3-028-271 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Halfpenny dinners for poor children in East London, 1870. 'The district church of St. John the Evangelist, in the poor and populous parish of St. George's in the East, maintains, under the superintendence of the Rev. J. M. Vaughan, several useful institutions for the benefit of the neighbourhood. The Ragged Schools...have 310 children on the books, with an average daily attendance of 216, which tends to increase. There are likewise 120 Sunday scholars enrolled, with an average attendance of 40; and the attendance at the night schools averages 46...The soup kitchen, built at the expense of the committee, adjoining the schoolhouse, provides 1000 quarts of nutritious soup, during the winter, for distribution among the destitute and sickly poor; and a dinner of Irish stew is given, every Wednesday, to poor children attending these or any other schools on payment of one halfpenny each...The committee now appeal to public liberality for aid to their funds. Subscriptions or gifts may be sent to the Rev. J. M. Vaughan, Nassau-place, Commercial-road East'. From "Illustrated London News", 1870.