AN ARISTROCRATIC REFORMER

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 108, 3 November 1923, Page 17

AN ARISTROCRATIC REFORMER

"Lord Shaftesbury." . By J. L. le Breton Hammond and Barbara Hammond. London: Constable and Co. If ever there was a life of service given for his countrymen, it was that of the aristocrat, the Earl of Shaftesbury, who died in October, 1885. He is rightly described by Professor Basil Williams in the introduction to this biography as ,"onje of the most eminent of freelances" ; and, adding in reference to the works of the joint authors, "in the tale of his life, as told by them, one realises the pathos and grandeur of this solitary, self-willed, and deeply melancholy man battling and" struggling for his .weak and helpless fellows." .

Lord Shaftesbury belonged to a noble b f and of Englishmen who had to fight, and that desperately, for-social reform. Among them may be mentioned Wilbe•force, Bright, Cobden, and Plimsoll. These and some other were outstanding figures in the politics of their day, not because they were in the game and looked to make something out of it, but solely because they might carry into effect . correction of certain. wrongs which th?v felt were wrongs, and which could 'only be made abolished by : constitu-. • tio.nal means. Lord Shaftesbury was among the most valiant of these cham.pions of the rights of the oppressed, and his name was. venerated among the poorest <?f the people. -.'.-.... He was the eldest son of the sixth Earl, of Shaftesbury, and he passed through a singularly bitter boyhood. This did not sour.the milk of human kindness in him; on the contrary, it seemed to widen" and deepen his sympathy for the oppressed. His .father. Was' hard and ' cold, and his mother, a daughter of the fourth Duke of Marlborbugh, was a woman of fashion, who took no interest in her children: Lbrd. Ashley, as he was then titled/was sent to school at Chiswick at 7 seven years of age. He describes the school as being similar to Dotheboys Hall: Passing to Dr. Buller's ; house at Harrow at the age of 12 he witnessed an incident:that gave, as he beJieved, a bias to his life. He happened tT meet a pauper's funeral, and the -.s.-ofk. given to-his deepest senses by the ■fioai-se levity of -the scene made him re- - eto devote' himself to the neglected :.i-Jtsrests of the: poor.'-: He.had a-brilliant earner at Oxford. .This was followed by 'hi* ..-entry into Parliament, and'thecbm- ; mc!pcement of.his-lifelong work.- One of Lord Shaftesbury 'a greatest achievements >v as; the long and relentless war he earned, on-in the interests of the climbing boys empoyed by the-, chimney sweepera. In the face of old-fashioned preju.dlice and bitter.opposition he carried on his campaign year aiter year, and' ultimately had the satisfaction of seeing this evil removed, and an end made of this traffic m child life,, which for. long had .been a disgrace to ; the country. Apart from the" terorrs experienced by the children in the pursuance of their work, with the ever-present.: risk of agonising death or frightful disease there were tfe : miaou es to be endured at-the outset of the cavesr The^chidV tender flesh had, to ■c hardened for the work! This is a de- :; ii IP b t^°n°i. the ."training" of the climb-■-ii' fils is do? 8 by rubbing it, chledv on tho me with hi^'th^ r-A rm? and kneeß »tM«ming with blood, and the knees looklna as if the caps, bad .been pulled off. Then they 'haps eo e nff Ut bed 'Tir brlDe "sain, and per^ naps go off to another chimney; TW? \n° over-painted picture by a! novelist but an .extract from evidence given before the Children's- EmpCn Comm. ssl on of 1862: The report created a. sensation throughout, all Britain The ,uP°ri • **.. he described how I woman had complained that she could not have her chimneys swept .in the Afternoon because, the.boys were at school, adding, "A chimney sweep, inLoH' Rhnn\ ed»ca«on! What next/ ladvw, S? Uryßd€ScriPtion o* this IK?' Awoman r>*<> would cut up vchild for dog s meat or for making ma P-

■■^&a iriSs issS brought the ; scandals-to an end »H&. KT^-^^ humanity," com ments his bipgi-aphers, "stand out in sharp contrast to th e apathy of the B o trates, and had he done nothing else in the course of his long life/he § ton d We hvtd :n histor/ by this Zrd

ffiisPi fn^cta \onSulT *e^ "*>e^

It was to the redress of such conditions that LoKl.Shaftesbury devoted aMe o service, and. when: he died, he was still chairman of .the Lunacy Commission, on which' he had served with unexampled devotion since, the day the tody was formed-. Other" aspects' rf his work arc skilfully dealt wittfby -his bio-graphers-the Jen Hours' Bill, the re-" form of .the mines," the state of th«:factories, the posihonbf the agricultural labourer-with a-section devoted to efforts for religion .and philanthropy' ' Reviewing Shaftesbtiry-s £ O rk and endeavouring to allocate his place in the record of the century, the authors con-

ture, or the dignity of. man. Shaftesburv was such s voice.. To .Hie law of inditfere^fpH d h drlft-,, t t.a?Sht by philosophers and accepted by politicians,, he-opposed the s:mple revelation of his Christian conscience. This was his service _ta. England; not the service of a statesman with wide plan und commanding will, but the sen-ice of v prophet speaking truth to power in its «ei3*h ness and sloth. . . .

.Mr. and Mrs.. Hammond .-.acknowledge, their -indebtedness for'some of their ma-

terial to Mr. Ernest Hodder's biography or Lord Shaftesbury, published in 1886. The book now published enables the reader to understand an aristocrat who was one of the greatest humanitarians of our era.