Protestant Dissenting Charity School, Graham Street.—This is one of the oldest of our philanthropical institutions, having been established in 1760—the first general meeting of subscribers being held June 22, 1761. The first house taken for the purposes of the charity was in New Meeting Street, and both boys and girls were admitted, but since 1813 only girls have received its benefits. These are taken from any locality, and of any Protestant denomination, being housed, fed, clothed, educated and trained for domestic servants. There are usually about 45 to 48 inmates, the cost per child averaging in 1883 (for 56 girls) nearly £20 per head. At the centenary in 1861 a fund of nearly £1,500 was raised by public subscription in aid of the institution, which has but a small income from investments. Subscribers of a guinea per year have the right of nominating and voting for the admission of one child every year. The present home in Graham Street was erected in 1839, and application should be made to the matron for information or for servant girls.
Sanatorium, situated at Blackwell, near Bromsgrove.—This establishment, which cost £15,750, of which £2,000 was given by Miss Ryland, was built to provide a temporary home, with pure air, rest, and nourishing diet for convalescent patients, who otherwise might have had to pine away in the close-built quarters of this and neighbouring towns. The buildings, which will accommodate sixty persons, were opened April 16, 1873, and take the place of a smaller establishment to which Miss Ryland had devoted for some years a house at Sparkbrook. The average number of inmates is put at fifty, and the number who passed through the house in 1883 was 1,052, the expenditure for the year being £1,780 8s. The income was derived from annual subscriptions, £901 10s.; special subscriptions, £347 11s. 6d.; paid by hospitals for maintenance of patients, £192 6s.; grant from the General Hospital, £26 5s.; share of Hospital Saturday collection, £211 Os. 4d. The Secretary, from whom all information can be received as to terms of special and other tickets, is Mr. E.J. Bigwood, 3, Temple Row West.
Servants' Home and Training Institution, established in 1860, finds shelter for a time to as many as 240 young women in the course of a year, many looking upon it as the only home they have when out of a situation. In connection with it is a "training school" and laundry, where a score or more girls are taught. Both parts of the institution pay their way, receipts and expenditure (£180 and £350 respectively) generally balancing. The Servants' Home is at 30, Bath Row, where there is a Registry for servants, and also for sick and monthly nurses.
Town Mission—Established in 1837, and re-modelled in 1850. This institution seeks work in a variety of ways, its agents visiting the homes of the poor, the wards of the Hospitals, the lodging-houses, and even the bedsides of the patients in the smallpox and fever hospitals. In addition to the providing and looking after the "Cabmen's Rests," of which there are sixteen in the town, the Mission employs a Scripture reader specially to deal with the deaf and dumb members of the community, about 200 in number. At the Noel Road Refuge (opened in 1859) about 40 inmates are received yearly, and at Tindal House (opened in 1864) about half that number, the two institutions having (to end of 1883) sheltered 1,331 females, of whom nearly a thousand have been brought back to moral and industrious habits. The income of the Society for 1883 was £1,690 17s. 3d., the expenditure being a little over that amount, though the laundries connected with the Refuges more than pay their way. The office is at the Educational Chambers; 90, New Street.
Young Men's Christian Association.—Instituted in 1849; incorporated in 1873. For many years its meetings were held at the Clarendon Chambers, but when the notorious "Sultan Divan" was closed in Needless Alley, it was taken for the purposes of this institution, the most appropriate change of tenancy that could possibly be desired, the attractions of the glaring dancing-rooms and low-lived racket giving place to comfortable reading-rooms, a cosy library, and healthy amusements. Young men of all creeds may here find a welcome, and strangers to the town will meet friends to guide them in choice of companions, or in securing comfortable homes.—A similar Association is that of the Church of England Y.M.C.A., at 30, Paradise Street, which was commenced in 1849, and numbers several hundred members.—At a Conference held Nov. 24, 1880, it was decided to form a Midland District Union of Y.M.C.A.s in this and the surrounding counties.
Young Women's Christian Association, 3, Great Charles Street.—The idea of forming an institute for young women was first mooted in 1874, a house being taken for the purpose in Colmore Row in 1876, but it was removed to Great Charles Street in 1882, where lodgings may be obtained for 2s. 6d. a week. From returns sent in from various branches in connection with the Association, it would appear that the number of members in Birmingham was 1,500, which says much or its popularity among the class it was intended to benefit.
Philanthropic Trust Funds.—That our predecessors forgot not charity is well proved, though some of the "Trusts" read strangely in these days.
Apprenticing Poor Boys.—A favourite bequest in past days was the leaving of funds for apprenticing poor lads to useful trades, and when workmen were so scarce and valuable that the strong arm of the law was brought in to prevent their emigrating or removing, doubtless it was a useful charity enough. Now-a-days the majority of masters do not care about the small premiums usually paid out of these trusts, and several such charities have been lost sight of or become amalgamated with others. The funds, however, left by George Jackson, 1696, and by Richard Scott, 1634, are still in the hands of trustees, and to those whom it may concern, Messrs. Horton and Lee, Newhall street, solicitors to both trusts, will give all needful information.
Banner's Charity.—Richard and Samuel Banner, in 1716, left some land at Erdington, towards providing clothing for two old widows and half-a-dozen old men, the balance, if any, to be used in apprenticing poor boys in Birmingham,
Dudley Trust.—Mr. William Dudley, at his decease in 1876 left £100,000 on trust for the purpose of assisting young tradesmen commencing business on their own account, to relieve aged tradesmen of the town who had not succeeded in life, and lastly to benefit the charities of the town. The rules require that applicants must be under fifty years of age; that they must reside within the limits of the borough; that they must not have been set up in business more than three years; that they must give satisfactory proof of their honesty, sobriety, and industry; and that they must give satisfactory security to the Trustees, either personal, viz., by bond with two or more sureties [each surety must give two or three references], or upon freehold, copyhold, or leasehold properties. All these conditions being satisfactorily met, the loans, which will be made free of cost, will bear interest at 2-1/2 per cent. per annum, payable half-yearly, and must be repaid within five years, and if the money is wanted for more than two years, repayments by instalments must then commence. The benefactions to aged persons take the shape of grants, annual or otherwise, not exceeding £20 in any one year, in favour of persons who fulfil the following requirements: They must be of the age of sixty years at least, they must have been tradesmen within the limits of the borough; and they must be able to show to the satisfaction of the Trustees that they are of good character and need assistance, and that they have not received any parochial relief. The Trustees have made several large grants to charitable institutions. Offices: 20, Temple Row.