Philanthropy and Voluntary Action in the First World War

Philanthropy and Voluntary Action in the First World War PDF Author: Peter Grant
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134500319
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 271

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Book Description
This book challenges scholarship which presents charity and voluntary activity during World War I as marking a downturn from the high point of the late Victorian period. Charitable donations rose to an all-time peak, and the scope and nature of charitable work shifted decisively. Far more working class activists, especially women, became involved, although there were significant differences between the suburban south and industrial north of England and Scotland. The book also corrects the idea that charitably-minded civilians’ efforts alienated the men at the front, in contrast to the degree of negativity that surrounds much previous work on voluntary action in this period. Far from there being an unbridgeable gap in understanding or empathy between soldiers and civilians, the links were strong, and charitable contributions were enormously important in maintaining troop morale. This bond significantly contributed to the development and maintenance of social capital in Britain, which, in turn, strongly supported the war effort. This work draws on previously unused primary sources, notably those regarding the developing role of the UK’s Director General of Voluntary Organizations and the regulatory legislation of the period.

Philanthropy and Voluntary Action in the First World War

Philanthropy and Voluntary Action in the First World War PDF Author: Peter Grant
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134500319
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 271

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book challenges scholarship which presents charity and voluntary activity during World War I as marking a downturn from the high point of the late Victorian period. Charitable donations rose to an all-time peak, and the scope and nature of charitable work shifted decisively. Far more working class activists, especially women, became involved, although there were significant differences between the suburban south and industrial north of England and Scotland. The book also corrects the idea that charitably-minded civilians’ efforts alienated the men at the front, in contrast to the degree of negativity that surrounds much previous work on voluntary action in this period. Far from there being an unbridgeable gap in understanding or empathy between soldiers and civilians, the links were strong, and charitable contributions were enormously important in maintaining troop morale. This bond significantly contributed to the development and maintenance of social capital in Britain, which, in turn, strongly supported the war effort. This work draws on previously unused primary sources, notably those regarding the developing role of the UK’s Director General of Voluntary Organizations and the regulatory legislation of the period.

Mobilizing Charity

Mobilizing Charity PDF Author: Peter Russell Grant
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
This study proposes that the voluntary sector in the UK underwent major managerial and state-directional change during the period of the Great War, as a concerted response to but also enabling it to make important contributions to the war effort. It provides an important challenge to that scholarship which presents charity and voluntary activity in this period as marking a downturn from the high point of late-Victorian philanthropy, as representing far less serious activities than those undertaken by munitions workers, and VADs; with charitably-minded civilians' efforts alienating rather than encouraging to men at the front. The study seeks to demonstrate that such a depiction is incorrect; suggesting that the degree of negativity that surrounds much previous work on voluntary action in this period is reaching a myth-like status. The study draws on previously unused primary sources in publicly available archives; notably regarding the developing role of the UK's Director General of Voluntary Organizations (DGVO) from 1916, and regulatory legislation of the period; and on the activities of specified local charities, in particular areas, notably Croydon and Blackburn. It utilises a crossdisciplinary approach drawing on philanthropic, social, military and political history as well as the history of management. The career of the DGVO, Sir Edward Ward, is examined in detail and analysed from the perspectives of both contemporary and current management practice. The late 19th and early 20th centuries did not represent the zenith of charitable activity, this came during the war itself. Charitable donations rose to an all-time peak and the scope and nature of charitable work shifted decisively. Far more working class activists, especially women became involved, though there were significant differences between the suburban south and industrial north of England and Scotland. Far from there being an unbridgeable gap in understanding or empathy between soldiers and civilians the links were strong and charitable contributions were enormously important in maintaining troop morale. This bond significantly contributed to the development and maintenance of social capital in Britain, which, in turn, strongly supported the war effort. Issues of developing social capital within voluntary organisations, and a review of the nature of the deference exchanges occurring within charitable activity at this time follow. Finally, the extent to which responsiveness to wartime needs was able to trigger managerial change, if not a managerial revolution among active voluntary organisations is considered. A series of appendices illustrate key aspects of charities' development and direction during this period.

