George Smith of Coalville
During the Victorian Age, writes Courtney Dainton, when many social reformers came from the upper classes, Smith was a philanthropist who had himself experienced the hardships of the very poor.
Although he never became a Member of Parliament, George Smith was largely responsible for the passing of two Acts which initiated important reforms in the conditions of employment in the brickyards and on the canals of nineteenth century Britain. Yet today, less than ninety years after his death, few people have ever heard of this indefatigable social reformer and lobbyist. But as his biographer, Edwin Hodder, whose George Smith (of Coalville) - The Story of an Enthusiast was published in 1896, wrote:
‘For over a quarter of a century his name was daily before the public. When Parliament was in session he was to be found in the forepart of the day in Paternoster Row and Fleet Street among publishers and press men; and in the evening he was almost as regularly in the lobby as the Speaker was in the chair, of the House of Commons...
For weary years he fought a hand-to-hand fight with hunger, poverty, persecution and distress, while at the same time he was known, respected and on good terms with the highest in the land.
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