The Charity Market and Humanitarianism in Britain, 1870-1912

Description

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.

Sarah Roddy is Lecturer in Modern Irish History at the University of Manchester, UK. She is the author of Population, Providence and Empire: The Churches and Emigration from Nineteenth-Century Ireland (2014). Julie-Marie Strange is Professor of British History and Head of History at the University of Manchester, UK. She is the author of Fatherhood and the British Working Class, 1865-1914 (2015) and Death, Grief and Poverty in Britain, 1870-1914 (2006). Bertrand Taithe is Professor of Cultural History and founding Director of the Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute at the University of Manchester, UK. He is the author of The Killer Trail: A Colonial Scandal in the Heart of Africa (2011).

"[A] well-researched, solid, and broadly persuasive addition to the literature on philanthropy in Britain. * Histoire sociale / Sociale History * Descriptive ... expands our knowledge of the growing charitable work of the period, especially of fund-raising techniques. * Cercles Book Review * A compelling reexamination of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century philanthropic field. It will be of interest not only to historians of philanthropy and social reform, but also to business historians and, perhaps most importantly, to those currently involved in nonprofit work. * Journal of British Studies *