Toynbee Hall facts for kids
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| Named after | Arnold Toynbee |
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| Formation | 1884 |
| Founder | Henrietta and Samuel Barnett |
| Purpose | Social reform |
| Location |
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Warden
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Rebecca Sycamore |
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Chairman
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Stephen Burns |
| Website | https://www.toynbeehall.org.uk |
Toynbee Hall is a charity that helps people dealing with poverty in the East End of London and other places. It started in 1884. It was the first place linked to universities that was part of the worldwide settlement movement. This movement wanted to bring rich and poor people closer together.
Henrietta and Samuel Barnett founded Toynbee Hall. They started it in the East End, which was a very poor area. They named it after their friend, Arnold Toynbee, who was an Oxford historian and social reformer. He had passed away the year before.
Today, Toynbee Hall still works to connect people from all backgrounds. Their main goal is to create a future where no one lives in poverty.
Contents
How Toynbee Hall Started
After they got married in 1873, Samuel and Henrietta Barnett moved to Whitechapel. This area is in the East End of London. Samuel was the vicar (a type of priest) at St Jude's church. There, he saw how bad poverty was up close.
In the late 1800s, Whitechapel was very crowded. There was also a lot of crime. Sadly, about 60% of children under five died in Whitechapel. This was mostly because of the poor living conditions. Charles Booth, another social reformer, made maps of London. He showed that about 70% of people in the East End were in the lowest social classes.
Many immigrants also settled in Whitechapel. After the Great Famine in the 1800s, many Irish people moved there. Also, many Jewish immigrants came to Whitechapel. They were escaping unfair treatment in Western Europe.
The Barnetts used their church roles to help Whitechapel. They built a church library and showed art. They also brought in university teachers. They even took people from their church on trips to wealthy homes and universities. The Barnetts also asked officials to make housing better and build more playgrounds.
However, their efforts through the church didn't reach everyone in the East End. Many people didn't go to church. So, Samuel Barnett had a new idea to help the community. He wanted university students to volunteer and share their knowledge. This way, students could help the poor. They would also see poverty firsthand and think of ways to solve it.
In 1883, Barnett gave a talk at St John's College, Oxford. He wanted to get support for his idea. He got enough help, and a group called the "University Settlement of East London" was formed by Oxford. With these ideas and university support, Barnett started Toynbee Hall. It was the first settlement house in the world.
Toynbee Hall opened on Christmas Eve in 1884. It was named after Arnold Toynbee. Samuel Barnett became the first leader, called the Warden. Students from Oxford and Cambridge universities came to work there.
By 1910, many more settlement houses opened. They were in places like Manchester, Glasgow, and Liverpool in England. They also opened in Holland, France, Germany, and the United States. In 1911, leaders of the settlement movement created the National Federation of Settlements. One famous settlement house, Hull House in Chicago, was inspired by a visit to Toynbee Hall. It was founded by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr in 1889.
Over time, Toynbee Hall started many educational programs. When it first opened, it offered university lectures. These were taught by university professors. In the 1890s, classes covered over 134 topics. These included literature, science, and philosophy. To help with learning, 36 clubs were started. These clubs focused on music, art, history, and science.
One group, the "Toynbee Travellers," started in 1889. This happened after some Toynbee Hall residents visited Belgium. Toynbee Hall also hosted "Smoking Room Debates." In these debates, community members and guests discussed important issues. This continued for over twenty years. In 1899, the "Poor Man's Lawyer" service began. This program still gives free legal help to people who can't afford it.
The Settlement Movement: Helping Communities
The international settlement movement began at Toynbee Hall. It was a community center where university students could live among the poor. They came to London's East End to "settle" there. Samuel Barnett said they came "to learn, as much as to teach, to receive as much as to give."
Like most settlement houses, students from Oxford and Cambridge lived at Toynbee Hall. They wanted to get to know their neighbors and understand their needs better.
Toynbee Hall was different from some other groups. It did not try to convert people to Christianity. This is why it was named after Arnold Toynbee. Henrietta Barnett said the name would be "free from every possible savor of a mission."
