Henry Solly (17 November 1813 – 27 February 1903) was an English social reformer.Alan Ruston, �
Solly, Henry (1813–1903)
��, '' Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004 , accessed 18 April 2010.

William Beveridge William Henry Beveridge, 1st Baron Beveridge, (5 March 1879 – 16 March 1963) was a British economist and Liberal politician who was a progressive and social reformer who played a central role in designing the British welfare state. His 1942 ...

said of him: "He was a restless, inventive, constructive spirit, part author of at least three large living movements; charity organisation, working men's clubs, and garden cities". He was the son of

Isaac Solly Isaac Solly (1769 – 22 February 1853) was a London merchant in the Baltic trade. During the Napoleonic Wars his company Isaac Solly and Sons were principal contractors supplying hemp and timber to government dockyards. Early life and family He ...

, a merchant in the

Baltic trade Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages *Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originatin ...

. He became a Chartist. He supported many Radical causes, such as

universal suffrage Universal suffrage (also called universal franchise, general suffrage, and common suffrage of the common man) gives the right to vote to all adult citizens, regardless of wealth, income, gender, social status, race, ethnicity, or political sta ...

free education Free education is education funded through government spending or charitable organizations rather than tuition funding. Many models of free higher education have been proposed. Primary school and other comprehensive or compulsory education is fr ...

, repeal of the

Corn Laws The Corn Laws were tariffs and other trade restrictions on imported food and corn enforced in the United Kingdom between 1815 and 1846. The word ''corn'' in British English denotes all cereal grains, including wheat, oats and barley. They wer ...

co-operatives A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...

, anti-slavery, and early closing for shops and Sunday opening for museums. In the early 1860s he took a leading part in founding

working men's club Working men's clubs are British private social clubs first created in the 19th century in industrial areas, particularly the North of England, Midlands, Scotland and South Wales Valleys, to provide recreation and education for working class ...

s, though as a teetotaller he did not want them to sell alcohol. In June 1868 Solly's paper, titled ‘How to deal with the Unemployed Poor of London and with its “Roughs” and Criminal Classes’ was read at a meeting of the

Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...

, chaired by the

Bishop of London A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

, A. C. Tait. This led to plans for the

Charity Organization Society The Charity Organisation Societies were founded in England in 1869 following the ' Goschen Minute' that sought to severely restrict outdoor relief distributed by the Poor Law Guardians. In the early 1870s a handful of local societies were formed w ...

. In 1877 Solly founded the Workmen's Social Education League. By 1879

John Robert Seeley Sir John Robert Seeley, KCMG (10 September 1834 – 13 January 1895) was an English Liberal historian and political essayist. A founder of British imperial history, he was a prominent advocate for the British Empire, promoting a concept of Gr ...

had become President, a position he retained until 1883. In 1879 the organisation was renamed the Social and Political Education League. In 1884 Solly founded the Society for the Promotion of Industrial Villages. Although this was a failure, it led to Sir

Ebenezer Howard Sir Ebenezer Howard (29 January 1850 – 1 May 1928) was an English urban planner and founder of the garden city movement, known for his publication ''To-Morrow: A Peaceful Path to Real Reform'' (1898), the description of a utopian city in whic ...

's Garden City movement. Solly died of a brain haemorrhage in 1903. B. T. Hall, the secretary of the

Working Men's Club and Institute Union The Working Men's Club and Institute Union (CIU or C&IU) is a voluntary association of private members' clubs in Great Britain & Northern Ireland, with about 1,800 associate clubs. One club in the Republic of Ireland, the City of Dublin Working ...

, wrote a year later: "If the work that the Clubs do, if their influence on personal character and their contribution to the sum total of human happiness be correctly appreciated...then shall the investigator reckon Henry Solly amongst the constructive statesmen of our time". He spent the first half of his adult life as a Unitarian minister, and after he left the profession, continued to worship at

Rosslyn Hill Unitarian Chapel The Rosslyn Hill Unitarian Chapel is a place of worship in Hampstead, London. It is a member of the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches, the umbrella organisation for British Unitarians. It is also a Grade II Listed building ...

. He had four daughters, one of whom married Philip Wicksteed, and one son, who wrote the biography of Henry Morley. One of his students, Anna Evans, who stayed with his family later achieved fame under the pen name "

Allen Raine Allen Raine was the pseudonym of the Welsh novelist Anne Adalisa Beynon Puddicombe (6 October 1836 – 21 June 1908), who was born in Newcastle Emlyn. Her novels had sold more than two million copies by 1912. Life She was born Anne Adalisa Evan ...

Notes

Further reading