Browning Hall, properly The Robert Browning Settlement, was a social settlement established in

Walworth Walworth ( ) is a district of South London, England, within the London Borough of Southwark. It adjoins Camberwell to the south and Elephant and Castle to the north, and is south-east of Charing Cross. Major streets in Walworth include the ...

, London, in 1895, one of a number of such 'settlements' arising out of the

settlement movement The settlement movement was a reformist social movement that began in the 1880s and peaked around the 1920s in the United Kingdom and the United States. Its goal was to bring the rich and the poor of society together in both physical proximity an ...

and the university extension movement. It provided a range of social services to the poor of its deprived area, and provided accommodation enabling relatively well-educated people to live amongst the people with whom they worked.

Origins

The

was a reformist

social movement A social movement is either a loosely or carefully organized effort by a large group of people to achieve a particular goal, typically a Social issue, social or Political movement, political one. This may be to carry out a social change, or to re ...

, beginning in the 1880s and peaking around the 1920s, with a goal of getting the rich and poor in society to live more closely together in an interdependent community. Its main object was the establishment of "settlement houses" in poor urban areas, in which volunteer middle-class "settlement workers" would live, hoping to share knowledge and culture with, and

alleviate the poverty Poverty reduction, poverty relief, or poverty alleviation is a set of measures, both economic and humanitarian, that are intended to permanently lift people out of poverty. Measures, like those promoted by Henry George in his economics classic ...

of, their low-income neighbors. The university extension movement was similarly disposed, to bring high quality education to the urban poor by means of the establishment of university settlement houses. An early and prominent example was offered by the formation of

Toynbee Hall Toynbee Hall is a charitable institution that works to address the causes and impacts of poverty in the East End of London and elsewhere. Established in 1884, it is based in Commercial Street, Spitalfields, and was the first university-affili ...

Samuel Samuel is a figure who, in the narratives of the Hebrew Bible, plays a key role in the transition from the biblical judges to the United Kingdom of Israel under Saul, and again in the monarchy's transition from Saul to David. He is venera ...

and

Henrietta Barnett Dame Henrietta Octavia Weston Barnett, DBE (''née'' Rowland; 4 May 1851 – 10 June 1936) was an English social reformer, educationist, and author. She and her husband, Samuel Augustus Barnett, founded the first "University Settlement" at ...

The Browning Hall settlement was formed by

Francis Herbert Stead Francis Herbert Stead (1857 – 14 January 1928), commonly cited as F. H. Stead, was a British social reformer notable for the establishment of Browning Hall in London, 1895, and for his work on the National Committee of Organised Lab ...

, a congregationalist minister who served at the York Street Chapel in Walworth. The chapel was in 1890 renamed "Browning Hall", honouring

Robert Browning Robert Browning (7 May 1812 – 12 December 1889) was an English poet and playwright whose dramatic monologues put him high among the Victorian literature, Victorian poets. He was noted for irony, characterization, dark humour, social commentar ...

, who had been baptised there in 1812. The settlement was established along the lines of Toynbee Hall. Initially closely associated with the chapel, the settlement was inaugurated in November, 1895 with an address given by

H. H. Asquith Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith (12 September 1852 – 15 February 1928) was a British statesman and Liberal Party (UK), Liberal politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1908 to 1916. He was the last ...

. In 1902, it established itself in separate premises at 62 Camberwell Road.

Operation

The settlement provided accommodation for a number of university-educated volunteers, but also a relatively large proportion of self-taught volunteers, including

James Keir Hardie James Keir Hardie (15 August 185626 September 1915) was a Scottish trade unionist and politician. He was a founder of the Labour Party, and was its first parliamentary leader from 1906 to 1908. Hardie was born in Newhouse, Lanarkshire. He sta ...

. Browning Hall offered a wide range of services over time, including adult education (including acting as the Walworth centre for the London University Extension Society), social-work training, a savings club, legal aid, organised country holidays, summer camps, and a range of clubs and societies. By design, the settlement had an interest in Labour politics. Its entry in the ''Directory of Settlements'' stated: "We stand for the Labour Movement in religion. We stand for the endeavour to obtain for Labour not merely more of the good things of life, but most of the best things in life. Come and join us in the service of Him who is the Lord of Labour and the soul of all social reform". It became a hub for trade union activity, most notably giving rise to the 1899–1908 National Committee of Organised Labour, which successfully campaigned for the introduction of general tax funded old-age pensions; and later becoming involved in a further successful campaign for the provision of old-people's homes. Tomb in Browning Settlement Garden

Notes

{{coord, 51.48241, -0.09495, region:GB, display=title 1895 establishments in England Cultural and educational buildings in London Education in the London Borough of Southwark History of education in the United Kingdom History of the London Borough of Southwark Organisations based in London Settlement houses in the United Kingdom