 31st Printing and advertisements
21-10s-4d
Paid Bills for Medicines
73- 6s-10d
Paid for salts of vinegar use by visitors
17s-5d
Paid for linen for poor lying-in women
1-19s-10d
Paid in weekly amounts for food and relief
325-7s-1d
Balance in hands of Treasurer
143-11s-8d
Total 566-13s-2d
This institution has existed now for only two years and
a half; and, in that short time (I speak from the authority of Mr Oxley, who
benevolently and gratuitously acts as the surgeon of the charity) effects have
been produced by it, that must be extremely gratifying to all who interest
themselves in the cause of humanity. It is difficult to estimate correctly its
present benefit, or its probable consequences. - It has produced a change in the
morals, conduct, and circumstances of the greater part of those, who have been
the objects of the charity. The drunkard has become sober, the idle,
industrious; and the profane and irreligious have been brought to a regular
attendance on divine service, of which they had before lived in the entire
neglect. Parishes have been induced, or obliged, to allow a proper maintenance
to their own poor; and fraudulent beggars and vagrants have been compelled to
abandon their trade, and return to their settlements.
Observations.
Other institutions, like that which I have been describing, have been formed
with effect and success at Halifax, Manchester, and in some other towns in
England. It is somewhat wonderful, that no general society of this nature has
been ever proposed, amid the variety of charities in the metropolis; where, from
the indolence and inattention of the opulent, a number of imposters live in affluence
and confidence on those alms, for the want of which thousands of poor creatures
are perishing. The amount of the money, which is annually given in the
metropolis under the name of charity, to the support of vice, idleness, and
imposture, exceeds all calculation. While the indolent had rather give their
shilling to apparent misery, than take the trouble of ascertaining the reality
and inquiring into the circumstances of distress, the artful, and fraudulent
vagrant must always have an advantage over the really needy and perishing; and
nothing can prevent the misapplication of the charity intended for the latter,
so effectually as an establishment of a "Poor and Strangers' Friend
Society" like that which does so much honour to Hull. Their objects and
regulations might be the same. The trouble and attention, which such an
institution would at first require, would certainly be considerable; but these
would be far more than compensated by its immediate effects, and by the extent
of its beneficial consequences.
Dated 18th April 1798.
Source:
The Reports of the Society for Bettering the Condition and Increasing the
Comforts of the Poor. Vol 1 1798 446 pp
Submitted by Alan Longbottom
Page updated August 06, 2007
by Rossbret
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38 Hull Society