Browning Hall, properly The Robert Browning Settlement, was a social settlement established in Walworth, London, in 1895, one of a number of such 'settlements' arising out of the settlement movement and the university extension movement. It provided a range of social services to the poor of its deprived area, and provided accommodation enabling relatively well-educated people to live amongst the people with whom they worked.
The settlement movement was a reformist social movement, beginning in the 1880s and peaking around the 1920s, with a goal of getting the rich and poor in society to live more closely together in an interdependent community. Its main object was the establishment of "settlement houses" in poor urban areas, in which volunteer middle-class "settlement workers" would live, hoping to share knowledge and culture with, and alleviate the poverty of, their low-income neighbors. The university extension movement was similarly disposed, to bring high quality education to the urban poor by means of the establishment of university settlement houses. [1] An early and prominent example was offered by the formation of Toynbee Hall by Samuel and Henrietta Barnett
The Browning Hall settlement was formed by Francis Herbert Stead, a congregationalist minister who served at the York Street Chapel in Walworth. The chapel was in 1890 renamed "Browning Hall", honouring Robert Browning, who had been baptised there in 1812. [2] The settlement was established along the lines of Toynbee Hall. Initially closely associated with the chapel, the settlement was inaugurated in November, 1895 with an address given by H. H. Asquith. In 1902 it established itself in separate premises at 62 Camberwell Road. [3] [4]
The settlement provided accommodation for a number of university-educated volunteers, but also a relatively large proportion of self-taught volunteers, including James Keir Hardie. Browning Hall offered a wide range of services over time, including adult education (including acting as the Walworth centre for the London University Extension Society), social-work training, a savings club, legal aid, organised country holidays, summer camps, and a range of clubs and societies. [3]
By design, the settlement had an interest in Labour politics. Its entry in the Directory of Settlements stated: "We stand for the Labour Movement in religion. We stand for the endeavour to obtain for Labour not merely more of the good things of life, but most of the best things in life. Come and join us in the service of Him who is the Lord of Labour and the soul of all social reform". It became a hub for trade union activity, most notably giving rise to the 1899–1908 National Committee of Organised Labour, which successfully campaigned for the introduction of general tax funded old-age pensions; and later becoming involved in a further successful campaign for the provision of old-people's homes. [3]
Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955. He was Deputy Prime Minister during the wartime coalition government under Winston Churchill, and served twice as Leader of the Opposition from 1935 to 1940 and from 1951 to 1955.
Pembroke College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college is the third-oldest college of the university and has over 700 students and fellows. It is one of the university's larger colleges, with buildings from almost every century since its founding, as well as extensive gardens. Its members are termed "Valencians". The college's current master is Chris Smith, Baron Smith of Finsbury.
Walworth is a district of south London, England, within the London Borough of Southwark. It adjoins Camberwell to the south and Elephant and Castle to the north, and is 1.9 miles (3.1 km) south-east of Charing Cross.
Samuel Augustus Barnett was a Church of England cleric and social reformer who was particularly associated with the establishment of the first university settlement, Toynbee Hall, in east London in 1884. He is often referred to as Canon Barnett, having served as Canon of Westminster Abbey from 1906 until death.
Arnold Toynbee was a British economic historian also noted for his social commitment and desire to improve the living conditions of the working classes.
Toynbee Hall is a charitable institution that works to address the causes and impacts of poverty in the East End of London and elsewhere. Established in 1884, it is based in Commercial Street, Spitalfields, and was the first university-affiliated institution of the worldwide settlement movement—a reformist social agenda that strove to get the rich and poor to live more closely together in an interdependent community. It was founded by Henrietta and Samuel Barnett in the economically depressed East End, and was named in memory of their friend and fellow reformer, Oxford historian Arnold Toynbee, who had died the previous year.
Mary Louisa "Polly" Toynbee is a British journalist and writer. She has been a columnist for The Guardian newspaper since 1998.
The second MacDonald ministry was formed by Ramsay MacDonald on his reappointment as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom by King George V on 5 June 1929. It was only the second occasion on which the Labour Party had formed a government; the First MacDonald Ministry held office in 1924.
