Victorians and the Case for Charity

Marilyn D. Button is a professor of English at The Lincoln University, Pennsylvania. She lives in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. Jessica A. Sheetz-Nguyen is an associate professor of history at the University of Central Oklahoma, Edmond. She lives in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

“a fine contribution to social history...highly recommended”—Choice: “This is a fascinating and often moving study of how Victorian poverty was experienced, how Victorian charity was practiced, and how Victorian religion was lived. Its solid scholarship contributes to a topic historians need to rediscover.”—Dr. Jonathan Rose, Drew University (New Jersey); “Victorians and the Case for Charity: Essays on Responses to English Poverty by the State, the Church and the Literati, edited by Marilyn D. Button and Jessica A. Sheetz-Nguyen, is a monumental accomplishment. Their collaboration illumines the idealism and energy of the Victorian era as it sought to meet the crushing needs of the impoverished. The heroes and heroines of this bygone era come to life as they courageously implement ways and means to better the sufferings of the poor who lived on the dark side of the industrial revolution. The roots of contemporary efforts to assist the needy in terms of health, education, moral training and spiritual hope are clearly seen and inspire the reader to investigate and perhaps emulate their altruism.”—Dr. Peter A. Lillback, President, Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia.

• Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsPrefaceIntroduction: “Injurious Charity” (Marilyn D. Button and Jessica A. Sheetz-Nguyen)Part One: State ResponseThe Case for Charity: “But if I were you, I should certainly go into the workhouse” (Jessica A. Sheetz-Nguyen)Royal Charity and Queen Adelaide in Early Nineteenth Century Britain (Marilyn K. Thomas)Lloyd’s Patriotic Fund, 1791–1841: “To the Heroes of Trafalgar” (Jessica A. Sheetz-Nguyen)Part Two: Anglican ResponseRhetoric, Education and Economics as Practical Theology: Archbishop Richard Whately’s Irish Policies (Carol Poster)Fundraising Theology? Anglican Charity Sermons and Nineteenth-Century Social Causes (Keith A. Francis)Part Three: Literati Response“The Cry of the Children”: Elizabeth Barrett’s Response to Child Labor in the Mines and Factories of Victorian Britain (Mary B. McElligott)“No friend like a sister”: Christina Rossetti’s “Awakened Conscience” and the Fallen Woman (Renée J. Schlueter)Part Four: Evangelical ResponseA Sisterhood Powerful for Motherhood: Ellen Ranyard’s “Biblewomen” and “Biblewomen Nurses” (Donald M. Lewis)Protecting Canterbury’s Poor: City Missions and the Protestant Laity (Marilyn D. Button)Oxford for Factory Workers: The People’s College of Sheffield (Angela M. Schwer)Part Five: Roman Catholic Response“Father of the orphan, his helper and his judge”: Roman Catholic Response to the English Poor Law System (Jessica A. Sheetz-Nguyen)“Something for the Poor”: London Women Religious and Social Reform in the 1840s (Moira E. Egan)EpilogueAbout the ContributorsIndex