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PAGE BLANKETS 22 COAL FUND 20 CLOTHING FUND 21 WINTER CLUB 21 PROVIDENT CLUB 21 WORK SOCIETY 23 MATERNITY SOCIETY 13 PAROCHIAL NURSERY 14 INFANT SCHOOL 15 CHRIST CHURCH NATIONAL SCHOOL, GORE LANE 18 JENNINGS' BUILDINGS SCHOOL 16 ANALYSIS OF RELIEF GIVEN 24 DISTRICT VISITING--ITS PRACTICAL WORKING 25 --RESULTS 28

NINTH ANNUAL REPORT.

Money expended. Money deposited. 1847 ?13 12 9 ?11 16 3 1850 7 0 0 18 18 3 1852 10 5 6 26 0 10

These may be stated as arising first from the death or change of residence of many original supporters; and, secondly, from want of acquaintance on the part of new comers with its existence. Nor should this be a matter of much surprise; since, in every populous parish, so many Institutions for the temporal and spiritual advantage of the working-classes are necessary to be maintained, that comparatively few of those, who do not make a conscience of inquiring into their condition, are aware of either their number or relative importance. This remark applies with peculiar force to suburban districts such as Kensington, where a large proportion of the heads of families proceed early in the morning to transact their daily business in London, and do not return until the evening. The fault of their ignorance is not however to be charged to the Committee of the Society, who do all in their power to make known its title to assistance, both by the publication of Reports, and the appointment of a collector, whose business it is not merely to gather old, but also to solicit new subscriptions. But in many instances, the servants are prohibited from receiving printed appeals by a general order, which, of course, renders nugatory any communication that might be addressed to their masters through the medium of the Press. This is a hardship on both parties, in that the very individuals who are the first to complain of the apparent omission, are the involuntary victims of their own direction, and continue deprived of a satisfactory channel for the administration of their alms; while the Charity advocated in the pamphlet intended to be left at their houses suffers in the full amount which might otherwise have been placed at its disposal. There are some cases on the other side, in which the clergy have been requested by persons immediately on their entrance into the Parish to supply them with a list of the benevolent Institutions requiring succour. It would be well were this example more universally followed. None would then complain of being overlooked.

With these preliminary observations the Committee proceed to the more grateful task of giving an account of their stewardship in the past year; and as the best means of exhibiting the organisation now existing in St. Mary Abbott's, and informing the public of the comprehensive scheme of charity, to which they are invited to take a part, the present Report will bring in order under notice, the graduated agencies of beneficence that are exerted upon the poor throughout the several stages of their lives.

As that which refers to its very earliest period, it may be advisable to commence with some account of the

MATERNITY SOCIETY,

which, after an independent course of active usefulness for above thirty years, has been in some measure affiliated to the District Visiting Society, though still retaining the valuable superintendence of those ladies, under whose judicious management it has been productive of such essential service. Its purpose is to provide bags of baby-linen and other fitting articles for respectable married women during the month of their confinement; these are entrusted for distribution to the members of the Committee, who usually grant them on the recommendation of a subscriber, or of the Visitor of the District in which the applicant resides. A copy of the New Testament is sent at the same time, which is often not without its influence in suggesting to the recipient the promise that, though in "sorrow she is to bring forth children, notwithstanding she shall be saved in child-bearing, if she continue in faith, and charity, and holiness, with sobriety." Those possessing larger means, who have been preserved in this great peril and danger, need not be told that next to the accustomed offering at the Altar, there is no more appropriate object for the pecuniary acknowledgments of a thankful spirit, than an Institution claiming to ameliorate those very sufferings from which they have in mercy been so recently delivered.

But the question of support and maintenance soon follows upon the birth of the infant. The poor mother cannot afford to remain at home all day to tend her child. What then becomes of her babe? Shall it be consigned to the care of some aged neighbour, at a cost of a third part of her daily earnings; or must the education of an elder daughter be interfered with, that she may become its nurse? Both these pernicious alternatives have been superseded by the

PAROCHIAL NURSERY, IN GREAT GROVE HOUSE.

