London Charity Beneficiaries, c. 1800-1834: Questions of Agency Megan Clare Webber Submitted to the University of Hertfordshire in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 18 May 2016 i Abstract In recent decades historians have ‘discovered’ agency in a wide range of geographical and temporal contexts, amongst many different types of actor. This dissertation employs the concept of agency to dissect the dynamics of power in early nineteenth-century London charities. Concurrently, it uses charity to test the potential applications of agency as a historical concept and as a tool for historical analysis. Through case studies of five different types of charity in early nineteenth-century London, this dissertation explores the varied ways in which plebeians exercised their agency. The case studies engage with current definitions of agency —intentional action, resistance, the defence of rights and customs, exerting control over one’s own life, autonomy, strategy, choice, and voice— and test the boundaries of the concept, proposing different ways in which scholars might characterise agency. This dissertation not only examines how the poor exerted their agency, but also how philanthropists conceptualised the agency of the poor. Although agency had a different set of meanings in the early nineteenth century than it does today, Georgian commentators nevertheless discussed the same phenomena that historians today label as agency. This dissertation considers how philanthropists attempted to mould the agency of their beneficiaries and how the agency of the poor shaped charitable organisations. For all its prevalence, agency is an under-theorised and problematic concept. There is no consensus about what agency is or how to locate it. As a result, agency is a slippery concept that seems to elude meaning. Historians are often so personally invested in the project of recovering the agency of subalterns that they underestimate the structural constraints acting on agency or they project modern conceptions of agency on to the subjects of their study. This dissertation subjects agency to critical examination that is long overdue. It argues that agency, as an ‘essentially contested’ concept, is a powerful tool for dissecting subtle and diverse dynamics of power. This dissertation proposes and demonstrates ways in which scholars can employ the concept usefully, mitigating its problematic aspects. ii Contents Abstract i Contents ii-iii Illustrations iv Acknowledgments v Abbreviations vi 1. Introduction: Agency as a Useful Tool for Historical Analysis 1 The Rise of Agency as a Historical Concept 5 Defining and Locating Agency 9 Interrogating Agency 17 Agency, Charity, and Relief 22 Scope and Sources 27 Outline of Chapters 37 2. Lying-in Charities 41 Historical Context 44 The Agency of Choice 49 Agency and Charity Organisation 58 The Agency of Complaint 68 Conclusions 76 3. Vaccine Charities 78 Historical Context 82 The Agency of Rumour 91 The Agency of Infection 100 The Agency of Consent 107 The Agency of Sensation 113 Conclusions 120 iii 4. Infant Schools 123 Historical Context 126 Agency and the Economy of Makeshifts 134 The Agency of Infants 147 Conclusions 162 5. District Visiting Societies 164 Historical Context 168 The Agency of Obstruction 176 The Agency of Deception 186 The Agency of Conversion 195 Conclusions 200 6. The Society for the Suppression of Mendicity 202 Historical Context 207 Agency and Giving 213 Agency and Industry 225 The Agency of Police 237 Conclusions 243 7. Conclusion: Directions Forward for Agency 245 Bibliography 256 iv Illustrations Fig. 1 Frederick Joules, the ‘Cow-Poxed, Ox-Faced Boy’, from William Rowley, Cow-Pox Inoculation No Security against Small-Pox Infection (1805), courtesy of the Wellcome Library Fig. 2 Marianne Lewis, the ‘Cow-Poxed, Mangy Girl’, from William Rowley, Cow-Pox Inoculation No Security against Small-Pox Infection (1805), courtesy of the Wellcome Library Fig. 3 Infant school playground, from Samuel Wilderspin, A System for the Education of the Young (1840) Fig. 4 Gallery lesson, from Samuel Wilderspin, A System for the Education of the Young (1840) Fig. 5 ‘The Pious Girl and Her Swearing Father’, from The Child’s Companion; or, Sunday Scholar’s Reward (1827) Fig. 6 Samuel Horsey, ‘King of the Beggars’, from James Caulfield, The Lives and Portraits of Remarkable Characters (1819) Fig. 7 ‘Sick Aldermen, the Morning after the Lord Mayor’s Day’, from The Penny Satirist (1837) Fig. 8 ‘Why Don’t You Look Out for Work?’, from Thomas Hood, New Comic Annual (1836) v Acknowledgments While conducting this study of charity beneficiaries, I myself have been the beneficiary of many gifts. I would like to express my great appreciation to Sarah Lloyd for seeing me through every step of the way with her boundless enthusiasm and patience. Sarah challenged me to think about the past from different angles and encouraged me to take advantage of opportunities I might not otherwise have grasped. I feel incredibly fortunate. Thank you to