A HUMANITARIAN HONORED

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 59, 27 May 1907, Page 2

A HUMANITARIAN HONORED

London, May 27. Tlie King summoned Mr. Kirk to Buckingham Palace to congratulate liiin *[ion his work. Mr. Kirk was surprised by being knighted upon the spot.

(John lurk, born ut Kegworth, Leicestershire, in 1847, spent, part of his lwyhood in France. At the age of sixteen years lie became secretary to the Pule Literature Society, assistant secretary to the Ragged Schools Union in 1875, and in 1870 secretary to that institution anil the Sli.ittcsbury Society. He organises Pearson s Fresh Air Fund, Christmas Cuesl (luild, Sir W. Treloar's Christmas Hampers, and other voluntary efforts for the relief of the poor, particularly children and child-cripple*. He edits tlie 'tagged School Union Monthly. To .Tolin l'ounds, shoemaker, of Portsmouth, is due the original idea of "ragged schools," the first attempt to deal with the neglected children of the poor other than as criminals. By constant agitation Mr. Pounds enlisted the sympathy and aid of inlluential philanthropists. In 1847, the late Dr. Guthrie issued his "Plea for lfnggcd Schools," and opened one on Castle Hill, Edinburgh, which has not onyl liecn the parent of many others, but of the more modern industrial schools controlled liy the State. Dr. Guthrie, whose sympathies and activities were very wide, esteemed the institution of the nigged schools as the great work of his life. The late Lord Shaftesbury was deeply interested in the work, and assisted in extending it to the great cities of England. In 1844 the Ragged Schools' Union was established. One of the early developments of the union was the Shoeblack Brigade. Up to the time of the first great exhibition (18il) there were no street shoeblacks in London, but to supply the needs of foreign visitors, accustomed to this convenience abroad, by which many lads were euabled to earn a living and supply a want. The fee was a penny, and there was much mirth in regard to nu odd halfpenny at the end of the first year's balance-sheet, which it was explained had been paid by o (ma-legged man. The Ragged Schools' Union still carries on its work, with such modifications as the experience and the social change* of half a century have shoivn to be desirable.)