This book uses Cons’s and Cavendish’s partnership and work as an illuminating point of departure for exploring the larger topic of women’s philanthropic campaigns in late Victorian and Edwardian society.

Andrea Geddes Poole is a historian of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Britain and of philanthropy to the arts. She is also the author of Stewards of the Nation’s Art: Contested Cultural Authority, 1890–1939.

‘Poole’s book does a wonderful job of showing Victorian philanthropy not only as a forum for interactions between rich and poor, but also one in which the middle and upper classes could intermingle in an enlarging public sphere.’

Kathryn Gleadle:

‘This is a highly enjoyable and absorbing account; its accessible style should lend its appeal to a wide constituency.’

Vivienne Richmond, Department of History, Goldsmiths, University of London:

“Andrea Geddes Poole’s book is clearly the result of extensive and meticulous primary research, and it contains much of interest for scholars of women’s history, the history of philanthropy and poverty, and late-Victorian social history.”