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39
Extract from an account of a charity in Spitalfields, for supplying the
poor with soup and potatoes; with observations, by Thomas Bernard, Esq. pp
303-312 Dated 30th March 1798
On the 16th of January 1798, a shop was opened at No 53 Brick Lane, Spitalfields,
for the purpose of selling to the poor, in that part of the metropolis, good
meat soup at a penny a quart.. There are at present on the list above 3,000
families who are entitled to purchase the soup daily and also potatoes once a
week. The charity is under the direction of a committee which now consists of 43
persons, who meet once a week. At each weekly meeting 4 of the members are, in
their turn, appointed visitors for each day of the ensuing week. A general
meeting of all subscribers of half a guinea and upwards is called once a month.
The following assistants have been found necessary. A woman, who has no salary,
but lives in the house rent-free; her office is to superintend the cooking, to
deliver out the soup, and to take care that everything is very clean. There are
also 3 men, one paid 16s and the other 2 14s a week, they prepare the meat and
ingredients, attend the process of making the soup, scour and clean the utensils
and maintain the boilers. The
charity is supported by voluntary subscription. The committee at Lloyd's
Coffee-house instituted for the relief of the out-parishes has, in consequence
of the representations of Mr Colquhon and others, presented the society with the
sum of £500 other subscriptions and donations
bring the total to £1,118-12s-0d.
Observations.
For the institution and management of this charity, the public is chiefly
indebted to the society of Christians, called Quakers.
Another
institution of the same nature and principally conducted by the same society,
has been opened at Clerkenwell, for the benefit of the distressed watchmakers,
and a third in St George's Fields. In order to further so useful and necessary a
work, a subscription is opened, for the united benefit of these institutions, at
Messrs Hammersley's and Co. in the names of The Lord Bishop of Durham, William
Wilberforce, Esquire, and the writer of these observations. It is proposed that
donations shall not exceed one guinea each; and that whenever there is the sum
of £30 in hand, it shall be divided equally among these three charities. I
ought not to conclude this paper, without acknowledging my obligation
to four members of the committee, Mr William Allen, Mr John Arch, Mr
Stephen Powell, and Mr William Phillips, for the obliging and very satisfactory
manner in which they have furnished me with the materials for this account of
their institution. Dated 30th March 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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39 Spitalfields Soup Shop