Benjamin Waugh

The Reverend Benjamin Waugh (February 20, 1839 — March 11, 1908) was a Victorian social reformer and campaigner who founded the UK charity, the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) in the late 19th century, and also wrote various hymns.

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February 20 - 1839 - March 11 - 1908 - Victorian - Charity - NSPCC - 19th century - Hymn

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Waugh was born, the son of a clergyman, in Settle, North Yorkshire and attended theological college in Bradford before moving to Newbury, Berkshire and then in 1866 to London.

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Settle - North Yorkshire - Bradford - Newbury, Berkshire - 1866 - London

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Working as a Congregationalist minister in the slums of Greenwich, Waugh became appalled at the deprivations and cruelties suffered by children. Critical of the workhouse system, the Poor law and aspects of the criminal justice system as it affected children, he wrote a book (The Gaol Cradle, Who Rocks It?, 1873) urging the creation of juvenile courts and children's prisons as a means of diverting children from a life of crime. He also served on the London School Board from 1870 to 1876.

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Congregationalist - Greenwich - Workhouse - Poor law - 1873 - London School Board - 1870 - 1876

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He was also, from 1874 to 1896, editor of a religious periodical, The Sunday Magazine, in which he published several of his own hymns.

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1874 - 1896

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In 1884, he founded the London Society for the Prevention of Cruelty (echoing a similar initiative in Liverpool), launched at London's Mansion House on July 8. The London body's first chairman was veteran social reformer Earl Shaftesbury. It evolved to become the NSPCC some five years later (May 14 1889), with Waugh as its first director and Queen Victoria as its first patron.

Related Topics:
1884 - Liverpool - Mansion House - July 8 - Earl Shaftesbury - May 14 - 1889 - Queen Victoria

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A house in Croom's Hill, Greenwich marks one of Waugh?s residences. He later retired, in 1905, to Westcliff in Southend, Essex, where he died three years later.

Related Topics:
1905 - Southend - Essex

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