toynbee hall

The bold mission statement of Whitechapel’s Toynbee Hall proclaims it’s all about ‘Learning from the Past; inspiration for the Future’. Now the charity, founded in the ‘two nations’ London of the late 18th century, has the opportunity to use that past to inspire future East Enders. A £50,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), will provide access for local residents and the public to its important historical archives.It’s an extraordinarily rich archive, with Toynbee Hall at the centre of more than a century of social change. The archive includes documents from William Beveridge, whose Report set out the structure of the welfare state, and Clement Attlee, the Prime Minister who implemented it.Kate Bradley, librarian at Toynbee Hall, described the funding as providing ‘a fantastic opportunity to bring our collection to the attention of the local community and anyone interested in the history of social policy’.The seeds of mid-nineteenth century, where the polarisation of wealth and poverty was shocking to many, especially visitors from abroad, but was largely ignored by the ‘haves’ of the capital. One man who saw the schism was future prime minister Benjamin Disraeli (left). In his 1845 novel Sybil, a character speaks of ‘two nations: between whom there is no intercourse and no sympathy; who are as ignorant of each other's habits, thoughts, and feelings, as if they were dwellers in different zones, or inhabitants of different planets.’Among the growing band of clerics who were determined that England should become one planet were Church of England curate, Samuel Barnett, and his wife, Henrietta. In 1873, the pair rejected the easy option of a parish in an affluent area and came to St Jude’s in the East End of London. Barnett’s Bishop had warned that ‘St Jude’s was the worst parish ... inhabited mainly by a criminal population.’As with Disraeli, the Barnetts saw the answer not arising from proletarian action, far less revolution, but from the efforts of the upper classes. Tory Disraeli had argued that a revitalised aristocracy were still England’s natural rulers; they could and should reunite the country. The Barnetts took it further – inviting the upper classes into the East End, to bring their skills and energy to improving the lot of the East Enders. But it wasn’t to be a purely didactic exercise. The young Oxford students who came to live in the poorest part of London would ‘learn as much as teach; to receive as much to give’.It was an extraordinarily imaginative social experiment - through educating the future leaders and opinion formers the Barnetts hoped to change society for the better and forever. Oxbridge was where the future leaders of society were to be found, and the Barnetts received a welcome response first at Balliol College, Oxford and then Wadham College. Toynbee Hall opened its doors to residents in 1884 – the young students had to pay for the privilege of staying there. It took its name from Arnold Toynbee, a young academic and earlier associate of the Barnetts who died (probably of overwork) serving the poor.The early success of Toynbee Hall can be seen in some of the characters that emerged. Visitors included Clement Attlee, who first came to Toynbee as a young man and maintained contact when he became Prime Minister in 1945. William Beveridge, came to Toynbee in 1903: he was to draw the blueprint for a new, fairer Britain after World War 2, and he maintained a lifelong connection. Many ideas were fomented at Toynbee too. In 1898 free legal advice started there; the Workers Educational Association was started there 1903; one of the first Citizens’ Advice Bureaux was set up at Toynbee in 1949; the Community Service Volunteers sprung up in the late sixties, the Child Poverty Action Group in 1965 and the Toy Libraries Association in the 1970s ... the list goes on. And with Toynbee at the heart of both Jewish and Irish communities in the East End, Toynbee residents found themselves at the heart of the fight against fascism in the thirties and racism every since.Toynbee Hall was at the epicentre of an extraordinary variety of cultural, social and political activity. Marconi demonstrated his wireless for the first time in the UK at Toynbee. East End artist and craftsman CR Ashbee is credited with designing the Toynbee ‘tree of life’ logo. And the meeting which brokered the end of the 1926 General Strike is widely regarded as happening at the Hall. Meanwhile, the tireless Barnetts founded Whitechapel Art Gallery in 1901 believing that the poor of the East End should have access to the arts. And Henrietta, very much in the spirit of the Arts and Crafts Movement, founded Hampstead Garden Suburb as a ‘village’ where working people could experience a high quality of life.Today, Toynbee lives on as a voluntary organisation providing advice and services to the local communities of Tower Hamlets. The buildings provide residence for 30 young volunteers, sheltered accommodation for elderly people and office space for local not-for-profit organisations. As to the future, who knows? But there is more than a century of enticing local history which will now have much wider access.Toynbee Hall is at 28 Commercial Street, E1, www.toynbeehall.org.uk, info@toynbeehall.org.uk, 020 7247 6943. More about the work of the Heritage Lottery Fund can be found at www.hlf.org.uk.

toynbee hall

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