2-969-897 - /Heritage Images

William Driver, Founder of the Belvedere-Crescent Reformatory, 1856. Portrait of British philanthropist William Driver, founder and superintendent of the Industrial Home for Outcast Boys. 'Originally a draper's assistant, Mr. Driver voluntarily quitted an employment in which, to persons of his intelligence and energy worldly advancement is not frequently denied, for the seemingly thankless occupation of a ragged-school teacher. In his new vocation he necessarily became familiar with every phase of ignorance, destitution, and vice. Gradually there deepened in his mind the conviction that to the teaching of a school must be added the influence a home...he sallied forth in quest of inmates for his, as yet, empty house. Seeking them in their well known haunts, he gave preference to the most destitute and depraved...'. From "Illustrated London News", 1856.