The settlement movement was a reformist social movement that began in the 1880s and peaked around the 1920s in England and the United States. Its goal was to bring the rich and the poor of society together in both physical proximity and social interconnectedness. Its main object was the establishment of "settlement houses" in poor urban areas, in which volunteer middle-class "settlement workers" would live, hoping to share knowledge and culture with, and alleviate the poverty of, their low-income neighbors. The settlement houses provided services such as daycare, English classes, and healthcare to improve the lives of the poor in these areas. The most famous settlement house of the time was Hull House, founded by Jane Addams and Ellen Starr.
Clement Attlee was invited by King George VI to form the Attlee ministry in the United Kingdom in July 1945, succeeding Winston Churchill as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The Labour Party had won a landslide victory at the 1945 general election, and went on to enact policies of what became known as the post-war consensus, including the establishment of the welfare state and the nationalisation of some industries. The government's spell in office was marked by post-war austerity measures, the violent crushing of pro-independence and communist movements in Malaya, the grant of independence to India, the engagement in the Cold War against Soviet Communism as well as the creation of the country's National Health Service (NHS).
The Northwestern University Settlement House is an Arts and Crafts style house located at 1400 West Augusta Boulevard in Chicago, Illinois, United States. The Settlement Association was founded in 1891 by Northwestern University to provide resources to the poor and new immigrants to the West Town neighborhood. The actual Settlement House structure was built in 1901 by Pond & Pond. It was designated a Chicago Landmark on December 1, 1993.
Oxford House in Bethnal Green, East London, was established in September 1884 as one of the first "settlements" by Oxford University as a High-Anglican Church of England counterpart to Toynbee Hall, established around the same time at Whitechapel.
The British Labour Party grew out of the trade union movement of the late 19th century and surpassed the Liberal Party as the main opposition to the Conservatives in the early 1920s. In the 1930s and 1940s, it stressed national planning, using nationalization of industry as a tool, in line with Clause IV of the original constitution of the Labour Party which called for the "common ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange, and the best obtainable system of popular administration and control of each industry or service".
The Stanton Street Settlement is a Settlement movement, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit community organization in New York, New York, United States. Its mission is to provide a safe, caring, tuition-free environment where children from the city's Lower East Side can develop their minds, bodies and spirits.
Social work has its roots in the attempts of society at large to deal with the problem of poverty and inequality. Social work is intricately linked with the idea of charity work; but must be understood in broader terms. The concept of charity goes back to ancient times, and the practice of providing for the poor has roots in all major world religions.
Thomas Edmund Harvey, generally known as Edmund Harvey, was an English museum curator, social reformer and politician. He sat in Parliament, first as a Liberal and later as an Independent Progressive. He was also a prolific writer on Christianity and the role and history of the Society of Friends.
The National Assistance Act 1948 is an Act of Parliament passed in the United Kingdom by the Labour government of Clement Attlee. It formally abolished the Poor Law system that had existed since the reign of Elizabeth I, and established a social safety net for those who did not pay national insurance contributions and were therefore left uncovered by the National Insurance Act 1946 and the National Insurance Act 1946. It also provided help to elderly Britons who required supplementary benefits to make a subsistence living, and obliged local authorities to provide suitable accommodation for those who through infirmity, age, or any other reason were in need of care and attention not otherwise available. The legislation also empowered local authorities to grant financial aid to organizations of volunteers concerned with the provision of recreational facilities or meals.
Frederick Rogers was an English bookbinder, trades unionist, writer and journalist. He is notable as first chairman of the Labour Representation Committee, the organisation to which the Labour Party traces its origins, as well as for a lifetime of work dedicated to educational improvement for the working class, and to the introduction of a general tax-funded system of old-age pensions.
Francis Herbert Stead, commonly cited as F. H. Stead, was a British social reformer notable for the establishment of Browning Hall in London, 1895, and for his work on the National Committee of Organised Labour which waged a decade-long campaign for the introduction of a general tax-funded system of old-age pensions from 1899.
The National Committee of Organised Labour for Promoting Old Age Pensions for All, often shortened to National Committee of Organised Labour, was a British campaign group established at the end of the nineteenth century which sought the introduction of a general-tax funded old-age pension. The campaign succeeded with the introduction of the Old-Age Pensions Act 1908.