Mr. Peabody's Gift to the Poor of London: Statement of the Trustees

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ME. PEABODrS GIFT

TO

THE POOR OF LONDON

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MR. PEABODY'S GIFT

TO THK

POOR OF LONDON.

The proceedings of the Trustees, to whom Mr.
Peabody committed the charge of his mmiificent
' donation of 150,000Z. for the benefit of the poor of
London,' and the course which they have adopted for its
appUcation, conformably with the recorded intentions
of the donor, will be best understood by recalling the
terms in which his wishes were originally conveyed.

In his letter of the 12th March, 1862, addressed
to the United States Minister, Lord Stanley, M.P.,
Sir J. Emerson Tennent, Mr. C. M. Lampson, and Mr.
J. S. Morgan, Mr. Peabody, after alluding to the simis
which he had previously bestowed in America — at
Danvers, the place of his birth, and at Baltimore, the
first scene of his active life — for the foundation of in-
stitutions calculated to promote the intellectual, moral,
and social welfare of his fellow-countrymen, proceeds
to say, that, in pursuance of a long-cherished determin-
ation to attest, by a similar gift, his gratitude and
attachment to the people of London, amongst whom
he had spent the last twenty-five years of his life, he
was then about to. devote 150,000/., ^ to ameliorate the

A

Z ME. PEABODY S GIFT

condition of the poor and needy of this great metro-
polis, and to promote their comfort and happiness/

This sum he hoped would be so applied by the
trustees, that the result would 'be appreciated, not
only by the present, but by future generations, of
the people of London.'

As regards its expenditure, Mr. Peabody had but
three conditions to impose; but these were, as he
said, ' fundamental principles, from which it was his
solemn injimction that those entrusted with the appUca-
tion of the fund shall never, under any circumstances,
depart.*

'First and foremost amongst them is the limitation of
its uses, absolutely and exclusively to such purposes as may
be calculated directly to ameliorate the condition, and aug-
ment the comforts of the poor; who either by birth or
established residence, form a recognised portion of the
population of London.

* Secondly y it is my intention,* he said, Hhat now and for all
time there shall be a rigid exclusion from the management of
this fund, of any influences calculated to impart to it a char-
acter either sectarian as regards religion, or exclusive in
relation to local or party politics.

* Thirdly y it is my vdsh that the sole qualification for a
participation in the benefits of the fund, shall be an ascer-
tained and continued condition of life, such as brings the
individual within the description (in the ordinary sense of
the word) of the poor of London ; combined with moral char-
acter, and good conduct as a member of society.*

Assuring to the trustees the utmost latitude for
the exercise of their judgment in deciding on the
mode of expenditure, Mr. Peabody without, in the
remotest d^ree, desiring to limit their discretion in

TO THE POOR OF LONDON. 3

the selection of the most suitable means for giving
effect to his purposes, threw out one suggestion for.
consideration, amongst the many, which would neces-
sarily come under their attention, viz., whether it
might not be found conducive to the realization of the
conditions above stated; *to apply the fimd, or a
portion of it, in the construction of such improved
dwellings for the poor as may combine, in the ut-
most possible degree, the essentials of healthfulness,
comfort, social enjoyment, and economy.'

Thus generously endowed alike with funds and with
discretion to choose the mode of their employment, the
first care of the trustees was to obtain a deed so framed
as to confer legal powers on those who were to be
entrusted with their administration, and to ensure
their undeviating appUcation to the generous objects
contemplated by the giver. But at this stage consider-
able diiBculty was encountered, arising mainly from
the fact that the large amount to be expended, was
not a bequest by will, in which case precedents are
sufficiently numerous, but a gift during the lifetime of
the giver, which therefore involved the necessity of in-
serting provisions to satisfy the requirements of the
mortmain law.

After some delay, a trust-deed was prepared, exe-
cuted and enrolled ; and at the first meeting under
it, which took place on the 23rd July, 1862, Lord
Stanley was elected chairman and another of the
trustees undertook to act as honorary secretary pro
tern., thus faciUtating a resolution to postpone as long
as possible the appointment of any salaried officers.
Hence, as will be seen by the abstract of accounts ap-

4 MR. PEABODYS GIFT

pended, the gross amount for the management of the
fund has amounted, in three years, to but 517/. 10^.

