Thomas Pelham and boys’ clubs

Thomas Pelham and boys’ clubs. Writer of the first handbook on boys’ club work, T. W. H. Pelham had worked in ragged schools, institutes and clubs and helped to found the London Federation of Working-boys’ Clubs (now London Youth). The Hon. Thomas Henry William Pelham (1847-1916) was the son of the third Earl of Chichester …

Ragged schools and the development of youth work and informal education

One of the great movements of Victorian philanthropy, ragged schools provided for children and young people who were excluded by virtue of their poverty from other forms of schooling. A key feature of their work was that they moved significantly beyond the simple provision of educational opportunity – and as such both provided an example …

Charles Dickens on ragged schooling

  A letter on ragged schooling that first appeared in The Daily News on Feb 4th 1846. In it Charles Dickens reflects on his visit to Field Lane Ragged School. Dicken’s encounter with ragged schooling made a lasting impact upon him and is said to have been a significant element in his writing of A Christmas …