Toynbee Hall

Toynbee Hall, established in memory of the philanthropic historian Arnold Toynbee (1852-1883) in 1884, was the first settlement house to be founded within the late 19th century British settlement movement. Established in the East End of London, Toynbee Hall remains the longest running settlement house in the world, and continues to develop international solutions for handling the social effects of impoverishment worldwide. Toynbee Hall also served as the model for the United States first settlement house, the Jane Addams Hull House based in Chicago, Illinois.

Mission

The mission of Toynbee Hall, as developed by founders Samuel and Henrietta Barnett, is to promote practical and innovative programs for underprivileged residents of all ages, backgrounds and associations. Aiming to meet the needs of all local residents while improving the conditions in which they live, Toynbee Hall provides various services designed for families, adults, youth, elderly and immigrants to help London’s underprivileged population to maximize their social potential. Toynbee Hall, in part with the British Association of Settlements and Social Action Centres, and with the International Federation of Settlements and Neighbourhood Centres, works to improve the social conditions for London’s lower-class by offering various local programs, advocating for social policies of justice, and networking for social change at the local and national levels. To date, Toynbee Hall provides services for more than 6,000 community members and maintains a volunteer staff of more than 400 residential and non-residential members.

History

Toynbee Hall was founded in 1884 by British curate Samuel Barnett and his wife Henrietta in hopes of alleviating the impoverished and underprivileged position of those living within London’s East End. The solution, as designed by the Barnett’s with the support of Oxford University, involved bringing England’s most privileged elite into the dilapidated British borough to work, educate and serve as an example to the surrounding communities and their members. Through a philanthropic mix of education and social reform, the Barnett’s hoped to significantly improve the poorest of London’s neighborhoods and change urban British society for the better. With its foundation, Samuel Barnett urged residents 'to learn as much as to teach; to receive as much to give'.

Influence

In it earliest years, residents of Toynbee Hall, surrounded by large populations of both Jewish and Irish immigrants, campaigned for the rights of minority immigrants, and later argued against the rise of British fascism. The settlement house has also devoted much of its efforts to developing and improving adult education, collection social data, and evaluating local and national industrial conditions. Toynbee hall also offers a free legal advice center, financial aid for invalid children, various substance abuse programs, and elderly welfare services. Among its entertainment offerings, Toynbee houses both a children’s and adult’s theatre, a lecture hall, and offers its services to various social and cultural associations throughout London.

Toynbee Hall is also home to the Barnett Research Center, a unique library and collection of archives both free and open to the public. The center houses a collection of more than 4,000 books, historical writings and artifacts relating to the international settlement movement, and provides a detailed history of social and economic policy on both the local and national levels. Toynbee Hall also provides a platform for public speakers to broach current event topics including political and social reform.

Residents

The settlement house has attracted many of London’s best and brightest, including a large number of graduates from the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. Formers residents include British Prime Minister Clement Attlee, economist William Beveridge and politician John Profumo, who all remained associated with Toynbee Hall throughout their later professional careers. Toynbee Hall also served as a basis for the development of further social reform throughout Great Britain including the 1903 founding of the Workers Educational Association, the 1949 Citizens’ Advice Bureau and the 1965 Child Poverty Action Group. Nobel Prize winner Guglielmo Marconi, the inventor of the first radiotelegraph system, also spent time at Toynbee Hall, demonstrating from London’s East End the United Kingdom’s first wireless telegraph. Artist Charles Robert Ashbee, an early resident of the settlement house, is credited with the design of Toynbee’s ‘tree of life’ logo which continues to represent the organization today. Toynbee Hall is also believed to have housed the 1926 meeting to end the United Kingdom’s General Strike.

Publications

• Pimlott, John. Toynbee Hall, Fifty Years of Social Progress, 1884-1934. JM Dent and Sons Ltd; 1935.
• Briggs, A. and Macartney A. Toynbee Hall: The First Hundred Years. Routledge & Kegan Paul; London, UK. 1984. ISBN 0710202830.
• Meacham, A. Toynbee Hall and Social Reform, 1880-1914: The Search for Community. Yale University Press; New Haven, CT. 1987. ISBN 0300038216.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Montague, Francis. Arnold Toynbee: With an Account of the Work of Toynbee Hall in East London. Johnson Reprint Corp. 1973. ISBN 0384398553.
• Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Toynbee Hall. 6 Mar. 2007.
• Toynbee, Arnold. Toynbee on Toynbee; A Conversation between Arnold J. Toynbee and G.R. Urban. New York: Oxford Press, 1974. ISBN 0195017390.

External Links

• Toynbee Hall
• International Federation of Settlements
• Lectures on the Industrial Revolution in England by Arnold Toynbee

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