Pursuant to the terms of the deed of trust, the main
portion of the fund was invested at interest in Govern-
ment stock and other negotiable securities ; the balance
being held in readiness for early expenditure so soon
as a decision could be come to, as to the most advan-
tageous method of employing the fimd in conformity
with the intentions and subject to the conditions laid
down by Mr. Peabody.

And here, on the very threshold of the undertaking,
a question of grave significance presented itself; by
the express terms of the gift, it was directed to be so
applied as to ameUorate the condition and augment the
comforts of the well-conducted poor of London. But
before determining how this could best be done, for the
advantage of those intended to be benefited, it became
essential to determine who are the poor of London in
the eye of the law?

It has heretofore been held under the authority of
judicial decisions that, in the absence of any governing
or qualifying expressions, a gift or bequest to ' the poor *
of any place is applicable exclusively to persons not re-
ceiving parochial support: — and this, on the principle,
that to relieve those already chargeable on the parish
or the union, inasmuch as it would contribute to the re-
duction of the rates, would virtually be conferring abenefit
on the property rather than on the poverty of the locaHty,

Later decisions have somewhat modified this view ;
the rigidity of the law would now be more or less tem-
pered to adapt it to the ascertained wishes of the donor ;
and the mere fact of the receipt of alms would not,

TO THE POOR OP LONDON. 5

perhaps of itself, suffice to disqualify an indigent family
for receiving additional comforts, from the donations
or bequests of benevolent men like Mr. Peabody ; but,
apart from technical distinctions of this kind, there
were other considerations which constrained the trus-
tees to confine their attention, in the first instance,
to that section of the labouring poor, who occupy a
position above the pauper.

Pubhc attention throughout the United Kingdom
having been attracted by the largeness of Mr. Peabody's
bounty, commimications were received from numerous
quarters suggesting benevolent plans for adoption. Many
of these were in themselves highly desirable, but the
majority involved arrangements, more or less at variance
with Mr. Peabody's injunctions and the provisions of the
deed of trust. For example; institutions connected
with reUgious bodies were expressly excluded, and
educational estabhshments, as ordinarily organised,
were open to the same objection, inasmuch as they
are more or less dependent for their success upon de-
nominational favour.

Hospitals, both for acute and chronic disease, pre-
sented strong claims ; but on one, amongst other
grounds, their consideration was deferred ; — Mr.
Peabody, in his communication to the trustees, had
not specially directed that the fund should be so
employed as to render it re-productive; but that
passage in his letter in which he expressed his hope
' that not the present only, but future generations
of the people of London^ would appreciate its ad-
vantages, was felt to be entitled to the widest con-
struction of which it was susceptible ; and it appears

6 MR. peabody's gift

to point to a mode of investment, such as, whilst ad-
ministering to the immediate enjoyments of the labour-
ing poor of London, would also bear within itself the
germ of future extension and perpetuity. This result
did not seem to be attainable in the case of hospitals,
which would absorb without returning any portion of
the fimd. The same remark appUes to almshouses
and dwelKngs for the reception and support of the ab-
solutely destitute, whose subsistence would necessarily
be a perpetual charge, without presenting the sUghtest
element of self-support ; and attention was thus forcibly
directed to the object dictated by Mr. Peabody himself,
of erecting dwellings for the labouring poor on such
improved principles as to conduce at once to economy,
salubrity and social enjoyment. This mode of employ-
ing the fund had also the recommendation that the low
rents at which this healthful accommodation could be
given, would annually supplement the original fund,
and thus create a source, whence similar advantages
might continue to be derived for an almost indefinite
period.