The British Home Front and the First World War

The British Home Front and the First World War PDF Author: Hew Strachan
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1009027441
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 707

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Book Description
The First World War required the mobilisation of entire societies, regardless of age or gender. The phrase 'home front' was itself a product of the war with parts of Britain literally a war front, coming under enemy attack from the sea and increasingly the air. However, the home front also conveyed the war's impact on almost every aspect of British life, economic, social and domestic. In the fullest account to-date, leading historians show how the war blurred the division between what was military and not, and how it made many conscious of their national identities for the first time. They reveal how its impact changed Britain for ever, transforming the monarchy, promoting systematic cabinet government, and prompting state intervention in a country which prided itself on its liberalism and its support for free trade. In many respects we still live with the consequences.

100 Years of NCVO and Voluntary Action

100 Years of NCVO and Voluntary Action PDF Author: Justin Davis Smith
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3030027740
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description
This book explores the rich history of voluntary action in the United Kingdom over the past 100 years, through the lens of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO), which celebrates its centenary in 2019. From its establishment at the end of the First World War, through the creation of the Welfare State in the middle of the twentieth century, to New Labour and the Big Society at the beginning of this century, NCVO has been at the forefront of major developments within society and the voluntary movement. The book examines its many successes, including its role in establishing high-profile charities such as Age Concern, the Youth Hostels Association, and National Association of Citizens’ Advice Bureaux. It charts the development of closer relations with the state, resulting in growing awareness of the value of voluntary action, increased funding, and beneficial changes to public policy, tax and charity law. But it also explores the criticisms NCVO has faced, in particular that by pursuing a partnership agenda and championing professionalisation, it has contributed to an erosion of the movement’s independence and distinctiveness.

Female Philanthropy in the Interwar World

Female Philanthropy in the Interwar World PDF Author: Eve Colpus
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1474259707
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 312

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Book Description
Female philanthropy was at the heart of transformative thinking about society and the role of individuals in the interwar period. In Britain, in the aftermath of the First World War, professionalization; the authority of the social sciences; mass democracy; internationalism; and new media sounded the future and, for many, the death knell of elite practices of benevolence. Eve Colpus tells a new story about a world in which female philanthropists reshaped personal models of charity for modern projects of social connectedness, and new forms of cultural and political encounter. Centering the stories of four remarkable British-born women - Evangeline Booth; Lettice Fisher; Emily Kinnaird; and Muriel Paget - Colpus recaptures the breadth of the social, cultural and political influence of women's philanthropy upon practices of social activism. Female Philanthropy in the Interwar World is not only a new history of women's civic agency in the interwar period, but also a study of how female philanthropists explored approaches to identification and cultural difference that emphasized friendship in relation to interwar modernity. Richly detailed, the book's perspective on women's social interventionism offers a new reading of the centrality of personal relationships to philanthropy that can inform alternative models of giving today.

Veterans of the First World War

Veterans of the First World War PDF Author: David Swift
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429614942
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 233

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Book Description
This volume synthesises the latest scholarship on First World War veterans in post-war Britain and Ireland, investigating the topic through its political, social and cultural dynamics. It examines the post-war experiences of those men and women who served and illuminates the nature of the post-war society for which service had been given. Complicating the homogenising tendency in existing scholarship it offers comparison of the experiences of veterans in different regions of Britain, including perspectives drawn from Ireland. Further nuance is offered by the assessment of the experiences of ex-servicewomen alongside those of ex-servicemen, such focus deeping understanding into the gendered specificities of post-war veteran activities and experiences. Moreover, case studies of specific cohorts of veterans are offered, including focus on disabled veterans and ex-prisoners of war. In these regards the collection offers vital updates to existing scholarship while bringing important new departures and challenges to the current interpretive frameworks of veteran experiences in post-war Britain and Ireland.

