BRITISH SEAMEN'S MISSIONS AND SAILORS HOMES 1815 TO 1970 VOLUNTARY WELFARE PROVISION FOR SERVING SEAFARERS

Abstract

From the 1820s an ever present feature of most British ports has been the voluntary societies, little studied before, offering spiritual and social welfare support to serving seafarers. The perspective taken in this study is that although there were numerous individual societies, voluntary effort for seafarers constitutes a single movement. The continued existence of many societies well into the twentieth century suggests that the movement should be examined longitudinally in order to assess its contribution in relation to the changing context in which such welfare operated.