Andrew Reid put together many Asylum meetings where he would do speeches to rich people and make them feel for the poor. An example of his speeches was one he done on the 3rd of July, 1927 at the London Tavern “Let it be remembered that the case is for the infant orphan for which charity has a yet done nothing; yet this case embraces a period of life in which innocence, helplessness and misery are strangely commingled and most touchingly call for our aid”. This speech was truly inspirational to many people and was used just before the people choose who they wanted to vote for using the voting system (explained in paragraph 6). Also he was respected for the work that he did. Andrew also did many advertising techniques, for example he did put up many posters and gave out many leaflets to get many people as possible to be interested in the orphans and many people as possible to care about the poor. Many people did turn up to the voting events and they raised vast amounts of money for the orphans.
The Wanstead Infant Orphan Asylum was mainly for children under the age of seven that either their father had died. The Asylum was for the ‘respectable poor’ and their farther had to of been a respected and a slightly wealthy man. The source of a table displaying fathers professions of children that entered shows that, most of the children taken into the asylum had father’s that were clerical 212, shopkeepers 170, managerial 87, professional 68 or skilled workers 85. This shows that the fathers had to of been good respected hardworking people before death so that their child could enter the asylum. The Asylum was design so that orphan that came from a decent family could carry on their decent lives and still become great members of society, which was one of Andrew Reid’s purposes. However if you had certain illnesses that were contagious or meant you were to die soon you were not allowed in the Asylum. Many people were turned down from the Asylum because of many devastating reasons this was obviously necessary because they did not want other children to catch diseases and they did not want other children to go through the trauma of death again. Also and this may seen cruel, but one of the main reason to build the Asylum was for a better generation and if they knew the child was going to die there was not a real point in wasting the votes which could go to nice and healthy orphan children. So it was necessary to turn down some orphans.
There was only one real way to get into the Infant Orphan Asylum. It was the voting system, which meant rich and eligible people would hear the mothers cases and vote to which child they thought needed the Asylum the most. Each vote was worth a certain amount of money, once an individual child had reached its set amount needed the child was allowed into the Asylum. If a rich enough person decided they really wanted this person into the Asylum they could paid the full amount of votes and this would enable the child to be put into the asylum immediately, so if they liked or felt sorry for an orphan it could be entered straight away. This may seem unfair to some orphans that might not be good looking which could have caused the system to be portrayed as mean and unpopular, but this system went on for many years and was very popular and successful. Many rich people felt as though they had power over people with their voting and in some extent enjoyed listening to the mothers cases, they enjoyed the meetings and got excited to see if there chosen orphan would win (be put into the asylum). (Refer to source of the picture of the Infant Orphan Asylum Election by George Elgar Hicks). This painting shows that so many people were coming to vote and it was a successful event, even though it was a very busy event a lot of money was given and there was no other way to get money for any specific child. This source may not be totally reliable because it was taken at one moment in time, but it does truly represent what happens because it is a real life painting and not a propaganda cartoon. I do believe the painter was painting what he saw because he has no real motive to be changing any of the details of the painting.
The Asylum comparing to other institutions was a very nice place to go, if you were an orphan. The only other place there was really to go was the workhouses. Which was one of the worst places to go, the workhouses were especially made so people would not want to go there. The types of people that were forced to go to the workhouses was the “undeserving poor” they were seen as “rubbish to the world” and had no choice but to go to the workhouses because they were not allowed to go to any asylum’s and there was no other places for orphans. The workhouses were only used as a last resort because you were not only treated like a slave, you could not see anyone of opposite sex including your own family. It is the same in the asylum as you cannot see your mother however the conditions are much better and you are expected to become professional members of society on exit of the Asylum. Whereas in the workhouses frankly they just did not care of what you become after you leave the workhouse they just wanted you to be gone.
Children in the Asylum were brought up to be respectable people. They were educated very well and were not brought up to be incapable people but to be great members of society which was one of Andrew Reid’s target goals. People in the Asylum were meant to be special people and if you told an employer you were from the Asylum, they did not look in disgrace but actually they saw the children from the Asylum as well educated people. The children in the asylum was also brought up as Christians and had to go to church. This was one of the key points of how they got so much interest and so much money donated. However Andrew Reid did not believe it was right to force religion on such young kids and after all the work he had put into bringing together and building the Asylum, he resigned the day before it opened. He totally refused in the idea of forced religion, but he knew the other members of ownership will not run an Asylum without Christianity so he left. He was still a Christian, but not a member of the Church of England. Which was what he was against he wanted the children to decide what religion they wanted by themselves and not to be forced into a religion.
So therefore to sum up, the Wanstead Infant Orphan Asylum was built for the ‘respectable poor’ (who were in danger of sinking to the level of the workhouses). In which their farther had died and the mother could no longer support the child’s needs. The Asylum was to ensure that the generations of orphans were nice and respectable people and that they contribute to society. The asylum was in desperate need because it was extremely unfair on the children that had a nice family background, but then been taken away because of death of the farther. The children were obviously never going to get over the trauma of loosing their farther however at least they can grow up and make their own families and be as successful as they could be.
People used in the gathering of my information.
- Ms Catlin
- Gave information on how to write the essay.
- Gave information on the Asylum itself
- Gave the coursework booklet which included sources.
- An Archivist for the Wanstead Infant Orphan Asylum Marianne Thorne and ex pupil.
- Talked about all her past experiences and the daily routine of the Asylum in which we took notes.
- Talked about the history and how the place got built. In summary she talked about anything she knows to do with the Asylum and we took notes.
Any books used in my information
- The school textbook.
- The coursework booklet
- Sources from the booklet.
Internet websites
– used for information on the new poor law and information on the workhouses.
- used for more info on the new poor law.