Frederick Nicholas Charrington (4 February 1850 – 2 January 1936) was an English social reformer who renounced succession to a fortune of over £1 million in order to devote his life to temperance work.

Life and work

Charrington was born in the Bow Road, in the

East End of London The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have uni ...

. His father was a partner in the

Charrington Brewery Charrington Brewery was founded in Bethnal Green, London, in the early 18th century by Robert Westfield. In 1766, John Charrington joined the company, which then traded as Westfield, Moss & Charrington from the Anchor Brewery in Stepney. It merge ...

, one of London's biggest brewing companies. Charrington was heir to a fortune of a million and a quarter pounds. He was educated at

Marlborough College Marlborough College is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Independent school (United Kingdom), independent boarding school) for pupils aged 13 to 18 in Marlborough, Wiltshire, England. Founded in 1843 for the sons of Church ...

, but left because of illness and finished his school career at Brighton College. He subsequently joined the family business. At the age of 19, Charrington had a conversion experience and became an Evangelical Christian. About a year later, while walking through Whitechapel, he saw a poorly dressed woman with her children begging her husband to leave a

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

and give her money for food. The furious husband came out and knocked her into the gutter. Charrington went to help and was also knocked to the ground. Looking up, he saw his name on the sign above the pub. “When I saw that sign,” he later wrote, “I was stricken just as surely as Paul on the Damascus Road. Here was the source of my family wealth, and it was producing untold human misery before my own eyes. Then and there I pledged to God that not another penny of that money should come to me.” Charrington abandoned the family business to devote his life to helping the poor in the East End. He opened a school, led a fight to clean up the music halls and became an ardent worker for the

Temperance Movement The temperance movement is a social movement promoting temperance or complete abstinence from consumption of alcoholic beverages. Participants in the movement typically criticize alcohol intoxication or promote teetotalism, and its leaders emph ...

. In 1870 he founded the Tower Hamlets Mission and made the Great Assembly Hall in the Mile End Road a centre of Christian work in the East End of London. In 1903 Charrington purchased

Osea Island Osea Island ( oe, Ōsgȳþes īeg, "Osyth's island"), formerly also Osey, is an inhabited island in the estuary of the River Blackwater, Essex, East England. It is approximately in size and is connected to the north bank of the river by a cau ...

off the coast of

Maldon Maldon (, locally ) is a town and civil parish on the River Blackwater, Essex, Blackwater estuary in Essex, England. It is the seat of the Maldon District and starting point of the Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation. It is known for Maldon Sea ...

in Essex and established a treatment centre for people with alcohol and opiate addictions. In return for free treatment, clients would remain on the island and work the land. He was one of the original members of the

London County Council London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today kno ...

(1889–95). He died in the London Hospital in January 1936.

References

Works by Frederick Nicholas Charrington

* ''Battle of the Music Halls'', London: Dyer Bros., 1885? * ''The Conference Hymn Book''. London: Morgan and Scott, 1874 * ''An Oasis in the Desert.'' Frederick. N. Charrington, The Ex-Brewer, and his Work in the East of London. (Reprinted from the Christian Herald.) London: Book Saloon; Morgan & Scott, 1886 * ''The Quarterly Record of the Tower Hamlets Mission and its Branches''. London, 1881–86.

External links

* * Frederick Charrington: http://eastlondonhistory.com/frederick-charrington/ * Frederick N. Charrington abandons fortune: http://www.setfreebangor.co.uk/finding-god/frederick-n-charrington-abandons-fortune * Frederick Nicholas Charrington http://george-powell.co.uk/family/4806.htm * Tower Hamlets Mission https://web.archive.org/web/20120222112530/http://www.towerhamletsmission.org/history.html * Find a Grave: Frederick Nicholas Charrington https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/58715811 {{DEFAULTSORT:Charrington, Frederick Nicholas 1850 births 1936 deaths People from the London Borough of Tower Hamlets People educated at Marlborough College People educated at Brighton College Philanthropists from London English temperance activists Members of London County Council Progressive Party (London) politicians British social reformers