A Historical Guide to NGOs in Britain: Charities, Civil Society and the Voluntary Sector since 1945

428 Pages·2012·2.52 MB·English

by  Matthew Hilton, Nick Crowson, Jean-François Mouhot, James McKay (auth.)

A Historical Guide
to NGOs in Britain
Charities, Civil Society and the
Voluntary Sector since 1945
Matthew Hilton, Nick Crowson,
Jean-François Mouhot and
James McKay
A Historical Guide to NGOs in Britain
Also by the authors:
Matthew Hilton, James McKay, Nick Crowson & Jean-François Mouhot, The Politics of Expertise:
How NGOs Shaped Modern Britain (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012)
Matthew Hilton & James McKay (eds), The Ages of Voluntarism: How We Got to the Big Society
(Oxford: British Academy/Oxford University Press, 2011)
Nick Crowson, Matthew Hilton & James McKay (eds), NGOs in Modern Britain: Non-State Actors
in Society and Politics since 1945 (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2009)
Matthew Hilton, Choice & Justice: Forty Years of the Malaysian Consumer Movement (Penang:
Universiti Sains Malaysia Press, 2009)
Matthew Hilton, Prosperity for All: Consumer Activism in an Era of Globalization (Ithaca, NY, 2009)
Marie-Emmanuelle Chessel, Alain Chatriot & Matthew Hilton, (eds), Au nom du consommateur:
la consommation entre mobilisation sociale et politique publique dans les pays occidentaux au XX
siécle (Paris: La Decouverte, 2004)
Matthew Hilton, Consumerism in Twentieth-Century Britain: The Search for a Historical Movement
(Cambridge, 2003)
Martin Daunton & Matthew Hilton, (eds), The Politics of Consumption: Material Culture and
Citizenship in Europe and America (Oxford: Berg, 2001)
Matthew Hilton, Smoking in British Popular Culture, 1800–2000 (Manchester, 2000)
Nick Crowson, Britain and Europe: A Political History since 1918 (Abingdon: Routledge, 2010)
Nick Crowson, The Conservative Party and European Integration since 1945: At the Heart of Europe?
(Abingdon: Routledge, 2006)
Nick Crowson, The Longman Companion to the Conservative Party since 1830 (Harlow: Longman,
2001)
Nick Crowson (ed.), Fleet Street, Press Barons and Politics: The Journals of Collin Brooks, 1932–1940
(Cambridge University Press/Royal Historical Society, 1998)
Nick Crowson, Facing Fascism: The Conservative Party and the European Dictators 1935–40
(London: Routledge, 1997)
Jean-François Mouhot, Des Esclaves Energétiques: Réflexions sur le changement climatique (Seysel,
Champ Vallon, 2011)
Jean-François Mouhot, Les Réfugiés acadiens en France (1758-1785): l’impossible réintégration?
(Québec: Septentrion, 2009; second edition, Rennes: Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 2012)
Charles-François Mathis and Jean-François Mouhot, ed., Une Protection de l’Environnement à la
Française (XIXe-XXe siècles) (Seysel: Champ Vallon, forthcoming)
A Historical Guide
to NGOs in Britain
Charities, Civil Society and the
Voluntary Sector since 1945
Matthew Hilton
Professor of Social History, University of Birmingham
Nick Crowson
Reader in Contemporary British History, University of Birmingham
Jean-François Mouhot
Marie Curie Research Fellow, Georgetown University & Ecole des
Hautes Etudes en Sciences Social, Paris
James McKay
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Birmingham
© Matthew Hilton, Nicholas Crowson, Jean-François Mouhot & James McKay
2012
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2012 ISBN 978-0-230-30444-4
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First published 2012 by
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ISBN 978-1-349-33859-7 ISBN 978-1-137-02902-7 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9781137029027
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10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12
Contents
List of Abbreviations and Sources ix
List of Tables, Figures and Boxes xi
Preface xxvii
1 Definitions 1
Charities 1
Voluntary sector 3
Pressure groups 5
New social movements 6
Third sector versus Big Society 7
Non-governmental organisations 9
Further reading 10
2 The Scale and Growth of NGOs, Charities and Voluntary
Organisations 12
Origins 12
Voluntary associations in Victorian Britain 14
The twentieth century 16
Expansion since 1945 20
Further reading 31
3 Key Sectors’ Profiles Since 1945 33
1. Medicine and health 33
2. General/social welfare 38
3. International aid and development 45
4. Environment, heritage and conservation 51
5. Think tanks 56
6. Human rights 61
7. Gender, sex and sexuality 66
8. Race and ethnic minority groups 73
4 Leading Campaign Groups and NGOs in the UK 79
Abortion Rights (merged Abortion Law Reform Association and
National Abortion Campaign) 79
Action for Children (formerly National Children’s Home 1898–2000;
the Children’s Charity 2000–08) 82
Action for Southern Africa (formerly South African Boycott Movement
and Anti-Apartheid Movement) 85
Age UK (formerly Age Concern and Help the Aged) 87
Amnesty International 91
Animal Aid 94
Anti-Slavery International 96
Baby Milk Action 99
vi A Historical Guide to NGOs in Britain
Board of Deputies of British Jews 102
British Deaf Association 104
British Heart Foundation 107
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament 110
