Philanthropy in Birmingham and Sydney, 1860-1914: Class, Gender and Race Elizabeth Abigail Harvey UCL This thesis is submitted for the degree of PhD I, Elizabeth Abigail Harvey, confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis. 1 Abstract Philanthropy in Birmingham and Sydney, 1860-1914: Class, Gender and Race This thesis considers philanthropic activities directed towards new mothers and destitute children both “at home” and in a particular colonial context. Philanthropic encounters in Birmingham and Sydney are utilised as a lens through which to explore the intersections between discourses of race, gender and class in metropole and colony. Moreover, philanthropic and missionary efforts towards women and children facilitate a broader discussion of ideas of citizenship and nation. During the period 1860 to 1914 the Australian colonies federated to become the Australian nation and governments in both Britain and Australia had begun to assume some responsibility for the welfare of their citizens/subjects. However, subtle variations in philanthropic practices in both sites reveal interesting differences in the nature of government, the pace of transition towards collectivism, as well as forms of inclusion and exclusion from the nation. This project illuminates philanthropic and missionary men and women, as well as the women and children they attempted to assist. Moreover, the employment of “respectable” men and women within charities complicates the ways in which discourses of class operated within philanthropy. Interactions between philanthropic and missionary men and women reveal gendered divisions of labour within charities; the women and children they assisted were also taught to replicate normative (middle-class) gendered forms of behaviour. Specific attention is paid to the ways in which race impacted upon philanthropic activities: throughout the experiences of Aboriginal women and children on mission stations interweave with white women and children’s experiences of philanthropy in 2 Birmingham and Sydney. Comparisons of philanthropic efforts towards white and Aboriginal women and children highlights the “whitening” of philanthropy in the colony of New South Wales and the existence of a differentiated philanthropy. Discourses of race were also crucial to philanthropic practices in Birmingham, which strove to create good subject/mothers and citizen/children for the British nation. 3 Table of Contents Page Abstract 2 Table of Contents 4 List of Maps, Charts and Illustrations 7 Acknowledgements 8 Chapter 1. Introduction 9 Literature Review 10 Methods 32 Sources 37 Chapter Structure 42 A Note on Terminology 44 Chapter 2. Setting the Scene: Birmingham and Sydney 47 Part One: Birmingham 47 History to 1860 48 Industry 52 Class 55 Religion and the Civic Gospel 58 Liberalism 60 A Town within a Nation and an Empire 62 Philanthropic Families 64 The Charities 70 Part Two: Sydney and the Colony of New South Wales (NSW) 77 First Encounters: Philanthropic Beginnings and Perceived Racial Difference 79 The End of Transportation and the Creation of a Respectable Settler Colony 81 Class 86 Gender 89 Religion 91 The City of Sydney 92 Philanthropic Families 98 The Charities 102 The Missionaries 107 Conclusion 110 Chapter 3. Black and White? Philanthropic Activities Directed Towards Women and the Differentiated Nature of Philanthropy 111 1. The Recipients of Philanthropy 113 Inequalities of Philanthropy: Protection, Exclusion and Infantilisation 115 Agency and Negotiation 119 2. Philanthropists and Missionaries: Aims and Agendas 124 4 The Gendered Nature of Philanthropic Work and Middle-Class Claims for Authority 124 Gendered Expectations: Civilisation and Conversion as Evidence of Success among Aboriginal Women 130 Gendered Expectations: Respectability and Evidence of Success among White Women 132 Preoccupations with Respectability, Illegitimacy and the Morality of Society 138 Wife Desertion, Mixed-Race Children and the Problem of White Men in NSW 143 3. Liminal Figures: the Staff Employed in Philanthropic Institutions 146 The Lady Superintendent in Philanthropic Institutions in Birmingham 146 The Rise of Medical Training for Nurses and Midwives in Birmingham and Sydney 149 4. Religion and Philanthropy 160 Catholic Sisters and Gendered Hierarchies within the Catholic Church 160 Religious Sisters and Missionaries: Intersections Between Faith and Philanthropy 162 The Civilising and Improving Power of Religion in Philanthropic Institutions and at Maloga 164 5. Supporting the Charities: Voluntary Contributions and Government Subsidies 167 Birmingham: The Civic Gospel and the Funding of Charities 168 Sydney: Philanthropic Sectarianism and the Relationship Between the NSW