The Humanitarian Movements

 

The Humanitarian Movements

Altruists and kind hearted people initiated movements to eradicate the evils brought by Agrarian Revolution and Industrial Revolution. It was aptly called as Humanitarian Movement.

i) Prison Reform

General Oglethorpe drew the attention of the Parliament to the horrible condition of prisoners. He also explored, how the jailors tortured prisoners to extort money from them. John Howard and Elizabeth Fry moved the government to take steps for the prevention of crimes. In 1829 Robert Peel introduced extensive police machinery to maintain law and order. As a result the incidence of crime was considerably reduced.

ii) The Anti-Slavery Reform

Buying and selling slaves was a flourishing trade during the end of the Tudor era and early decades of the Stuart regime. In 1771 about fifty thousand negroes were bought by English sailors in Africa and sold to the planters in the West Indian and American colonies to work in their estates. The suffering of the slaves was exposed first by Dr.Johnson and Horace Walpole. William Wilberforce vigorously fought for the abolition of slavery. As a result slave-trade was abolished in 1807.

iii) The Poor Laws

The Poor Law passed by Queen Elizabeth taxed the wealthy to set up a relief centre for feeding, clothing and housing the poor and the unemployed. The Speenhamland Act passed in 1795 saw to it those who were employed but paid very low wages were also given relief from the relief fund. A commission of Enquiry was set up in 1833 to study how to remedy the defects of the Poor Laws. Another commission was set up in 1905. It did a lot of useful work. It found out that the primary causes of poverty were drunkenness, disease, thriftlessness, ill-suited marriages and casual labour.

iv)Teetotalism

Hogarth and George Crulkshank addressed the problem of poverty so they started a movement called Teetotalism. They drew pictures of drunkards which touched the hearts of viewers. An enthusiastic band of volunteers called the ‘Blue Ribbon Army’ succeeded in reforming many drunkards.

v) The Salvation Army and Health care

William Booth founded the Salvation Army in 1865. He stressed the point that Christian missionaries should undertake social service. Many hospitals were established in different parts of England. Patients could remain in the hospital till they were cured. Thus many movements arose in England to help the poor and the downtrodden