To all who, in watching over the helplessness and innocence of infancy, have learnt how delicate is the constitution, how difficult is the rearing of a child, the Committee hopefully commend the cause of these babes of toil. To rescue them from the evils of a careless tending; to preserve them from disease engendered by deleterious cordials, administered by ignorant and impatient guardians to hush their cries; to insure them the common blessings of light and air, of cleanliness and warmth, is essentially a mother's charity. Nor will the lady, surveying with a grateful heart, the commodious arrangement of the apartments of her little ones, have her sense of gratification, in bending over the cradle of her son and heir, diminished by the recollection that she has been instrumental in procuring for the offspring of others, some amongst those comforts so abundantly bestowed upon her own. And if, as is presumed, our boys and girls are taught, in advancing youth, to set apart, on principle, a certain percentage of their allowances for purposes of Christian love, where will they find an object for their sympathies more in unison with their age and feelings than one devoted to the reception of children far younger and more feeble than themselves?

At the age of two years, the infants are transferred to one of the three Schools of the District. Of these, that in Church Court, which, as the feeder of the central National School, has enrolled upon its books about one hundred and fifty scholars between the ages of two and seven years, receives the great proportion. The rest, for the most part, are absorbed by either the Jennings' Buildings or the Gore Lane School, each of which possess a prescriptive right to mention in these pages, not only from the grants they have severally obtained, but from the position they hold in the Parochial organization.

JENNINGS' BUILDINGS,

Nor has the attempt to extend the National System of Education to the Eastern portion of the Parish proved less satisfactory.

THE GORE LANE SCHOOL

has gone on improving in numbers and efficiency since its foundation. For some months, these essentials to prosperity proceeded at an equal march. But, afterwards, the attendance of younger children became numerous enough to interfere with the tuition of the elder. This serious inconvenience was beginning to be felt at the publication of the last Report. However, at the very crisis, the Trustees of the little British and Foreign School at the bottom of the Lane, ingenuously acknowledging the decided preference manifested by the parents of the children for the teaching of the Church, and finding the impossibility of maintaining, with any adequate return, their own establishment, with praiseworthy liberality offered it to the Vicar, under an impression that he might still render it useful, by converting it into an Infant School. Although an assent to this proposal involved an immediate acceptance of liabilities to the amount of ?100, the necessary funds were advanced through the Treasurer of the Trust, in the conviction that, when the circumstances of the transfer became known, so great an obligation would not be suffered to rest on the generosity of a single individual. Thus, an Infant School, and playground as well as a Master's House, are secured to the present Trustees, at a small annual rent of ?5. The result has, in a great measure, justified the anticipations of the Promoters of the transaction. The Christ Church Congregation, to which these Schools are peculiarly attached, have partially accepted the responsibility. The whole juvenile population of the Lane avails itself of the opportunities afforded to it. Fifty Infants attend the Lower, one hundred boys and girls the Upper School. Their pence have increased

from ?1 14 6 in 1851, to ?10 16 4 in 1852. The Subscriptions from ?18 11 0 in 1851, to ?42 12 6 in 1852.

In passing from the juvenile to the adult members of the labouring classes, the Visitors are bound to keep the same principle in view of helping them to help themselves. Whilst either are capable of so doing, it is the truest charity to withhold all other aid. In children, this is effected by insisting on their receiving an Education adapted to their future prospects: in adults, by fostering providence and forethought. "Frugality," said Goldsmith, writing to his brother, "in the lower orders of mankind, is true ambition; it affords the only ladder for the poor to rise to preferment. Teach then, my dear sir, to your son, thrift and economy. I had learnt from books to be disinterested and generous, before I was taught from experience the necessity of being prudent." This homely but difficult truth is becoming year by year more generally acted upon. It influences the whole social body. Insurances on life and against accidents are its forms amongst people enjoying wealth and competence. With others, possessed of smaller, but permanent incomes, the savings' banks develope its latent energies. Provident funds remain for those who live from hand to mouth. Of these last, there are four in St. Mary Abbott's, having for their objects the safe keeping of weekly deposits, to be appropriated respectively to Coal, Clothing, Rent, and other minor expenses, at the end of each year.

The last Report recorded a falling off in 1851 in the contributors to the Coal Club; it has been amply compensated for by the present large increase. The accompanying statement shows the comparative numbers in each year:--

Depositors. Deposits & premium. Coals distributed. 1851 367 ?181 17 1 145 tons 1852 425 209 2 10 174 tons 5 1/2 cwt.