In postponing other projects, such as those above
already alluded to, it is not to be supposed that the
trustees ignore their value or question their importance ;
but a concurrence of circumstances at the moment
combined to give preeminence to the one above alluded
to. In the poorer districts of London, the dwellings
of the lower classes had been suddenly disturbed by
the long pent-up invasion of metropolitan raUroads,
whose incursions were overthrowing whole streets in-
habited by humble and industrious labourers and arti-
sans. This dispossessed popidation, unprovided with

TO THE POOR OP LONDON. 7

adequate accommodation elsewhere, were thus driven
away into alleys and courts, already inconveniently^
crowded by their previous inmates ; and discomfort
and disease were in many instances added to loss of
employment and expense.

Even in ordinary times, the class here alluded to, is
one pre-eminently entitled to the friendly sohcitude of
those more happily circumstanced in life. It may be
truly said, that the poorest section of society is not the
absolute pauper ; whose very destitution constitutes his
claim to a legal provision for his wants. Even the stunned
feeling of knowing the worst, as he knows it, is more
endurable than the active agony of the eflTort made by
the labouring man, a degree above him in the social
scale, to save himself from a similar downfall. It is to
this class, and at such a crisis, that the extension of a
friendly hand may enable the almost exhausted strug-
gler to maintain his ground, and preserve his sense of
independence and self-respect.

Nothing is more calculated to cherish and develope
these feelings than the removal of the individual and his
family, from the squalor and discomfort of a dilapidated
and imwholesome home, to a dweUing cheerful with
light and air, and replete with faciUties for cleanh-
ness, health, and every domestic operation ; — and all
this at a cost somewhat less than he had been accus-
tomed to pay for the filth and malaria of the fetid
alleys he had left. It was under a strong conviction
of the paramount importance of this object, and more
especially imder the peculiar circumstances above
adverted to, that the trustees came to the resolution,
* without precluding the consideration of other subjects

8 MK. PEABODY'S GIFT

hereafter, to confine their operations for the present,
to the object specially recommended to their notice
by Mr. Peabody, viz., the improvement of dwellings for
the poor of the Metropolis.'

Enabled by this decision to proceed promptly with
the business of the trust, the next inquiries of the
trustees were directed to the system and style of
buildings most conducive to the objects in view; and
to the acquisition of sites in districts of the City most
Buitable for their erection: these sites to be distributed
throughout the various quarters of London, in order
to diflfuse the benefits of Mr. Peabody's Gift over the
largest possible area.

The first site chosen was in Commercial Street, Spital-
fields,near the terminus of the Eastern Coimties Bailway,
where a space equal to 13,682 square feet was obtained
from the Commissioners of Public Works for 3,300/.
For a further expenditure, something under 24,000/.
for buildings, acconmiodation was obtained for upwards
of 200 persons, in tenements of one^ two, or three apart-
ments each, according to the requirements of the several
occupants. The latter sum included also the cost of
erecting nine shops on the groimd floor,* the rents of
which, amounting to nearly 500/. per annum, go to
increase the general fund, and thus contribute to the
reproductive character which it is the desire of the
trustees to impart to it.

'r Before the dwellings at Spitalfields were completed,
the trustees were enabled to possess themselves of other
sites in districts similarly claiming attention. At Chel-
sea a plot, containing 13,616 square feet, was obtamed

* See title-page.

TO THE POOR OP LONDON. 9

for 4,616/. ISs. Qd. ; for another at Bermondsey, with
an area of 27,880 square feet, they gave 4,870/. 7^. M. ;
a fourth at IsUngton, measuring 47,863 square feet, cost
8,646/. 5^. Qd. ; and for 4,300/., a fifth was acquired at
Shadwell, the extent of which is over 73,890 square
feet

Whilst the houses at Commercial Street were still in
progress, the trustees commenced, on their premises at
Islington, the erection of four blocks of buildings, to
comprise in all 155 tenements, with ample accommoda-
tion for upwards of 650 persons.* The whole cost of
these buildings, exclusive of the sum paid for the land,
will amoimt, when the accounts shall have been closed,
to 31,690/.

Before the square at Islington was finished, the trus-
tees entered into a contract for the sum of 37,953/. to
build on a similar scale on their property at Shadwell,
and the works there are now considerably advanced.

