THE ORIGIN OF THE CHARITY ORGANISATION SOCIETY.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR,"]
SIR,—On returning home after a short absence, I find there is a letter in the Spectator of March 24th which seems to require the answer I shall be obliged if you will allow me to give. "G. M. H." is a little behindband in his references to the origin of the Charity Organisation Society. Neither nor my esteemed friend, the late Dr. Hawkesley, ever "brought before the council" of that society a scheme for "The Prevention of Pauperism and Crime." In June, 1868, I read a paper on this subject before a meeting at the Society of Arts' presided over by the then Bishop of London (Dr. Tait), the outcome of which was the formation of a "Society for the Prevention of Pauperism and Crime," and which numbered among its supporters Lord Lyttelton, the Earl of Lichfield, General Sir Orfeur Cavenagh, Sir Walter Crofton, Mr. John Ruskin, the Bishop of London, Archbishop Manning, Dr. Hawkesley, Captain Masse, R.N., Colonel Maude, V.C., Mr. Webster, Q.C., Sir E. A. Lechmere, and other eminent men interested in Social Reform. One of the sub-committees formed by the council of this society was (by the motion of Sir Joseph Dare) on the organisation of charities; and Dr. Hawkesley, having followed up Mr. Dare's able report on this subject by a valuable paper read at another meet- ing in the Hall of the Society of Arts, the original Society, about six months later, was transformed into the present Charity Organisation Society. A full account of all these proceedings was given in a very able and exhaustive article in the Charity Organisation Review for October and November, 1892 (No. 94), written and issued by the officials of the Charity Organisa- tion Society, and carefully prepared from the printed records, minutes, and prospectuses, in the society's possession, and from General Cavenagh's diary. "U. M. H" must have seen this article, as, in his letter to you, he refers to that number of the Review ; but the facts therein recorded appear to have escaped his memory when he wrote that letter. My scheme was never " brought before the council of the Charity Organisation Society," as it was in full swing before that society grew out of and absorbed it, and therefore could not, as "C. M. H." states, have been "at once rejected by it." Lastly, neither in my "Reminiscences," nor anywhere else, have I ever claimed to have " founded " the Charity Organisation Society; nor have I ever seen any reason to concede this claim" G. M. H." makes to its origination, though there is no doubt he was at work in the same direction about eight or nine years before it superseded the society which was formed after the reading of my paper on June 22nd, 1868. In the article in the Charity Organisation Review (No. 94), there is a full account of the share he had in the direction of this movement in those earlier years.
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