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 Old ...

, 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 United Kingdom and the United States. Its goal was to bring the rich and the poor of society together in both physical proximity and s ...

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 settlement movement was a reformist

social movement A social movement is a loosely organized effort by a large group of people to achieve a particular goal, typically a social or political one. This may be to carry out a social change, or to resist or undo one. It is a type of group action and may ...

, 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 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-affiliat ...

Samuel Samuel ''Šəmūʾēl'', Tiberian: ''Šămūʾēl''; ar, شموئيل or صموئيل '; el, Σαμουήλ ''Samouḗl''; la, Samūēl is a figure who, in the narratives of the Hebrew Bible, plays a key role in the transition from the bibl ...

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 Toyn ...

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 Labour ...

, 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 poets. He was noted for irony, characterization, dark humour, social commentary, historical settings ...

, 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), generally known as H. H. Asquith, was a British statesman and Liberal Party politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom f ...

. 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 served as its first parliamentary leader from 1906 to 1908. Hardie was born in Newhouse, Lanarkshire. ...

. 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 The National Committee of Organised Labour for Promoting Old Age Pensions for All, often shortened to National Committee of Organised Labour, was a British campaign group established at the end of the nineteenth century which sought the introductio ...

, 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