Fundraising news

RABI - the first 150 years Part 3

2010

 

The early years

To landowners, farmers, and others connected with British agriculture

“The distinguishing characteristic of our home charities, as compared with those of other nations, is the fact that they rest entirely upon private effort. Almost every profession, almost every trade, has its asylums for the old, its endowments for the widowed, its schools for the orphaned – all founded and maintained by that puissant esprit de corps which forms one of the most noteworthy social traits of the Anglo-Saxon race. In a movement so honourable it seems difficult to explain how it is that the Agricultural interest, with its endless ramifications and vast resources, should have remained hitherto unrepresented. The farmer can turn to no refuge from misfortunes, which so often, in his case above every other, depend on the influences entirely beyond human control. ……

Backwardness in works of benevolence has, it is true, never been a characteristic of the agricultural classes - of no class, probably less! But their charity has hitherto been promiscuous and individual, while the conditions of the times imposed upon it organization and publicity. Let us hasten to correct an oversight which may so easily be misrepresented as a reproach. ……

Let us, in short, collect into one grand reservoir – organized, imposing and exhaustless – all the streams and rivulets of private charity – scattered – often, haply, misapplied – almost always unobserved – through every nook and corner of the land. Towards this fulfilment of this worthy object, support has already flowed in from zealous well-wishers of every grade. His Grace the Duke of Richmond has accepted the post of President, and among the Promoters of the scheme, names honoured by us all will be found in profusion. That these examples will be eagerly followed, we cannot allow ourselves to doubt, and, in the firm conviction that such confidence is well placed.”

Extract from the foreword by the secretary, Charles Shaw, to the list of subscriptions and donations published for the first annual general meeting of the Agricultural Benevolent Institution, May 1860.

Royal recognition

Just three years after its foundation the Agricultural Benevolent Institution received Queen Victoria’s official nod of approval. The minutes of the council meeting held on 5th May 1863 record the following letter from Sir Charles Phipps dated Windsor Castle, April 15th 1863.

“Sir, - I have had the honour to submit to Her Majesty The Queen the purport of your letter of the 8th inst., as well as the spirit of the Agricultural Benevolent Institution subsequently forwarded to me.

I have the pleasure to inform you that Her Majesty has been graciously pleased to consent to become Patron of that Institution.

I am further commanded to notify to you of Her Majesty’s intention to grant an Annual Subscription of £25 to the funds of the Institution.”

After approving the secretary’s letter acknowledging ‘the honour conferred upon the Institution’ the council passed a resolution ‘that the nomination of one duly qualified female pensioner, to be selected from the list candidates, be placed at Her Majesty’s disposal and that such nomination be renewable from time to time upon the death of the nominee’.

From then on the prefix Royal was added to the name of the charity, as the heading for the minutes of the meeting testify.

Establishing grass roots contacts

After the initial surge of donations, coming from over 700 individuals spread across the country it was important to ensure that contributions continued to flow. To this end a network of local voluntary secretaries was established, presumably to promote the charity, encourage donations and raise subscriptions.

The annual report for 1864 shows that there were 107 honorary local secretaries covering 30 counties. By 1884, the number had grown to 305 covering 38 counties, the largest number being in those counties, predominantly in the east and south of England, which had the greatest number of contributors.

With donors and subscribers voting for those who were to be selected from the vastly oversubscribed lists of candidates, it is not surprising that this bias towards the more prosperous farming areas of the country was reflected in the origins of the beneficiaries as well as the benefactors.

Early surge of applicants.

As RABI became established and funds were accumulated, the number of beneficiaries who could be accepted each year increased but so did the number of candidates being proposed. In 1868 there were 120 candidates (including 13 married couples) for just 23 places (including three couples). As a result the council meeting held on January 5th 1869 ‘unanimously resolved: That the Council shall at their discretion be empowered on the application of candidates for relief who have been two years on the books of the Society, and are not less than eighty years of age, to give out of the funds of the Institution a sum not exceeding £10 in any one year.’ Six eligible candidates then receive the grant.

