Philanthropy and Voluntary Action in the First World War : Mobilizing Charity

Non-uniformed voluntary action during the First World War continues to be a blind spot in the historiography of the war. The scale and extent of charitable activity has not yet been fully appreciated, despite amounting to well over £100 million and involving more than a million regular volunteers, many from working-class backgrounds. Drawing on extensive new primary research, this book tells the story of the volunteers and their causes, and how their actions cemented social capital in the UK. The book also examines the increasing role of the state in regulating charities during the war.

This book challenges scholarship which presents charity and voluntary activity during World War I as marking a downturn from the high point of the late Victorian period. Charitable donations rose to an all-time peak, and the scope and nature of charitable work shifted decisively. Far more working class activists, especially women, became involved, although there were significant differences between the suburban south and industrial north of England and Scotland. The book also corrects the idea that charitably-minded civilians’ efforts alienated the men at the front, in contrast to the degree of negativity that surrounds much previous work on voluntary action in this period. Far from there being an unbridgeable gap in understanding or empathy between soldiers and civilians, the links were strong, and charitable contributions were enormously important in maintaining troop morale. This bond significantly contributed to the development and maintenance of social capital in Britain, which, in turn, strongly supported the war effort. This work draws on previously unused primary sources, notably those regarding the developing role of the UK’s Director General of Voluntary Organizations and the regulatory legislation of the period.