Government and the Charities 171 The Maloga Mission, Philanthropists and the NSW Government 176 6. Women, Motherhood and Nation: Inclusions and Exclusions 180 Conclusion 184 Chapter 4. Philanthropic Activities Directed Towards Children: A Question of Citizenship 188 1. Saving Children 190 Concepts of Childhood 190 Civilising and Uncivilising Spaces: the Urban Environment and Threats to White Children in Birmingham and Sydney 196 Aboriginal Children and the Perceived Threat of Aboriginality 201 Saving and Rescuing Aboriginal and White Children 205 2. Philanthropist and Missionary Aims and the Barriers of Race to Citizenship 211 Gendered Expectations 212 The Benefits of Routine 218 Good Conduct: Prizes and Awards 221 3. The Backlash Against Barrack Homes for White Children 226 The Importance of Home and the Rural Idyll 226 The Child Emigration Movement: Birmingham 229 5 The Boarding-out Movement in NSW 237 4. Legislation and Reduction in Parental Authority 242 5. Into the Twentieth Century 250 White Children, the Decline of the Birth Rate and Fears over Degeneration 250 Conclusion 257 Chapter 5. Philanthropic Connections: Birmingham and Sydney’s Networks of Benevolence 260 Networks 263 1. The Relationship between Britain and the Australian Colonies 264 The Establishment of Networks 264 Performances of Civilisation: Making the Colony “British” 267 The Search for a Colonial Identity 272 2. Networks of Benevolence: National and Inter-Colonial 280 Birmingham 280 Sydney 283 3. Local Networks 285 Birmingham 285 Sydney 288 4. Networks Among Charities 293 The Importance of Families to Philanthropic Networks 299 5. Case Studies 303 Daniel Matthews 304 William Bernard Ullathorne 307 The Boarding-Out Movement 318 Conclusion 325 Conclusion 328 Bibliography 341 Archival Sources 341 Published Annual Reports of Missions, Charities, and Conferences 344 Newspapers 348 Government Reports 349 Books and Articles Originally Published before 1900 349 Books and Articles Published after 1900 353 Unpublished Theses 372 Online Resources 372 Appendix 374 Figure 1. Kenrick Family Tree: Connections with the Chamberlain Family (Birmingham) 374 Table 1. Subscription/Donation Rates for Prominent Birmingham Families 375 Table 2. Subscription/Donation Rates for Prominent Sydney Families 378 6 List of Maps, Charts and Illustrations Page Maps Birmingham, 1778 49 Birmingham, 1885 51 Birmingham, 1918 53 Location of Charities in Birmingham 75 Location of the Maryvale Orphanage, Birmingham 76 City of Sydney and surrounding areas, 1865 93 Sydney and Suburbs, 1913 96 Location of Charities in Sydney 106 Mission Locations in NSW 109 Charts Illegitimacy in NSW, 1871-1896 141 Illustrations J. T. Middlemore 68 Dr. Arthur Renwick 101 Daniel Matthews 108 Janet Matthews 128 Domestic Service in Australia: ‘what will it come to?’ 135 Group of Nurses at the Infants’ Home, Sydney 152 Miss Taplin 158 “Johnny G.” in Oct 1897 and Jan 1898 208 Working Boys’ Home: ‘with help, the result’ 217 Middlemore Emigration Homes, Birmingham 230 Middlemore Child with her Canadian Foster Parents 235 ‘A Sydney Larrikin’ 251 Former Inmate of the Working Boys’ Home 253 Fears about Infanticide 256 Cadbury’s Advertisement in a Sydney newspaper 265 Rev. R. W. Dale 270 William Bernard Ullathorne 308 Dr. Alfred Hill 319 Henry Parkes 323 7 Acknowledgements This thesis was a four-year journey and many people have helped me along the way. I am grateful to UCL for providing the funding to enable me to study full time. The Central Research Fund, (University of London), generously funded one of my research trips to Australia, from July-September 2007. Special thanks to archivists at the Birmingham City Archive and the Mitchell Library at the State Library of NSW, Sydney, who made my research trips much easier. Thanks also to the State Library of South Australia, the Sisters of Mercy Archive at the Monte Sant’ Angelo College (Sydney), The Sydney Diocesan Archive, the Archdiocesan Archive (Birmingham), State Records NSW, Sisters of Mercy Archive (Birmingham), and the Sisters of Charity Archive, Sydney. I have been incredibly fortunate to have met so many doctoral students/early career researchers at UCL and elsewhere during the last four years. They have offered numerous suggestions and comments on various ideas and chapters, providing a useful forum for discussion. They are: Esme Cleall, Simone Borgstede, Anna Gust, Emily Manktelow, John Stevens, Laura Ishiguro, Hilary Ingram, Rachael Attwood and Kate Donnington. Various members of the Voluntary Action History Society, in particular Georgina Brewis, George Campbell Gosling and Stephen Soanes, have encouraged me to think about the meanings behind philanthropy, voluntary action history and charity.