A similar table indicates a similar satisfactory advance in the Clothing Fund, which has never retrograded since its establishment:--

Families Amount deposited. Amount spent. depositing. 1849 73 ?36 19 4 ?42 14 7 1850 124 55 17 5 65 8 5 1851 157 66 15 0 72 12 6 1852 190 78 14 1 91 19 9

Depositors. Deposited. Withdrawn. Paid. 308 ?309 6 0 ?40 3 6 ?289 2 5

Of its 308 depositors, 89 were also depositors to the Coal and Clothing Funds.

The Provident Club, instituted for the reception of small sums, from one penny upwards, is also doing its best to strengthen the same practical thrift. Though open all the year, its chief receipts are taken, as might be rationally concluded, during those months when the other funds are not in operation. In one District, where the Visitor herself collects the weekly savings, the comparatively large sum of ?8 has been set aside. As no interest is allowed in this Club, such a fact goes far to confirm the opinion that it is safe keeping, not usury, that the poor desire. Nor could a more pleasing proof of their confidence in their Visitors be adduced, than that afforded by the simplicity and good faith in which they trust their money to their charge. The statistics of the Club may be thus condensed:--

Depositors. Sum deposited. Balance from 1851. Withdrawn 1852. Balance. 128 ?24 6 4 1/2 ?7 11 5 1/2 ?20 12 8 1/2 ?11 5 1 1/2

In aggregating the result of the above economical agencies, it appears that they have been used during the past year by upwards of a thousand families, the sum of whose united deposits ranges between six and seven hundred pounds. Were there no ulterior benefits connected with the Society, this alone should ensure it the commendation of intelligent philanthropists.

But it is not only by pecuniary transactions that a preparation for the future is presented to the mind of the prudent housewife: she is invited to insure against the cold.

BLANKETS.

A large stock of blankets is annually distributed on loan to deserving persons, who are considered by the Visitors in want of such a boon, and not likely to abuse it. For several years, and with an experience of many hundred blankets, but few cases have occurred in which their judgment has been deceived. Some half dozen blankets may have been pawned, and as many lost; more are fairly worn out. A replenishment took place at Christmas, 1851, and above three hundred were given out in November last. For each of these sixpence is paid by the woman to whom it is lent, which, being devoted to cover the expence of its washing when brought back in summer, is either returned as the price of ablution to the holder herself, or given to the best laundress in the district where she lives, in remuneration for this necessary work.

But the most industrious persons cannot always obtain occupation. Breaks in employment perpetually occur, especially in the case of females. Servants out of place, laundresses and charwomen, milliners and sempstresses, alike dependent on families visiting London only for the season, all may be included in this list; simply to relieve them in distress would be to increase the evil; it is a different thing to find them work, hence the formation of the

WORK SOCIETY,

This return is an abstract of the work in thirty-two Districts only, yet in these, in one month, two hundred and sixty-eight families participated, more or less, in the bounty of the Society.

PRACTICAL WORKING.

PRACTICAL RESULTS.

Outward tests of soundness in the one thing needful, must be mainly sought in reverence for the Lord's Day, in appreciation of His appointed ordinances, and attendance at Public Worship. With some of the smaller tradespeople, who formerly were accustomed to keep open their shops, and drive their usual trade on Sunday, the persuasions of the Visitors have been effectual in procuring an entire cessation of business; and others, who have not strength of principle wholly to forego their profits, trusting to the blessing of the Lord, have yet been influenced, by the prevailing sense of decorum, to intermit their sale during the hours of Divine Service. So, too, as the Church accommodation has been enlarged, Church-goers have increased. Within a comparatively short period, it was mockery to reprove a poor man for not attending the House of Prayer; there was no room for him. Of late years a change has taken place: three new churches have been built; they are all filled; another is required. The free seats, extended as they have been at St. Mary's, are crowded; Christ Church, consecrated but eighteen months ago, has in the morning scarcely a vacant bench. Its opening must have provided for several hundred Churchmen, formerly wanderers from Church to Church. The Register of Baptisms presents rather an increased than a diminished average; but there must be a progressive augmentation in its entrances, before it can be considered as a satisfactory record. There exists a tendency amongst the ignorant to confound Registration with Baptism, and many believe that the civil supersedes the religions ceremony. After all the exertions of the Visitors to diffuse information on this subject, and to awaken the Christian sensibilities of the parents to the importance of the Sacrament, their returns exhibit a catalogue of nearly one hundred children unbaptized. And though many of these are infants, and some the offspring of Baptists, enough remain to demonstrate what would soon become the spiritual condition of the people, were their vigilance to sleep, or their admonitions to be withdrawn. The candidates for Confirmation at the last celebration of the Rite, were more numerous than usual; and drew forth the commendation of the Bishop for their devotional propriety of demeanour. To the greater proportion of those admitted to the Sacred Ordinance, it has been the door and vestibule of the Holy Communion of the Body and Blood of their Redeemer. Hence, amongst other causes, there has accrued an accession to the Communicants of the District, the approximate estimate founded on the Easter Administrations, being in 1851, 614, in 1852, 670. The total attendances at both Churches was 5423. Nor must it be supposed that these are furnished solely from the pew-holders in the Congregations; the humblest ranks are represented, and form, though a minority, one that is both respectable and slowly increasing. No habitual receiver of the Blessed Sacrament can fail to have been struck with the gratifying sight afforded by the regular presence and devout behaviour of a class of young men, who commonly furnish a fifth of the Communicants at St. Mary Abbott's, on the third Sunday in the month; a class which, however independent of the actual working of the Society, owes both its formation and guidance to the zeal and perseverance of not the least active or efficient Member of its Committee.

