| Description | This essay was written by Elizabeth Taylor in response to Edward Reynolds Pease's essay 'Personal Duty' for presentation at a meeting of the Portfolio Society in which the group debated methods of relieving poverty other than through charitable donation.
Elizabeth Taylor begins her essay remarking that she had little faith in the 'great schemes' of 'powerful organisations' aimed at 'the amelioration of poverty'. Remarking on her 'dislike' of costly parliamentary measures proposed by 'societies & assemblies of men', Taylor suggests that 'most good done in the world is by individual effort'.
Elizabeth Taylor's essay emphasises the importance of women in work towards the relief of poverty. She states 'this I take to be Woman's work & Woman's Right, to raise mankind from the degrading depths to which it has fallen.' Taylor provides a detailed account of the practical work which women ought to undertake towards alleviating poverty which involved the building of a hostel within a 'Model Building' in the East End of London. This hostel would provide teaching in thrift and healthy lifestyle and offer recreation in the form of music, sport and reading with the aim of encouraging an improved lifestyle 'in the homes of the poor'. Expressing a sense of middle-class social and cultural authority, Taylor describes the poor writing:
'They are grown so dull & hard of hearing to what is right & good, that in order to help we must live with them, & show them what is wanted to keep them from poverty & make them happy & respectable.'
In addition, Elizabeth Taylor suggested that poor women may need 'urging & dragging to be taught', critisising the 'disgraceful' clothing of the poor and their unhealthy cooking. As well as working with the women of poor families, Elizabeth Taylor suggests that the female philanthropists working in the model building should devote their evenings to encouraging men away from the public houses by offering 'music, & games & lively conversation, & short lectures' at the hostel. She also remarks that the children of poor families should be taught 'that a higher life is possible' and describes the family sporting activities which could be undertaken at weekends, including games such as 'cricket, tennis, football' which would 'be productive of health'.
Elizabeth Taylor's essay also provides an insight into her early views concerning the education system during the early 1880s. Critical of the Board schools, Taylor suggests that the female philanthropists living in the model buildings would be required to 'instruct the artisans' children'. She adds that people unable to pay for schooling were often left without the opportunity for education.
Elizabeth Taylor suggests that the 'Model Building' would set an example and encourage an improvement in surrounding homes. She concludes her essay by stating that there were many educated women 'needing work' who would be willing to become involved with her scheme, particularly those 'strong through faith & love & imbued with the spirit of Christianity'.
This paper is an early example of Elizabeth Taylor's public writing and provides an insight into her views concerning social reform as a young woman. However, when examined in relation to the public addresses and publications which she wrote later in her life, it is evident that her views about the poor and her approach to social reform underwent significant change during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
This document is particularly significant because it was annotated in June 1932 by Edward Reynolds Pease. In his annotation Pease writes that Elizabeth Taylor's essay, alongside his own, was featured in a private magazine called 'The Gatherer' which was edited by Helen Ford, the wife of his cousin F. Rawlinson Ford. Pease remarks that he had kept 'scores of letters' which had been sent to him by the almost extinct Ford family. |