Cancer Research UK (formerly The Cancer Research Campaign and
Imperial Cancer Research Fund) 114
Catholic Agency for Overseas Development 117
Centre for Policy Studies 120
Child Poverty Action Group 122
Children’s Society 125
Christian Aid 128
Disability Alliance 132
Fabian Society 135
Fawcett Society 139
Friends of the Earth 141
Gingerbread: National Council for One Parent Families 145
Greenpeace 147
Howard League for Penal Reform 151
Indian Workers’ Association 153
Institute for Fiscal Studies 155
Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants 158
Liberty 160
Mencap 162
Mind 165
Mothers’ Union 168
National Anti-Vivisection Society 170
National Federation of Women’s Institutes 173
National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children 176
National Trust 179
Oxfam 183
Policy Studies Institute 186
Ramblers 189
Red Cross 192
Relate 195
Royal British Legion 198
Royal Institute of International Affairs (previously the British Institute
for International Affairs, 1920–26), commonly known as
Chatham House 201
Royal National Institute of Blind People 204
Royal National Lifeboat Institution 208
Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals 211
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds 215
Runnymede Trust 218
Save the Children 221
Shelter 224
Contents vii
Soil Association 227
Stonewall 230
Sue Ryder 233
Tearfund 236
Terrence Higgins Trust 239
Vegetarian Society 242
Victim Support (formerly National Association of Victim Support
Schemes) 245
War on Want 248
Which? 251
Women’s Aid Federation 255
Workers’ Educational Association 257
World Development Movement 260
World Wide Fund for Nature 262
5 Key Players 266
Ann Pettifor 266
William Henry Beveridge 267
Des Wilson 268
Fenner Brockway 270
Jonathon Porritt 271
Martin Ennals 272
Mary Whitehouse 273
Michael Young 275
Peter Tatchell 276
Frank Field 277
Pat Arrowsmith 279
Tariq Ali 280
Victor Gollancz 281
6 Membership and Volunteering 283
Introduction: the Big Society 283
Tunnel visions 284
The ever-changing nature of associational life 286
Conclusion 296
Further reading 297
7 NGO Income Streams and Giving 299
Overall income 299
State funding 303
Giving 308
Further reading 316
8 The Impact of NGOs 318
Public opinion and the media 319
Politics and the state 330
Campaign case studies 343
Further reading 345
viii A Historical Guide to NGOs in Britain
9 Governance and Professionalism 347
Foundation and ‘charismatic leaders’ 347
The moves to professionalism 349
Main administrative structures 351
Membership versus elite organisations 354
Accountability and decision making within NGOs 354
The state and the NGO sector 355
Further reading 357
10 International Comparisons 358
Transnational actors 358
Comparative data 363
Social capital 365
Political participation 372
Impact of NGOs 376
Further reading and guide to further information 380
Index 383
List of Abbreviations and Sources
The publications, websites or databases listed below have been used to source many
of the figures presented in this volume. For the sake of brevity and clarity, instead
of providing bibliographical information each time for these, we have used the
following abbreviations:
Annual reports and accounts, organisations concerned: these have been consulted
in one or more of the following places: (a) (in the case of companies) in the form
of hard files, microfiches or electronic copies supplied by Companies House (www.
companieshouse.gov.uk); (b) in other places such as the archives of the organisation
concerned, or libraries or repositories such as the British Library, the Wellcome
Library or other university libraries.
Beveridge 1949: William Henry Beveridge, The Evidence for Voluntary Action: Being
Memoranda by Organisations and Individuals and Other Material Relevant to Voluntary
Action (London, 1949).
CAF: Charities Aid Foundation.
Charity Commission: The Charity Commission website provides figures and
information both for individual charities and for the whole sector. See: www.charity-
commission.gov.uk.
Charity Statistics: Refers to an annual report published by CAF between 1977 and
2007, under slightly different titles: Charity Statistics (1977/78–1985/86); Charity
Trends (1987–93); Dimensions of the Voluntary Sector (1995–99); Dimensions (2000
and 2002); Charity Trends (2003–07).
DANGO: Database of Archives of UK Non-Governmental Organisations since 1945,
available at: www.ngo.bham.ac.uk.
Guardian Directory of Pressure Groups: Chris Bazlinton, Anne Cowen and Peter
Shipley, The ‘Guardian’ Directory of Pressure Groups & Representative Associations
(London, 1976).
Guardian & The Times: Unless otherwise indicated, figures showing the total
number of mentions of particular NGOs in the Guardian have been compiled using
ProQuest Historical Newspapers The Guardian and The Observer (1945–2003) and
Nexis (2003–07). For The Times, the Official Index to The Times (formerly known as
Palmer’s Index to The Times Newspaper) has been used.
NCVO: National Council for Voluntary Organisations.
NCVO Almanac: Refers to a report that has been published by the NCVO since
1996, initially every two years, and more recently yearly, under slightly different
titles: The UK Voluntary Sector Statistical Almanac (1996); The UK Voluntary Sector
ix