By 1898 the number of available places had increased to 90 but the number of candidates was 433, of whom 75 were males and 265 females, with 93 married couples. The concern caused by this disparity between the sexes was highlighted by the following paragraph in the annual report presented to the 1899 annual general meeting: ‘In view of the increasing number of Female Pensioners and applications, to the detriment of those of the Male class, for whose assistance the Institution was equally, if not primarily, designed, the Council, after careful consideration, have resolved to make the minimum age of admission, on and after January 1st 1900, the same for both sexes, namely 65’.

Orphan children

The original rules of the charity state that recipients may include ‘the orphan, of either sex, whose father shall have fulfilled the (required) conditions for a period of ten years, and who is not an imbecile, diseased, or deformed so as to impair its growth.

‘The minimum age of submission for children shall be six years, the boys admitted remaining inmates of the Institution until they attain fourteen years of age, and the girls until sixteen years; and no child shall be balloted for after attaining the age of ten years.’

The term orphan was defined as being a child who had lost its father, either by death or incurable insanity. There were also strict rules about numbers, only one child from the same family ‘except there be three dependent children, and both parents dead’ and then not more than two could be admitted with only one permitted to stand on the list for selection at any time.

When the children reached the age of 14 (boys) or 16 (girls) the rules required ‘two respectable householders, approved by the council, to be responsible for their removal from the Institution’. Alternatively, in the case of the mother’s remarriage they should be removed earlier.

The first reference to provision for children appears in the minutes of the council meeting held on May 7th 1867: ‘The Secretary having brought before the notice of the meeting the important subject of providing for the maintenance and education of farmers’ orphans – the Council approved the course taken by the Secretary and directed him to write to Mr. Pulchete stating that the Council had given consideration to the subject and hoped to be able, through the means of the Welsh Charity*, at the annual meeting next year to elect ten orphan children. The Secretary was further directed to prepare “forms of application” for the admission of children.’

Welsh School

The annual report for 1868 refers to the ‘maintenance and education of Orphan Children, at the Welsh Schools at Ashford, Middlesex,’ as forming an interesting and important feature.

On April 6th 1869 five members of the council (including John Mechi) together with the secretary, Charles Shaw, paid an official visit to the school. There followed a glowing report on the establishment in the minutes of the council meeting held on May 4th 1869: ‘The members of the Council communicated individually with these children and have great satisfaction in reporting favourably of the careful treatment they appear to receive, as indicated by their healthy cheerful and cleanly appearance.

They are receiving suitable instruction to fit them for practical occupations in after life, and the moral and religious training of the establishment was not less satisfactory to the members of Council. The dietry (sic) was also enquired into and found to be good plain and substantial. The school and internal play rooms are capacious and airy and the dormortories (sic) high in the ceilings and well ventilated, indeed superior to the generality of sleeping rooms in ordinary houses. The buildings stand upon a dry

gravelly soil and the play grounds afford full scope for all kinds of games and exercise.

‘Under these circumstances the Council think that they are most fortunate in being able to secure the advantages this establishment affords at such moderate terms and they wish to send their high opinion of the Head Master Mr. Davies and their obligation to the Directors’.

The ‘moderate terms’ were £15 for girls and £17 for boys which were increased to £18 and £20 respectively in May 1873, when the secretary was directed to ‘convey to the Committee of the Welsh Charity the best thanks of the Council for the care and attention bestowed upon the Children placed in the establishment.’

However, it appears that not everyone was quite so happy with conditions at the school. Later in 1873 the council received two letters of complaint about the standard of the food. These were considered at the January 1874 council meeting ‘together with a communication in reply to the Secretary from the Matron of the Establishment’. The minutes record that ‘the Council upon careful consideration of the whole matter were unanimously of opinion that the complaints were sufficiently unimportant to warrant their taking no official means to bring them before the notice of the governors of the Welsh Charity.’

One of the orphans, John Inckle (also recorded as Inchle) who was taken on in 1870 at the age of nine, had the distinction of receiving a donation of £5 from the council in June 1877 ‘for exceptional good conduct during his scholastic career as testified by the Master in a special report to the Council’.

