From working parties to social work: middle‐class girls’ education and social service 1890–1914

Abstract

This paper considers the voluntary work of girls in late Victorian and Edwardian Britain. Historians have so far neglected to study social work as an integral part of middle‐class girls’ formal and informal education. The paper uses records of several little‐known girls’ service leagues including Time and Talents, Girl’s Realm Guild of Service, Girls’ Diocesan Association and United Girls’ School Mission. It argues that the priority accorded to training, social study and self‐development made membership of a service league a valuable source of further education before 1914. The paper begins with an overview of such leagues and a discussion of the training, study and social work undertaken. It considers how the work of service leagues was framed by broader debates around active citizenship. Finally the paper looks at some of the impacts of service leagues both on members and on the working‐class women and children they aimed to serve.