In conclusion, the Committee would humbly commend the future proceedings of the Society to the compassionate care of that Lord, who being rich unto all, has blessed its operations to the present date, beseeching Him to overrule its plans and works to His own everlasting glory and the final salvation of those who now and hereafter shall regulate, subserve or benefit by, the ministrations of that abounding charity, which it is its especial object to stimulate, develope, and control.

All experience tends to prove a probable connection between dirt and vice. There is truth in the proverb, "Cleanliness is next to godliness." We have the warrant of Holy Writ, for stating that men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. In every attempt to elevate the inhabitants of a neglected District, respect must be had to its sanitary arrangements. No exertion ought to be spared to procure for it water, light, and systematic cleansing; against the demoralizing overcrowding of single rooms the most stringent clauses of the Lodging House Act should be rigidly enforced. The following extracts from the Visitors' Reports certify how these obstacles impede any permanent improvement in the physical condition of the poor in the less favoured parts of the Parish, and bring out in strong relief the existence of evils requiring the attention of the local authorities, if not the intervention of the Legislature to ameliorate or remove, as wholly unworthy of a civilized community.

"In this district there is much and constant illness in consequence of bad drainage, and the entrance of the court is almost impassable in wet weather for want of paving."

"Five out of nine houses in my District are totally unsupplied with water, and the inmates have either to buy or borrow of their neighbours. I feel the uselessness, of impressing upon the people the advantages of cleanliness, when such drawbacks as I have mentioned come to the assistance of their naturally dirty habits."

"In this eight-roomed house forty people, men, women and children, live. Eleven human beings are crowded into a small low-roofed garret; the walls decaying from want of paint; the mother and children a heap of dirt and rags. The landlord has been remonstrated with again and again to have the house cleaned which is in a hopelessly dirty condition."

"This street has been much improved by being lately paved. It is now kept clearer by the people, and is quieter than formerly."

Examined and found correct, JAMES WESTON, AUDITOR.

Audited and found correct by me, February 20th, 1853. HENRY GEORGE.

Examined and found correct, February 10th, 1853. GEO. WARNER.

A Lady, by Archdeacon Sinclair 5 0 0 Miss White, Pembroke-road 10 0 0 A Lady, by Archdeacon Sinclair 5 0 0 E. W. Cooke, Esq., R.A. 3 3 0 A Friend, by Archdeacon Sinclair 10 0 0 Lady Caroline Lascelles 50 0 0 Miss Watson 5 0 0 A Friend, per Archdeacon 2 1 0 A Remembrance of a beloved Wife 2 10 0 92 14 0

Examined, and found correct, by me, Feb. 7th, 1853. S. PRICE DAVIES.

Audited, and found correct, by me, Feb. 4, 1853. S. PRICE DAVIES.

KENSINGTON MATERNAL SOCIETY,

At a meeting of the Friends of this Society on the 6th of December, 1848, the following Rules were agreed to:--

LADIES TAKING CHARGE OF BAGS, 1853.

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