LAMBETH WOMEN SPEAK: URBAN POVERTY AND RELIGION IN NELLIE BENSON'S LONDON

Mary Eleanor Benson

Mary Eleanor ("Nellie") Benson (1863-1890) was the oldest daughter of Edward White Benson, Archbishop of Canterbury. In the five years before her death of diphtheria at age 27, she devoted herself to visiting, teaching and ministering to working class girls and their families in the Lambeth-Southwark neighborhood of London.

Originally published privately by her father in 1891 as Streets and Lanes of the City, Nellie's book is a treasure of true, often soap-opera-like stories of poor families: their living conditions, their religious sentiments, their letters and jokes, all seen through the eyes of this remarkable woman.

Here reprinted with a new introduction with a full biography, her father's original introduction, and an index of names. A fascinating insight into social issues in Victorian London and how Anglican women were active in empowering literacy, religion, employment, better sanitation, and material and spiritual change.

A specialty book for libraries, collectors, and anyone with an interest in social history, religion and women's poverty.

ISBN 1-889298-75-1
xviii + 154 pp. handcrafted pb. $25.95.

Available in limited quantities from amazon.com
or write to: PovertyStudies, P.O. Box 380252, Cambridge, MA 02238-0252