Ninth annual report of the St. Mary Abbott's, Kensington, Church of England District Visiting Society: with some account of the different societies subordinate or affiliated to itAnonymous
Religion
Ninth annual report of the St. Mary Abbott's, Kensington, Church of England District Visiting Society: with some account of the different societies subordinate or affiliated to it
Anonymous
Charities -- England -- London; Visitations (Church work) -- England -- London
The Winter Club deposits amounting last year to £8 1_s._ 6_d._ are not
included in the summary. Enough however will have been adduced to
indicate in what way the reduced resources of the Institution have
hitherto sufficed for its actual necessities. But the causes that have
led to the deficiency in its income are yet to be explained.
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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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