I have been reading about the Royal Albert hospital in Lancaster which was built in the 1800s. It is an impressive Gothic building which mainly treated children who suffered from mental health issues and physical disabilities. Patients came from across the north of England and reading extracts from reports made by visiting commissioners, much good work was done there by the dedicated members of staff who often spent long hours working with quite severely disabled youngsters.
But it is the funding of these institutions which is of interest looking back from the 2020s. Back then there was little or no public money available for such projects and instead wealthy local people would see it as their civic duty to donate the money to build these hospitals and contribute towards their running costs. And it wasn't just hospitals.
According to the book I'm reading*, in 1863 local businessman Samuel Gregson financed the public baths and wash-house in Lancaster. Other donations came from Julia Ripley who founded the Ripley Hospital for orphaned children and the Storey and Williamson families gave large sums of money not only to the Royal Albert, but also towards a new Town Hall and the Royal Lancaster Infirmary. The book also notes that there was much support for the Royal Albert from many less well-off people.
How times have changed. These days the equivalent of Gregson, Ripley et al seem to be addicted to money and to them, amassing more and more wealth becomes a game of moving funds around to avoid paying taxes. In the news recently we have seen how non-doms are apparently outraged that the government is planning to scrap their tax status. Subsequently they are all flying off in their private jets to whatever tax havens there are that will enable them to carry on living their Scrooge-like existences.
On the positive side there are philanthropists who are putting their money to good use but we rarely hear about them apart from the big names like Bill Gates. And there is a growing number of wealthy people who are not happy to be living in a world where they get all the tax breaks and see so many of their fellow citizens struggling to make ends meet. Check out Tax Justice UK and Patriotic Millionaires on social media.
Hopefully such a change in attitudes towards taxation will lead to those wealthy members of our society taking a leaf out of their forefathers, and mothers, book whose generosity set such a good example of how individual wealth can be used to benefit those less well off.
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Endnote. Of course, these old hospitals all closed down years ago, many during the Thatcher years when Care in the Community became the new mantra. The Albert is still involved with the education and care of children but these days it is the Jamea Al Kauthar boarding school.
* The Royal Albert - Chronicles of an Era 1992, selected by Joe Alston and published by the Centre for North-West Regional Studies at Lancaster University.
