This book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open Access programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. It is funded by Manchester University. This book examines the business of charity - including fundraising, marketing, branding, financial accountability and the nexus of benevolence, politics and capitalism - in Britain from the development of the British Red Cross in 1870 to 1912. Whilst most studies focus on the distribution of charity, Sarah Roddy, Julie-Marie Strange and Bertrand Taithe look at the roots of the modern third sector, exploring how charities appropriated features more readily associated with commercial enterprises in order to compete and obtain money, manage and account for that money and monetize compassion. Drawing on a wide range of archival research from Charity Organization Societies, Wood Street Mission, Salvation Army, League of Help and Jewish Soup Kitchen, among many others, The Charity Market and Humanitarianism in Britain, 1870-1912 sheds new light on the history of philanthropy in the Victorian and Edwardian periods.

This collection of all new essays seeks to answer a series of questions surrounding the Victorian response to poverty in Britain. In short, what did various layers of society say the poor deserved and what did they do to help them? The work is organized against the backdrop of the 1834 New Poor Laws, recognizing that poverty garnered considerable attention in England because of its pervasive and painful presence. Each essay examines a different initiative to help the poor. Taking an historical tack, the essayists begin with the royal perspective and move into the responses of Church of England members, Evangelicals, and Roman Catholics; the social engagement of the literati is discussed as well. This collection reflects the real, monetary, spiritual and emotional investments of individuals, public institutions, private charities, and religious groups who struggled to address the needs of the poor.