April 11. Anthony Ashley Cooper. Anthony was the Seventh Earl of Shaftesbury. He came to be a Christian through the care of his first best friend –an old family servant who loved the Lord.
Anthony believed the true responsibilities of Christian aristocrats included caring for the bodies and the souls of those entrusted to their oversight. He devoted himself to political, legal, and social reforms that would improve the lives of factory workers, miners, chimney sweeps, and agricultural laborers. Anthony tackled the Poor Law, public health laws, and lunacy laws—to make them more humane.
In Parliament, he introduced an act that would outlaw employing of women and children underground in coal mines.
On this date in 1844, Anthony founded the Ragged School Union, an alliance of British ragged schools designed to provide educational and other services for children too poor and too “ragged” to obtain those services anywhere else.
What a man believes shows in what he does.
Anthony, strode down the uneven street in the dimly-lit London neighborhood. Ill-clad women dashed to find an alcove to block the icy wind, and crop-headed jailbirds pulled up coat collars—if they had one.
Behind the earl marched a small, determined group of modestly dressed men. Though none were men of means, they did what they could.
Ashley believed, “a man’s religion, if it is worth anything, should enter into every sphere of life and rule his conduct.” He fought for the dignity of mankind with Legislation in the House of Commons. He fought for better schools for destitute children. He fought in person on these dismal streets.
“For the poor will never cease to be in the land; therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall freely open your hand to your brother, to your needy and poor in your land,” (Deuteronomy 15: 11, NASB)
The great clock at St. Paul’s Cathedral had already clanged midnight before the men began tonight’s mission. In silence they walked toward Victoria Arches—the Vagrant’s Hiding Place. These dismal vaults built into the riverbank made a poor substitute for a home, but where else could the poor find shelter?
The men arrived at the Arches, and Ashley sucked in a quick breath. The shielded expressions of his men reflected the pain he felt. He nodded to the one who’d brought the candles, and the man solemnly passed them out. After they were lit, Ashley led the group into the gloom of the brick archways.
It took a moment for Ashley’s eyes to adjust. While he fought for focus, foul-smelling vagrants pushed past him, rushing outside, away from the candlelight. Others crept backward from its bright circle.
Rats scurried into the dark, and Ashley swallowed hard. The impoverished people were crammed together, some on smelly straw, others on bare earth. As the glow fell upon them, most turned to hide dirty faces and pulled tattered garments closer.
A wave of grief assaulted Ashley, and he shrugged it off. He couldn’t rescue all of them, but he could reach a few. According to their plan, Ashley’s men spread out and looked for the youngest of the vagrants. The men spoke kindly, but with authority, and they gathered about thirty boys, who responded more from fear than trust.
The men herded their young charges out of the vaults and down the crooked London Streets.
It was close to two in the morning by the time they reached the warmth of Field Lane School. Ashley was especially affected by two small boys huddled together, eyes wide. He asked to sit between them, and they slowly parted. With gentle questions, he learned their stories.
The youngest, only eight, remembered better days before his father died, but he’d spent most of the last year sleeping on the dirt floor in the Arches until the other, not much older, had shared his straw. It was a small comfort, but straw was better than bare ground. They weren’t brothers by blood, but poverty had created the bond of brotherhood, and now they looked after each other.
Ashley’s eyes misted. He comforted the boys, and the terror in their eyes gradually diminished. When he explained that they no longer had to live in the Arches—that they would have a warm bed and an education, the astonished boys cried.
Ashley looked away to hide his own tears. There were more boys to rescue, and he would keep fighting poverty on every front.
In what ways does your belief system dictate your actions? What a man believes shows in what he does.
Hammond, J.L., and Barbara Bradby Hammond. Lord Shaftesbury. London: Constable, 1923. Hathi Trust Digital Library, SUNY Potsdam. Accessed August 1, 2020.
The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. “Ragged School.” Encyclopedia Britannica. June 25, 2008. https://www.britannica.com/topic/ragged-school. Accessed August 1, 2020.
The Life and Work of the Seventh Earl of Shaftesbury K. G., Edwin Hodder, 1893, Cassell and Co Limited, London, Paris, Melbourne. For free online viewing visit: https://archive.org/details/lifeworkofsevent00hoddiala/
The Nuttall Encyclopædia, James Wood, ed. (1907). To access this entry online visit: https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmXoypizjW3WknFiJnKLwHCnL72vedxjQkDDP1mXWo6uco/wiki/Ragged_school.html and The Ragged School Union Magazine, Volume III, December 1851, Blackburn and Bert Printers, Holborn Hill, London.
Story read by Daniel Carpenter