27 November 2010

Canada's great 19th-century philanthropists

The BBC is broadcasting a 3 part TV series starting on BBC2 next Monday on Britain's 19th-century philanthropists and social engineers. They call then "do-gooders."

The people to be featured are mentioned in the latest BBC History Magazine: William Wilberforce, (Jane) Ellice Hopkins, Lord Shaftesbury, Mary Carpenter, W T Stead, Robert Owen, Frederick Charrington, Thomas Barnardo, Octavia Hill and William Gladstone.

I'd heard of Wilberforce, Shaftesbury, Barnardo and Gladstone. The others I had to Google - most had Wikipedia pages, linked above..

It got me to wondering, who were Canada's do-gooders in the 19th century? 

Regrettably Canadians don't have the BBC to help with such questions. And to expect it from the CBC would be laughable.

1 comment:

Persephone said...

Emily Stowe and Joseph Workman spring to mind. But then, I was brought up in the Unitarian church and they were both Unitarians, so we were told about them.