Jennifer Evans and Ciara Meehan at the University of Hertfordshire for their advice and feedback on drafts, and for kindly sharing their office with me during the final weeks. Jennifer and Ciara are wonderful role models. I would also like to thank John Styles and Tim Hitchcock for their support, particularly for pointing out new directions for research. Staff and fellow students at the University of Hertfordshire, together with attendees of the British History in the Long Eighteenth Century and Voluntary Action History Society seminars, have expanded my understanding of the past and have been a constant source of encouragement. I am very thankful to the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission and the University of Hertfordshire, whose support enabled me to undertake studies in Britain. I am also a grateful recipient of the IHR Friends Bursary, which assisted me to conduct research in London. For cheering me on and for distracting me with cake when I needed it most, thank you to friends and family in all parts of the world. My thanks and love to Katie, Mum, and Dad for being there for me in so many ways and for showing me —from my earliest years— the value and pleasure in learning. vi Abbreviations BL British Library HA Hackney Archives HCPP House of Commons Parliamentary Papers LMA London Metropolitan Archives OBP Old Bailey Proceedings RCOG Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists RCP Royal College of Physicians RCS Royal College of Surgeons SHL Senate House Library WL Wellcome Library This dissertation retains the spellings, capitalisation, and punctuation of original documents. 1 1. Introduction: Agency as a Useful Tool for Historical Analysis In 1833 Reverend William Stone gave evidence before Chadwick’s Poor Law Commission. Stone was Rector of Christ Church in Spitalfields, a London parish that had been hit hard by economic depression. The silk-weaving industry that had once prospered in Spitalfields was in terminal decline, unable to compete against provincial textile manufacturers and machine looms. Unemployment and privation abounded in the parish, as it did in many parts of the metropolis. Stone had been involved in several schemes for relieving distress in the late 1820s and early 1830s. By 1833, however, he had become disenchanted with charities and was convinced that they did more harm than good. He alleged that the poor exploited philanthropists, lying and cheating in pursuit of handouts. Stone claimed that charity was so abundant that working-class people could live entirely off its bounty and never lift a finger to labour for their own upkeep. He argued that overhauling the public system of poor relief was not enough to address dependency. In order for the poor to take charge of their own lives and become self-sufficient, charities funded by private benevolence also had to be reformed or abolished altogether. To illustrate his claims to the commissioners, Stone told a tale about a silk weaver and his sweetheart. The story was not a factual account of living people, but Stone claimed that it accurately reflected the lives of his poor parishioners.1 The young couple in the tale do not wait until they are financially secure to get married, for they are confident that charity will make up for their lack of savings. Soon after the wedding, the wife becomes pregnant and lying-in charities assist her through childbirth. Thus begins a lifelong addiction to charity. The parents raise their son entirely on handouts and he continues the pattern in adulthood. At death, he can boast only of the dubious accomplishment that ‘he has been born for nothing— he has been nursed for nothing— he has been clothed for nothing— he has been educated for nothing— he has been put out in the world for nothing— he has 1 Stone insisted that his tale ‘represented an ‘ordinary, and not an extraordinary, instance’ of charitable dependency. He claimed that he had encountered cases in real life that were far worse than that of the fictional Spitalfields weaving family. William Stone, Evidence of the Rev. William Stone, Rector of Spitalfields, and Other Witnesses, as to the Operation of Voluntary Charities ([London?]: [n. pub.], 1833; repr. 1837), p. 20. 2 had medicine and medical attendance for nothing.2 In true Malthusian form, his children inherit his dependent habits.3 They too are ‘born, nursed, clothed, fed, educated, established, and physicked for nothing’.4 Reverend Stone was concerned about the choices that working-class people made, their independence (or lack thereof), their willingness to exert control over their own lives, and their manipulative strategies. Although Stone did not refer to the ‘agency’ of the poor, historians discuss plebeian agency in just such terms of choice, autonomy, control, and manipulation. This dissertation employs the concept of agency to dissect the dynamics of power in early nineteenth-century charities. It uncovers the ways in which poor Londoners exercised agency in their interactions with charities.