‘It is no use concealing from you, for I could not, that I am greatly disappointed. But when I have said that, I have done; I accept the defeat. Others whose schemes have equally been rejected are suffering, thinking, perhaps, it is hard they have been met with so little sympathy. If they do not think well to join in this, no one will blame them, I hope, but will believe that they refuse because they ought not to give except as conscience requires, but let them give or spend in the best way they can all they would have bestowed on the Guild scheme of their heart’s choice.
‘This matter has brought before me many things which seem to show that our organisation needs some more distinct ideal. Like some “Topsy,” it could say in its infancy, “’spects I growed!” But when it undertakes to do something on its own account, then questions of power and how much power it should exercise, the questions of law and liberty which need to be faced, and which we shall, I trust, grow stronger and wiser in facing,—these have come before me with painful strength because as your President I had to face them. I was strongly opposed to the London scheme; I felt we were far too young, both in the age of the majority of our members, and also in the age of our organisation, to undertake such a great scheme. I had the strongest dislike to fashions in philanthropy, and especially is it most undesirable to familiarise the young with lives led in the slums of heathen London. Only those whose faith has had years to grow strong seem called to such work.
‘I could not see the Head whom I could trust with its management, and such a centre of work could not be ruled by several equal Heads, or by a committee with almost no experience and but little individual responsibility. The whole thing seemed to me a mistake, and my heart sank as I thought of myself as President over our Guild, working what seemed an impossible scheme. Yet it is one of the first principles of education to let children who are not grounded properly make mistakes and so learn where they fail.’
Much happened to reconcile Miss Beale to the Settlement scheme. Miss Catherine Newman, as her sister had done ten years before in aid of poor students, volunteered to undertake the management of the work gratuitously, and to pay her own expenses. Miss Newman was an old College pupil and a member of the Guild. She was also a trained nurse, with long experience of work among the poor. Miss Newman’s offer and the appeal of her old friend, Mr. Bromby, had weight with Miss Beale. She felt less anxious about the efforts of her ‘children’ if safe-guarded by the experience of those she knew and trusted. Miss Newman could also sympathise with Miss Beale’s own disappointment and anxiety, while she was confident of her large-mindedness in this matter. This may be gathered from a letter she wrote to her in the course of the proceedings at this time:—
‘ ... It is very good of you to set aside your own wishes and to throw yourself into this scheme. I have thought many times since the corporate work was talked about, that the freedom both teachers and old pupils felt in proposing schemes of work spoke volumes for their confidence in your generosity. Several members of the Guild who felt drawn towards the mission scheme said to me, “If I thought Miss Beale would wish me to vote for the Loan Fund because it was her scheme I would do so, but I believe that she would prefer that we should think for ourselves and vote for the scheme which most commends itself to us individually.” This confidence in your generosity and sense of justice struck me greatly; they knew you too well to fear for an instant that you might resent their taking a different line, and I felt sure from all I had ever known or seen of you that their confidence was not misplaced. Had you been able to unfold your scheme to them the result might have been very different, but of course it is too late now. If we were to renounce the idea of the Home for workers in the East-end, the elementary school would certainly take its place, and I am sure that you have realised ere now that it would be unjust both to the workers and the parish in which the Settlement is made to make it a temporary thing. Either it must be the corporate work of the Guild or it must be given up altogether,—at least so it seems to me. We could not expect enthusiasm either to work or support if it might be withdrawn at any moment. As regards your scheme, dear Miss Beale, I am truly sorry that it had not really a fair chance from the accident of its not being ripe yet for publicity. Two years hence might have been soon enough, yet I need not remind you that the “corporate work” was suggested by yourself. I am not afraid to say, however, that your scheme is sure of support and success, and this I trust while your powers are still unimpaired; but if, unfortunately, your strength should oblige you to limit your useful labour before it is fairly launched, I have every confidence that your friends and “children” would look upon it as a sacred legacy, which it would be their pride and pleasure to inherit from you.’
At the very moment that the Cheltenham Settlement was about to be opened in Bethnal Green, the ladies of Oxford were prepared to start one in the same district. For the convenience of both, an arrangement was made by which the two sets of workers could live together for a time, under one head, Miss Newman, until the resources of each, and the work they were called upon to do, were better known. Mayfield House, close to St. John’s Church, was therefore taken and formally opened as a Ladies’ Settlement (at that time the second in London), on October 26, 1889. Four years later, as suddenly as her sister at Jersey House, Miss Newman died at her post. ‘What can one feel,’ wrote a friend to Miss Beale, ‘except that her death seems to seal the whole life with the heroism of service.’
This trouble was the first link in a chain of circumstances which led, in the course of three or four years, to the removal of the Settlement to Shoreditch, where it became an important branch of that work to which Miss Beale gave the title of St. Hilda’s.