Squires in the Slums
Subtitle: Settlements and Missions in Late Victorian Britain (International Library of Historical Studies)
Publisher: I. B. Tauris; I.B. Tauris; Distributed in the U.S. by Palgrave Macmillan
Published: August 7, 2007
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 256
ISBN-13: 9781845113360
Subjects: Christian mission & evangelism; Social history; c 1800 to c 1900; History; History - General History; History: World; British Isles; Christian Ministry - Missions; Christianity - History - General; Europe - Great Britain - General; History / Great Britain; Sociology - General
Description: Settlements were a distinctive aspect of late-Victorian church life in which individual philanthropic Christians were encouraged to live and work in communities amongst the poor and set an example for the underprivileged through their own actions. Often overlooked by historians, settlements are of great value in understanding the values and culture of the 19th century. Settlement missions were first conceived when Samuel Barnett, the incumbent of St Jude's, Whitechapel, in the East End of London, sought to introduce them as a major aspect of Victorian church life. Barnett argued that settlers should be incorporated into London communities that suffered from squalor and poverty to live and work alongside the poor, to demonstrate their Christian faith and attempt to enhance social conditions from the inside. His first recruits were Oxford undergraduates and when Toynbee Hall was founded in Oxford in 1884, his radical vision of adapting Christian morality towards tackling social deprivation had begun. By the end of the Victorian era more than fifty similar institutions had been created. Whilst few settlements lasted beyond the Victorian period, by injecting Christian ethics into trade unions, local government and the community, they had a huge impact which is still felt in the way these organisations operate today. --From publisher's description.