Hannah Marishall Bevan or Hannah Marishall Bennett (1 February 1798 – 7 November 1874) was a British philanthropist. She visited convict ships and

workhouses In Britain, a workhouse () was an institution where those unable to support themselves financially were offered accommodation and employment. (In Scotland, they were usually known as poorhouses.) The earliest known use of the term ''workhouse' ...

and was involved in creating the

Band of Hope Hope UK is a United Kingdom Christian charity based in London, England which educates children and young people about drug and alcohol abuse. Local meetings started in 1847 and a formal organisation was established in 1855 with the name The Uni ...

in London.

Life

Bevan was born in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

in 1798 to a Quaker family, William and Hannah (born Fossick) Bennett. Her father was a tea merchant. When she was twelve she was sent to

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...

for schooling. Her mother suffered from partial paralysis as the result of a stroke and on her return she cared for her until her death. Her father died soon after, in 1818, leaving Bevan as head of the family business and head of the family of herself and her two brothers, one of whom died at an early age.

Elizabeth Fry Elizabeth Fry (née Gurney; 21 May 1780 – 12 October 1845), sometimes referred to as Betsy Fry, was an English prison reformer, social reformer, philanthropist and Quaker. Fry was a major driving force behind new legislation to improve the tr ...

started the "British Ladies Society for promoting the reform of female prisoners" in 1821 after visiting a prison and being horrified by the conditions. Bevan joined Fry's new society. In 1822 Bevan was listed as one of Elizabeth Pryor's helpers visiting convict ships, together with

Elizabeth Hanbury Elizabeth Hanbury (9 June 1793 – 31 October 1901) was a British philanthropist who worked with Elizabeth Fry. She is thought to have been Queen Victoria's "oldest subject"; she died in 1901, aged 108 years and 144 days. Life Elizabeth Sanderso ...

and Katherine Fry. Hanbury would in time take over the organisation of convict ship visiting after Elizabeth Pryor was disowned after she asked the prison authorities for remuneration. In 1827 she stopped visiting ships but continued to attend meetings until 1831. In 1827 she married the surgeon Thomas Bevan, and in 1828 she had their first child and became a Quaker minister. The following year her child died, but during the time of 1829 to 1842 she and Thomas had seven more children. She and some friends started the Foster Street ragged school in about 1847. Ragged schools hoped to supply some type of education and inspire children to work, but they also realised that some benefit was obtained by just keeping children out of the cold. The Foster Street school was still operating in 1865 and it was member of the Ragged School Union. During this time she stopped attending prison reform meetings and there is no record of her attending after 1831. The first "

" in London was formed at her house by Thomas Bywater Smithies and it included some of her neighbours and children. Her husband and two youngest children died in 1847. Five years later she was in Darlington where she took an interest in improving the lot of children, in particular, in the local workhouse. She had a long decline starting in 1859 in Darlington that progressed via a stroke and taking her to London where she died in

Penge Penge () is a suburb of South East London, England, now in the London Borough of Bromley, west of Bromley, north east of Croydon and south east of Charing Cross. History Penge was once a small hamlet, which was recorded under the name Pence ...

in 1874.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bevan, Hannah Marishall 1798 births 1874 deaths Philanthropists from London English women philanthropists 19th-century British philanthropists 19th-century women philanthropists