Remembering the First World War

Remembering the First World War PDF Author: Bart Ziino
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317573706
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 314

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Book Description
Remembering the First World War brings together a group of international scholars to understand how and why the past quarter of a century has witnessed such an extraordinary increase in global popular and academic interest in the First World War, both as an event and in the ways it is remembered. The book discusses this phenomenon across three key areas. The first section looks at family history, genealogy and the First World War, seeking to understand the power of family history in shaping and reshaping remembrance of the War at the smallest levels, as well as popular media and the continuing role of the state and its agencies. The second part discusses practices of remembering and the more public forms of representation and negotiation through film, literature, museums, monuments and heritage sites, focusing on agency in representing and remembering war. The third section covers the return of the War and the increasing determination among individuals to acknowledge and participate in public rituals of remembrance with their own contemporary politics. What, for instance, does it mean to wear a poppy on armistice/remembrance day? How do symbols like this operate today? These chapters will investigate these aspects through a series of case studies. Placing remembrance of the First World War in its longer historical and broader transnational context and including illustrations and an afterword by Professor David Reynolds, this is the ideal book for all those interested in the history of the Great War and its aftermath.

Redcoats to Tommies

Redcoats to Tommies PDF Author: Kevin Linch
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
ISBN: 1783276029
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 293

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Book Description
An examination of the lifecycle of soldiers, including enlistment, experiences of military life, the soldier's place in society and in politics, and military identity, memory and representation.

Activism across Borders since 1870

Activism across Borders since 1870 PDF Author: Daniel Laqua
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1350262811
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 385

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Book Description
From the Occupy protests to the Black Lives Matter movement and school strikes for climate action, the twenty-first century has been rife with activism. Although very different from one another, each of these movements has created alliances across borders, with activists stressing that their concerns are not confined to individual nation states. In this book, Daniel Laqua shows that global efforts of this kind are not a recent phenomenon, and that as long as there have been borders, activists have sought to cross them. Activism Across Borders since 1870 explores how individuals, groups and organisations have fostered bonds in their quest for political and social change, and considers the impact of national and ideological boundaries on their efforts. Focusing on Europe but with a global outlook, the book acknowledges the importance of imperial and postcolonial settings for groups and individuals that expressed far-reaching ambitions. From feminism and socialism to anti-war campaigns and green politics, this book approaches transnational activism with an emphasis on four features: connectedness, ambivalence, transience and marginality. In doing so, it demonstrates the intertwined nature of different movements, problematizes transnational action, discusses the temporary nature of some alliances, and shows how transnationalism has been used by those marginalized at the national level. With a broad chronological perspective and thematic chapters, it provides historical context, clarifies terms and concepts, and offers an alternative history of modern Europe through the lens of activists, movements and campaigns.

Understanding the Roots of Voluntary Action

Understanding the Roots of Voluntary Action PDF Author: Colin Rochester
Publisher: Apollo Books
ISBN: 9781845194246
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 226

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Book Description
The current debate on the growing role of the voluntary and community or -third- sector in delivering public and social policy is impoverished by its lack of understanding of the historical events which have shaped the sector and its relationship with the state. This widely anticipated book draws on a range of empirical studies of aspects of the history of voluntary action to illuminate and inform this debate. Chapter contributions range across two centuries and a variety of fields of activity, geographical areas and organisational forms. Four key themes are addressed: The 'moving frontier' between the state and voluntary action; the distribution of roles and functions between them; and the nature of their inter-relationship. The 'springs' of voluntary action - what makes people get involved in voluntary organisations or support them financially. Organisational challenges for voluntary agencies, including growth, cleaving to their missions and values, and survival. Issues of continuity and change: how and to what extent has the nature of voluntary action and its role in society remained essentially the same despite the changing context? This book is essential reading for all practitioners involved in charities and voluntary and non-profit organisations, for those who work at the interface between government and the third sector and for those who are involved in making and implementing public and social policy.