Eliza Gould Flower's comments on the Benevolent Society in Cambridge [undated, c. 1801].

The object which the Benevolent Society embraces are the Sick & the aged—from the indiscriminate application of parish relief, & its inadequacy to meet peculiar circumstances of distress this numerous class of people will be found among the most necessitous—a number of aged people chiefly females are relieved many of whom who have outlived their friends & their faculties have seen better days & now wholly confined to the peculiar season of distress in sudden illness  before parish relief can be procured   it often has happened where a father of a family has been suddenly taken ill & no relief could be procured for a season.

A particular examination of every case before relieved prevents the abuses attending indiscriminate charity.

Visitors have an opportunity of being useful to the poor in giving them prudential instruction & religious admonition.

The respect shown to the poor in visiting them has been found to make them more carefull in their general conduct.

The terms of subscription are so low that every one not in a state of poverty may be a member—agreeably to the intimation of the apostles by which it seems that it was expected of the primitive Christians that there should be only two classes givers & receivers & that every man who was not supported himself should assist in supporting his brethren.

The use to visitors in exacting gratitude to God & accommodating him to their farther exertions of benevolence.

The Fund & income of the Society so far from allowing the proposed extent in rule sixth, if not considerable any matter will not allow of the relief hitherto administered & several of the sick & aged must have their allowance diminished   during the last winter upwards of 10 pounds was distributed in one month at this time than received now not 15 pounds in hand nothing hoarded.

Text: Timothy Whelan, ed., Politics, Religion, and Romance: The Letters of Benjamin Flower and Eliza Gould, 1794-1808 (Aberystwyth: National Library of Wales, 2008), pp. 248-49 (a more annotated text than that which appears on this site). 

This fragment may have been a rough draft (most likely from early 1801) of an initial statement of the objectives of the Cambridge Benevolent Society.  At the end of Robert Hall’s sermon Reflections on war, Olinthus Gregory added the anonymous “An Account of the Benevolent Society, for the relief of the sick and aged poor instituted at Cambridge, 1801.” The “Account” notes that since “benevolence is an habitual duty, arising out of our constitution as rational and social creatures, and enforced upon us by the most powerful motives as Christians,” “a number of persons have formed themselves into a society, the nature and object of which are such, that it may with the greatest truth be said to deserve, and it can scarcely be doubted but it will meet with such encouragement as may render it a blessing to the poor of the town of Cambridge” (Gregory, Works 1.122).  The two objectives of the Society clearly reflect Eliza’s ideas as stated in this fragment:

  The first object of the society is, to afford pecuniary assistance to the sick and the aged poor.  To select proper objects, and guard against the abuses attending indiscriminate relief, visiters [sic] will be appointed to examine and judge of the nature of every case, and to report the same to a committee of the society.

  The second object of the society is, the moral and religious improvement of the objects relieved ... The hour of affliction, the bed of sickness, afford the most seasonable opportunities for usefulness; and it is hoped that the heart may in a more peculiar manner be open to the best of impressions at such a season, and when under a sense of obligation for relief already administered.  (Gregory, Works 1.122-23)

The Society established nine rules for its members and operations, noting the ecumenical nature of the Society as well as its strong sense of accountability.  A committee of fourteen members (including Alderman Ind and Eliza Flower) was to “meet monthly at each other’s houses, to receive reports, consider of cases, appoint visiters, and audit their accounts” (Gregory, Works 1.123).  Members could be “any person, of whatever denomination, age, or sex, disposed to assist this benevolent undertaking,” with each subscriber required “to pay not less than one shilling, and from twopence per week to any sum such subscriber may think proper” (1.123) The Society would entertain only those cases from a member “who is expected to be well acquainted with the case recommended, and to report the particulars to one of the visiters” (Gregory, 1.124).  This explains Eliza’s frequent mention in later letters of women she had probably recommended herself and whose particular situations she obviously knew well.  At a meeting at Alderman Ind’s on 3 May 1802, the Society resolved “that when the annual subscriptions of the society amount to sixty pounds, and the fund to thirty pounds, the committee be empowered to extend relief to other distressed objects besides the sick and the aged” (Gregory, 1.124).  The Society also decided to hold an annual meeting, which was the occasion for Robert Hall’s sermon in 1802.  For more on the Benevolent Society, see Account of the Benevolent Society for the relief of the sick and aged poor of the town of Cambridge (Cambridge, 1803).