The principle and organisation in each of these ex-
tensive structures is the same. Drainage and ventilation
have been ensured with the utmost possible care ; the
instant removal of dust and refiise is effected by means of
shafts which descend from every corridor to cellars
in the basement, whence it is carted away ; the
passages are all kept clean, and lighted with gas without
any cost to the tenants ; water from cisterns in the roof
is distributed by pipes into every tenement ; and there
are baths free for all who desire to use them. Laimdries,
with wringing machines and drying lofts, are at the
service of every inmate, who is thus reheved fi*om the
inconvenience of damp vapours in their apartments,

* See Frontispiece.

10 MR. PEABODY'S GIFT

and the consequent damage to their furniture and
bedding.

Every living-room or kitchen is abundantly provided
with cupboards, shelving, and other conveniences, and
each fire-place includes a boiler and an oven. But what
gratifies the tenants, perhaps, more than any other part
of the arrangements, are the ample and airy spaces
which serve as play-grounds for their children, where
they are always imder their mother's eyes, and safe from
the risk of passing carriages and laden carts.

In fixing the rent for all this accommodation, the
trustees were influenced by two considerations. In the
first place, they felt it incumbent on them, conformably
with the intention of rendering the Peabody Fund
reproductive, to charge for each room such a mod-
erate percentage on the actual cost of the houses
as would bring in a reasonable annual income to the
general fund. In the second place, they were desirous,
without coming into undue competition with the owners
of house property less, favourably circumstanced, to
demonstrate to its proprietors the practicability of
rendering the dwelUngs of the labouring poor health-
fill, cheerful, and attractive; and at the same time
securing to the landlords a fair return for their in-
vestments.

At the present moment, owing to the vast changes
in the metropolis, by which the houses of the laboiuing
poor have been demolished to so great an extent, the
cost of accommodation for them has been greatly
increased. It of course varies in difierent localities ;
but, on an average, the weekly charge for a single room
of a very poor description is firom 28. Qd. to 3^. ; for

TO THE POOB OF WSDON. 11

two rooms, 5^. or 5^. 6d. ; and for three, from 6^. 6d.
to Is*

But the mere test of rent affords no adequate stand-
ard by which to contrast the squalor and discomfort
of one of these tenements with the hght and airy and
agreeable apartments in the Peabody buildings ; and
for one room there the charge per week is 2^. Qd. ; for
two rooms, 4^. ; and for three rooms, 5^.

On the 29th February, 1864, the first pile of buildings,
erected in Commercial Street, Spitalfields, was thrown
open to receive its inmates, and the number of appli-
cants was and continues to be considerably in excess of
the accommodation available.

As Mr. Peabody had directed by his letter that the
sole qualification to be required in a tenant was to be
" an ascertained condition of life, such as brings the
individual within the description of the poor of London,
combined with moral character and good conduct as a
member of society," it became the duty of the trustees
to ' ascertain ' by actual inquiry ; first, that the circum-
stances of the person proposing himself as a tenant

• " In London, unless steps are taken, the poor bid iair to be thrust
out of house and home, and to have no place left to dwell in. Our
StreeMmproyement Acts and our railway demolitions are turning
out the poor by thousands. Even in our crowded and deplorable
districts, such as the streets and alleys running out of Drury Lane
and in the region of the Seven Dials, apartments are not to be had ;
and the rents in some neighbourhoods have been raised 50 per cent.
A respectable omnibus conductor in our neighbourhood, who seeks
to have two rooms, dingy and small, to accommodate five persons, pays
seven shillings per week. A wretched family, where the husband
never brings to his home more than twelve shillings per week, and
often less (where there are five children), pays five shillings per week
for two low damp kitchens." — Letter of the Key. Jabez Bums, D J).,
December 2nd, 1865.

12 MR. peabody's gift

were such as to entitle him to admission ; and, secondly,
that in the opinion of his employers there was nothing
in his character or moral conduct to disqualify him
from partaking in the benefits of the fund.