However, by March 1879 the need to concentrate resources on meeting the growing number of adult applications resulted in a decision by council ‘that no more children be admitted after the next election’. Interestingly there was also a resolution at the same meeting that ‘the Annual Dinner be suspended in view of the charge it entails upon the funds of the Society’ but this was defeated by nine votes to two!

The intake of RABI orphans, 99 in total, to the Welsh School had lasted just 12 years, although that was not quite the end of the matter. Correspondence from a Mr. Scott Burns concerning the admission of children is mentioned in the minutes of the October 1881 council meeting, although what he said is not recorded. The secretary was instructed ‘to thank that gentleman for the interest he expresses in the General welfare of the Institution but to state that at the same time they were unanimously of the opinion that his views could not be entertained, with any practical advantage to the objects of the Institution’.

 *The Welsh Charity administered the Welsh School, which had started as the British Charity School in London where it was established in 1718 by the Society of Ancient Britons. The institution was supported by voluntary contributions. It moved to Ashford in 1857 and in 1882, it became a single-sex school, renamed the Welsh Girls School. It is now named St David's School.

Some of those who were helped in the early years and the reasons why they were in need.

In the early years the names of the pensioners, together with their background details and the reason for their application, were published with the annual list of subscribers and donors. These provide an interesting insight into the problems that faced many farmers in the 1860s and 70s, mostly as a result of the downturn in farming fortunes following the end of the Napoleonic War food blockades and the repeal of the Corn Laws.

Thomas and Sarah Tilbury, aged 84 and 73. Farmed 220 acres for twenty-eight years, in Sussex, at a rental of £210 per annum.

“Losses by the low price of corn in 1823; heavy losses in stock; and great expenses from long illness in his family, the children being very sickly.”

Charlotte Mason, aged 62. Husband farmed 250 acres for forty years, in Buckinghamshire, at a rental of £265 per annum.

“Misplaced confidence in the family solicitor.”

Mary Way, aged 74. Husband farmed 730 acres for twenty-one years, in Hampshire, at a rental of £760 per annum.

“High rental, and buying stock in a very high year, succeeded by low and ruinous prices in agricultural produce.”

Jonathan Smallbones. Farmed 184 acres for twenty-one years, in Wiltshire, at a rental of £250 per annum.

“Wife afflicted for twenty-four years, and losses through relatives and friends.”

Charlotte Smith, aged 69. Husband farmed 946 acres for many years, in Sussex; also 300 acres in Kent, at an estimated rental of £3,500 per annum.

“Depreciation in the value of hops, and incapacity of the husband for business through paralysis of the brain.”

William Stanford, aged 66. Farmed 570 acres for twenty-nine years, in Wiltshire, at a rental of £500 per annum.

“1317 sheep died from the ‘rot’ in 1834 and 1835. In 1836, July 5th, all crops destroyed by a hailstorm.”

Sarah Ivens, aged 69. Husband farmed 365 acres for twenty-six years, in Northamptonshire, at a rental of £600 per annum.

“Free trade, sale of stock, &c., for benefits of creditors, 1850.”

John Cory, aged 58*. Farmed 450 acres for thirty years, in Warwickshire, at a rental of £740 per annum.

“Being a bondsman for friends and ill health.”*exempt from limit as to age in consequence of chronic rheumatism.

Edmund Painter, aged 78. Farmed 500 acres for many years, in Oxfordshire, at a rental of £360 per annum.

“Unfortunate circumstances, and misplaced confidence.”

Mary Anne Bolton, aged 78. Husband farmed 100 acres for thirty-four years, in Suffolk, at a rental of £140 per annum.

“Husband having a large family, and much sickness and bad times to contend against, leaving applicant totally unprovided for.”

Millicent Mott, aged 64. Father farmed 372 acres for fifty years in Essex.

“Farm sold and quitted at great loss; since unsuccessfully engaged.”

Mary Grundy, aged 72. Husband farmed 360 acres for thirty-six years, in  Staffordshire, at a rental of £602 per annum.

“Diseases in cattle, and losses by rendering himself liable for debts of his brother.”

 

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