It has pleased God in His over-ruling providence to raise up men in all ages of the world to overthrow oppression. Some of these were men occupying humble positions but who became famous by the nobility of the causes they advocated. Others again were born to wealth and high rank; among these may be included the 7th Earl of Shaftesbury who during a long lifetime fought for the poor and oppressed and the outcasts, in the face of tremendous and unaccountable opposition from the vested interests involved, in his noble drive against a condition of things which seem now to be incredible in this so-called Christian land and at a period only about a hundred years removed from us. It is interesting to note that, in the great majority of cases, the driving force behind the great philanthropic movements and their advocates whose names are written forever on the roll of fame was religion. The Countess of Huntingdon thanked God that while it was written that not many noble are called that the Apostle did not say not any and the Earl of Shaftesbury might well say the same. He was an outstanding example of the sovereignty of God. Brought up in a cold, irreligious, hard home, the memory of which he never forgot, he was placed under the care of a God-fearing nurse who led his young feet to walk in the way of God’s commandments. Maria Millis died while he was but young but he never forgot the debt he owed, under God, to his nurse—she was the only mother he ever really knew. “The history of our father and mother,” he puts on record in his diary, “would be incredible to most men, and perhaps it would do no good if such facts were recorded.” Yet out of such a home God made choice of a man who was destined to do such noble work for the oppressed among men, women and children. It is said that the incident which decided his course in public life was a pauper’s funeral which he met. The shock given to his sensitive heart made him resolve to devote his life in the interests of the poor. During his father’s lifetime he bore the courtesy title of Lord Ashley and it is under this title he did some of his finest work. He entered Parliament in 1831 and the House of Lords in 1851 with the title, Earl of Shaftesbury, in succession to his father. During his parliamentary career he set about alleviating the conditions prevailing in the treatment of lunatics and backed up by his station and influence efforts were made to improve the conditions of miners and the workers in factories—men and women—and also agricultural labourers. It would take more space than we can afford to describe the noble work done in these connections—our main purpose for the present is to call attention to the work he did in the interests of the children. The conditions prevailing in connection with children employed in the mines and in the factories give one a shock. We have no desire to harrow the feelings of our readers by bringing to their notice the cases referred to in the Reports of Royal Commissions but it will be necessary to give a few of these.
The Earl of Shaftesbury did not confine his energies to the amelioration of the children in the mines and in the factories—he was also an energetic supporter of what was termed the Ragged School Movement. When the English Education Act of 1870 came up for consideration he gave it but a chilly reception and his reason for doing so may be gleaned from these words in a speech delivered by him when distributing prizes at Exeter Hall: “Never was I more touched, never more sorrowful. It is probably the close of these Christian and heart-moving spectacles. The godless non-Bible system is at hand; and the Ragged Schools, with all their divine polity, with all their burning and fruitful love for the poor, with all their prayers and harvests for the temporal and eternal welfare of forsaken, heathenish, destitute, sorrowful, and yet innocent children must perish under the all-conquering march of intellectual power. Our nature is nothing, heart is nothing, in the estimation of these zealots of secular knowledge. Everything for the flesh, and nothing for the soul; everything for time, and nothing for eternity.” From these words and from similar sentiments expressed in other speeches it is evident that he dreaded a Bibleless education. The problem of religious education in the State Schools of England is, of course, different from what it is in Scotland. The long history of Scottish education since the Reformation tells of the prominent place which was given to Bible teaching in the school curriculum, though in recent times there has been a tendency to ignore and disparage its usefulness. As one who believed with all his heart in the infallibility of God’s Word, he longed to see its truths taught to the children in the State Schools. Along with his love for the Bible was his strong distaste to everything that savoured of ritualism.
Though born in the lap of luxury he did not scorn the poor outcasts of London. He went down among the tough criminals and thieves seeking their welfare. We have read a story somewhere that on one of these occasions his motley crowd of London’s criminals were so pleased with the visit that they expressed themselves in the ardour of their feelings: “He is like one of ourselves,” much to the amusement of the kind-hearted nobleman.
The Earl of Shaftesbury passed to his rest in 1885, and on his memorial stone, erected in 1893, there is the following inscription:—”During a public lifetime of half a century he devoted the influence of his station, the strong sympathies of his heart and the great powers of his mind, to honouring God by serving his fellow-men, an example to his order, a blessing to his people and a name to be by them ever gratefully remembered.”
* He is not to be confused with the author of Characteristics of Men, Manners, Opinions and Times (1711) the third Earl of Shaftesbury.