d charities in
England and Wales was compiled in the years 1861 to 1876. A new digest
of reports and financial particulars has since been completed.

The income of endowed charities in 1876 was returned at L2,198,463. It
is now, no doubt, considerably larger than it was in 1876. Partial
returns show that at least a million a year is now available in
England and Wales for the assistance of the aged poor and for doles.
Between the poor-law, which, as it is at present administered, is a
permanent endowment provided from the rates for the support of a class
of permanent "poor," and endowed charities, which are funds available
for the poor of successive generations, there is no great difference.
But in their resources and administration the difference is marked.
Local endowed charities were constantly founded after Queen
Elizabeth's time till about 1830, and the poor-rate was at first
supplementary of the local charities. When corn and fuel were dear and
clothes very expensive, what now seem trivial endowments for food,
fuel, coal and clothes were important assets in the thrifty management
of a parish. But when the poor were recognized as a class of
dependants entitled by law to relief from the community, the rate
increased out of all proportion to the charities. A distinction then
made itself felt between the "parish" poor and the "second" poor, or
the poor who were not relieved from the rates, and relief from the
rates altogether overshadowed the charitable aid. Charitable
endowments were ignored, ill-administered, and often were lost. After
1834 the poor-law was brought under the control of the central
government. Poor relief was placed in the hands of boards of guardians
in unions of parishes. The method of co-operation between poor-law and
charity suggested by the acts of Queen Elizabeth was set aside, and,
as a responsible partner in the public work of relief, charity was
disestablished. In the parishes the endowed charities remained in
general a disorganized medley of separate trusts, jealously guarded by
incompetent administrators. To give unity to this mass of units, so
long as the principles of charity are misunderstood or ignored, has
proved an almost impossible and certainly an unpopular task. So far as
it has been achieved, it has been accomplished by the piecemeal
legislation of schemes cautiously elaborated to meet local prejudices.
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