These two conditions once established, the tenant,
on taking possession of his new residence, finds
himself as free in action and as exempt from intrusive
restraint or officious interference as if he occupied a
house in one of the adjacent streets. His sense of in-
dependence is preserved by the consciousness that he
pays for what he enjoys, and for this payment he
provides himself with a dwelling so much superior to
that which he had formerly been accustomed to, that
the approach to his home is no longer accompanied by
a feeling of humiUation.*

As the result of the above inquiries, several apphca-
tions for admission were declined, on the grounds either
of a condition in life too easy to entitle the individual
to be classed with the labouring poor, or of a moral
character which could not bear investigation, because
of habitual drunkenness or conviction before a legal
tribunal. In some instances, too, the families of persons
desirous to become tenants were found to be too numer-
ous for the accommodation available ; and these, to avoid
unwholesome crowding, were unavoidably excluded.

At this stage of their operations the Trustees foimd
it necessary to appoint a Secretary ; on whom would
devolve the duty not alone of supervising the current

* This effect of raising the dignity of the workman in his own
eyes, by elevating the character of his dwelling, is pointed out in a
description of the Familistenf, or Workman'a Home, erected bj
M. Godin-Lemaire, at Guise, near St. Quentin, in the Sociai
Science Review, for October 1865.

TO THE POOR OP LONDON. 13

affairs of the trust, now becoming extensive and various,
but also of conducting the prehminary inquiries above
referred to; and on the sedulous and conscientious
prosecution of which the success of the undertaking
is so mainly dependant

The number of persons who took possession of
their new homes in Spitalfields was upwards of 200,
including such classes as charwomen, monthly nurses,
basket-makers, butchers, carpenters, firemen, labourers,
porters, omnibus drivers, sempstresses, shoemakers,
tailors, waiters, warehousemen, &c.

In the buildings at Islington, which were opened in
September, 1865, the inmates axe of the same class, with
the addition of persons employed in other trades;
watch-finishers, turners, stay-makers, smiths, sawyers,
printers, painters, laundresses, letter-carriers, artificial
flower-makers, dress-makers, carmen, cabinet-makers,
bookbinders, and others. The entire community there
now consists of 674 individuals, of whom 19 are
widows, the rest married persons and children.

In evidence of the improved salubrity of the build-
ings, the superintendents report that ill health is rare,
and that the number of deaths since the first buildings
were opened, in February, 1864 — nearly two years
ago — ^have been one man aged 30, who died of a
chronic complaint, and four children, one of whom was
under 5, and two under 2 years old.

The social contentment of the tenants is fi*eely ex-
pressed ; no complaints have been made of any of the
arrangements provided for their comfort, and they all
speak approvingly of the unaccustomed advantages
they enjoy. Amongst these they especially particu-
larise the security of their furniture and effects, which

14 MB. pbabody's gift

are no longer liable, as they formerly were, to be taken
in distress should the landlord become a defaulter.

As regards the moral conduct of the tenantry, the
superintendent reports that habitual drunkenness is im-
known, and intoxication infrequent, and where the latter
does occur to the annoyance of others it is judiciously
dealt with, by giving notice to the offender that, in the
event of its recurrence, he must prepare to leave. There
has been but one person removed for quarrelling and dis-
tiu'bing the peace; and one expelled for non-payment of
rent. These exceptions, out of a community consisting
of 880 persons, speak strongly for the self-respect
and moral principles by which they are influenced.

The Trustees cannot conclude this sketch of their
proceedings without expressing their regret on discover-
ing one obstacle to their usefulness, interposed by the
large amounts levied on their buildings for poors' rate,
inhabited house duty, income tax and general assess-
ments for sewers and drainage. Looking to the fact
that the fiind they administer operates to the repres-
sion of the rates for the poor, in proportion to the num-
bers whom it saves from becoming chargeable on the
public, it seems to present a reasonable groimd for ex-
emption; but as the levy is made conformably to law,
they are content to express a hope that the Legislature
may be induced to take the subject into consideration,
with a view to the early appUcation of a remedy. .

The foregoing statement has been prepared and issued
under the authority of the Trustees.

(Signed),

H. G. SOMERBT,

December, 1865. Secretary.

TO THB POOR OP LONDON.

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