Benevolent Efforts
A single benevolent fund was established, though the greater number of sufferers was on the Gateshead side. Gateshead Council commenced the collection with a donation of £600, and opened a subscription list for donors. Newcastle Council held a public meeting in the Guildhall and opened a list, headed by the Mayor, who donated £100; subscriptions from those at the meeting passed the £1000 mark. Queen Victoria contributed £100, and later, on a visit to Balmoral had the royal train stop on the High Level Bridge so she could observe the damage. The inhabitants of Alnwick succeeded in raising £300, including a donation of £100 from the Duke of Northumberland; several other towns contributed in a similar liberal way. The Bishop of Durham subscribed £150, the Earl of Carlisle £200, and so on, down to collections from workmen and the militia.
Upwards of £11,000 were subscribed and no less than eight hundred families applied for assistance from the funds. Altogether £4,640 was paid for the loss of furniture. In February, 1857, the benevolent fund committee stated that they had expended £6,533, and reserved £3,044 for widows and orphans, with the remainder of the fund distributed to the Newcastle Infirmary, £1,190; Gateshead Dispensary, £314; Ragged Schools, £195; other charities, £50.
Read more about this topic: Great Fire Of Newcastle And Gateshead
Famous quotes containing the words benevolent and/or efforts:
“It is clearly better that property should be private, but the use of it common; and the special business of the legislator is to create in men this benevolent disposition.”
—Aristotle (384–322 B.C.)
“What culture lacks is the taste for anonymous, innumerable germination. Culture is smitten with counting and measuring; it feels out of place and uncomfortable with the innumerable; its efforts tend, on the contrary, to limit the numbers in all domains; it tries to count on its fingers.”
—Jean Dubuffet (1901–1985)