National Association for the Promotion of Social Science explained

The National Association for the Promotion of Social Science (NAPSS), often known as the Social Science Association, was a British reformist group founded in 1857 by Lord Brougham. It pursued issues in public health, industrial relations, penal reform, and female education. It was dissolved in 1886.[1]

Background

The efforts of George Hastings brought together three groups of the 1850s to form the NAPSS: the Society for Promoting the Amendment of the Law, the National Reformatory Union, and the Society for Promoting the Employment of Women (the Langham Place Group).[1] It took as model the British Association for the Advancement of Science, holding an itinerant annual meeting, which provided a forum for social reformers.[2]

The objective of the Association was defined as "to coordinate the efforts of the experts and the politicians".[3] One factor in the eventual decline of the NSPSS was that the objectives of medical reformers changed. Legislation and the efforts of central government to improve public health became less important to them.[4]

Its first secretary was Isa Knox.

Congresses

Twenty-eight Social Science Congresses took place:

YearLocationPresident[5]
1857BirminghamLord Brougham
1858LiverpoolLord John Russell
1859BradfordAnthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury
1860GlasgowLord Brougham
1861DublinLord Brougham
1862LondonLord Brougham
1863EdinburghLord Brougham[6]
1864YorkLord Brougham
1865SheffieldLord Brougham
1866ManchesterEarl of Shaftesbury
1867BelfastLord Dufferin and Clandeboye
1868BirminghamHenry Herbert, 4th Earl of Carnarvon
1869BristolSir Stafford Northcote
1870NewcastleAlgernon Percy, 6th Duke of Northumberland[7]
1871LeedsSir John Pakington
1872PlymouthFrancis Napier, 10th Lord Napier
1873NorwichLord Houghton[8]
1874GlasgowLord Rosebery[9]
1875BrightonHenry Austin Bruce, 1st Baron Aberdare
1876LiverpoolCharles Gordon, 11th Marquess of Huntly
1877AberdeenEarl of Aberdeen
1878CheltenhamCharles Bowyer Adderley, 1st Baron Norton
1879ManchesterJames Fraser
1880EdinburghLord Reay[10]
1881DublinLord O'Hagan
1882NottinghamGeorge Hastings
1883HuddersfieldSir Richard Temple
1884BirminghamGeorge Shaw-Lefevre[11]
1885No meetingN/a

Committees

Trades Societies and Strikes

A committee of the Association produced Report on Trade Societies and Strikes (1860). This report was highly regarded: Sidney and Beatrice Webb later called it "the best collection of Trade Union material and the most impartial account of Trade Union action that has ever been issued".[12] There were contributions by three Christian Socialists (Thomas Hughes, John Malcolm Forbes Ludlow, and F. D. Maurice).[13] Hughes was one of two secretaries to the committee (with P. M. Rathbone).[14] The committee included the Liberal politicians William Edward Forster,[15] and Sir James Kay-Shuttleworth, 1st Baronet. There was one trade unionist as member, Thomas Joseph Dunning.[16]

Quarantine Committee

The Association's Quarantine Committee was set up in 1858. Its report was published officially by Parliament.[12]

Notes and References

  1. 39463. Hastings, George Woodyatt. Lawrence. Goldman. Lawrence Goldman.
  2. Book: Harriet Martineau. Fanny Wedgewood. Harriet Martineau's Letters to Fanny Wedgewood. 22 June 2013. 1 January 1983. Stanford University Press. 978-0-8047-1146-3. 171 note 20.
  3. Book: Ben Griffin. The Politics of Gender in Victorian Britain: Masculinity, Political Culture and the Struggle for Women's Rights. 23 June 2013. 12 January 2012. Cambridge University Press. 978-1-107-01507-4. 80.
  4. Book: Lawrence Goldman. Science, Reform, and Politics in Victorian Britain. 23 June 2013. 2002. Cambridge University Press. 978-1-139-43301-3. 200.
  5. Book: Lawrence Goldman. Science, Reform, and Politics in Victorian Britain. 22 June 2013. 2002. Cambridge University Press. 978-1-139-43301-3. 383.
  6. Social Science Association . The British Medical Journal . 1863 . 2 . 143 . 350–351 . 25200173 .
  7. The Social Science Congress . The British Medical Journal . 1870 . 2 . 508 . 338 . 25219697 .
  8. The Social Science Association . The British Medical Journal . 1873 . 2 . 660 . 231 . 25235279 .
  9. Book: George Washington Moon. Men and Women of the Time Part Two. 22 June 2013. 1 January 2005. Kessinger Publishing. 978-1-4179-7256-2. 776.
  10. National Association For The Promotion Of Social Science . The British Medical Journal . 1880 . 2 . 1026 . 352 . 25254669 .
  11. National Association For The Promotion Of Social Science . The British Medical Journal . 1884 . 2 . 1238 . 582–583 . 25270158 .
  12. Book: Michael J. Lacey. Mary O. Furner. The State and Social Investigation in Britain and the United States. 23 June 2013. 25 June 1993. Cambridge University Press. 978-0-521-41638-2. 106.
  13. Book: Harold Perkin. Harold Perkin. The Origins of Modern English Society. 23 June 2013. 4 October 2003. Taylor & Francis. 978-0-203-41270-1. 326–7 note 3.
  14. Book: Edward R. Norman. The Victorian Christian Socialists. 23 June 2013. 3 October 2002. Cambridge University Press. 978-0-521-53051-4. 95–6.
  15. Book: Lawrence Goldman. The Blind Victorian: Henry Fawcett and British Liberalism. 23 June 2013. 4 December 2003. Cambridge University Press. 978-0-521-89274-2. 150 note 20.
  16. 47348. Dunning, Thomas Joseph . Iorwerth. Prothero.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "National Association for the Promotion of Social Science".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.