From the start, Toynbee Hall welcomed people of all faiths. It was founded by a Church of England cleric, but it was not about religion. Its main goal was education, not just charity. Gertrude Himmelfarb listed some of Toynbee Hall's activities. In a typical month, they had:
- Evening classes on math, writing, drawing, and music.
- Afternoon classes for girls on dressmaking, cooking, and French.
- Evening discussions on legal ideas and current social issues.
By 1900, there were over 100 settlement houses in the United States and the UK. In 1911, the leaders of the movement formed the National Federation of Settlements.
What Toynbee Hall Does Today
Today, Toynbee Hall offers many programs and activities. These include:
- Help for young people.
- Support for older people.
- Programs about managing money.
- Advice on debt.
- Free legal advice.
- Ways for the community to get involved.
Each year, over 400 volunteers help Toynbee Hall with its services.
In 2006, Toynbee Hall started Capitalise. This was a free debt advice service for all of London. It aimed to help 20,000 people each year with money problems. In April 2019, this service changed its name to Debt Free London.
In 2007, the Toynbee Studios opened. This part of the building has dance and media studios. It also has a theatre.
The Buildings of Toynbee Hall
Toynbee Hall is the main building for the organization. It is on Commercial Street in Spitalfields. This area is in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Elijah Hoole designed the building. It has a Tudor-Gothic style. It officially opened in January 1885.
It was built where an old industrial school used to be. It was also next to St Jude's church, which was later taken down. In 1973, Toynbee Hall was named a Grade II listed building. On the front of the building, there is a Greater London Council blue plaque. It was put there in 1984 to remember Jimmy Mallon, who was the Warden from 1919 to 1954.
Since it started, the charity has grown. It has added extensions and uses other buildings nearby.
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Toynbee Hall, around 1902
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Toynbee Hall courtyard, 2019
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An Arts and Crafts clock tower
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Blue plaque remembering Jimmy Mallon
Important People at Toynbee Hall
Wardens (Leaders)
- 1884–1906 Samuel Barnett
- 1906–11 Thomas Edmund Harvey
- 1914-17 John St George Currie Heath
- 1919–54 James Joseph Mallon
- 1954–63 Arthur Eustace Morgan
- 1963–64 Jack Catchpool
- 1964–72 Walter Birmingham
- 1977–87 Donald Piers Chesworth
- 1987–92 Alan Lee Williams OBE
- 1992–98 Alan Prescott
- 1998–2008 Revd Professor Luke Geoghegan
- 2008–17 Graham Fisher
- 2017–22 James Minton
- 2023– Rebecca Sycamore
Chairs of Trustees
- 1884–96 Philip Lyttelton Gell, first chairman
- Charles Alfred Elliott
- 1911–25 Alfred Milner
- 1933–45 Cosmo Lang
- 1966 Lord Blakenham
- 1982–5 John Profumo
- 1985–90 Sir Harold Atcherley
- 1990–2002 Roger Harrison
- 2002–2009 Christopher Coombe
- 2009–2015 Ben Rowland
- 2015–2022 Julian Corner
- 2022– Steven Burns
Other Notable People
- Some important people who lived at Toynbee Hall include R. H. Tawney and Clement Attlee.
- William Beveridge started his career as a Sub-Warden at Toynbee Hall from 1903 to 1905.
- Famous visitors to Toynbee Hall included Lenin and Guglielmo Marconi. Marconi gave the first public demonstration of his wireless invention at Toynbee Hall on December 12, 1896.
- John Profumo spent a lot of his time helping the Hall from the 1960s onwards.
- American social reformers like Jane Addams visited Toynbee Hall. This inspired them to create Hull House in Chicago.
- Sir Nicolas Bratza volunteered at Toynbee Hall's Free Legal Advice Centre in the 1970s. He later became the President of the European Court of Human Rights. In 2014, Sir Nicolas became an Ambassador for Toynbee Hall.
Groups Connected to Toynbee Hall
- Charles Robert Ashbee created his Guild of Handicraft while living at Toynbee Hall in the late 1880s.
- The Whitechapel Art Gallery (started 1901) grew from art shows that Henrietta Barnett organized.
- The Workers Educational Association (WEA) was founded here in 1903.
- Child Poverty Action Group was started at a meeting held at Toynbee Hall in 1965.
- Stepney Children's Fund
