Barnett , Samuel Augustus , 1844-1913 , Canon of Westminster Social Reformer

Barnett , Samuel Augustus , 1844-1913 , Canon of Westminster Social Reformer

Samuel Augustus Barnett was born in Bristol in 1844 and after a period at Wadham College, Oxford, he became a curate at St. Mary's, Bryanston Square in 1867. During the next six years, in contact with Octavia Hill and the Charity Organisation Society, he discovered his capacity for social work. His marriage in 1873 to a helper of Miss Hill, Miss Henrietta Octavia Rowland, coincided with his acceptance of the parish of St. Jude, Whitechapel. At Whitechapel, both threw themselves into social work, organising flower shows, art shows, and the Children's Country Holiday Fund, and helping such differing groups as pupil teachers, young servant girls, and convalescents.

Much of this work received great impetus with the founding of Toynbee Hall in 1883-1884 and the settlement in the parish of up to twenty young graduates intent on curing the social ailments of Whitechapel. Although much involved in the University Extension Scheme, and Warden and later President of Toynbee Hall, Barnett did not concentrate solely on these two aspects of social reform. The majority of his activities were in fact conceived before the founding of Toynbee Hall.

As a Guardian of the Poor and as a School Manager, Barnett had considerable local influence. This influence was widened by his evidence to several parliamentary committees and by the appointment of his wife to serve on the Departmental Committee to inquire into the condition of Poor Law Schools in 1894.

Barnett extended his activities to Bristol, where he was canon and later sub-dean from 1906 to his death in 1913. However, in the latter period of his life he was far more involved in meditation than in social work. In these years his influence worked through his friendship with the Webbs, Lord Courtney, Sir John Gorst, Cyril Jackson, Harold and J.A. Spender and the many past residents at Toynbee Hall.

Throughout their married life, the Barnetts went abroad frequently. They did this on the one hand to relieve the intense strain of life in Whitechapel and on the other hand because of their belief in the value of travel to the mind. When they did travel, they involved themselves in the social work of the country in which they found themselves and, on occasion, they shared the joys of travel with over 100 people from East London. Another means of relieving the strain of Whitechapel was frequent retreat to their cottage in Spaniards Row, Hampstead. Around their life in the suburbs they attracted many dependants, firstly in the form of unhappy servant girls at Harrow Cottage, secondly convalescents at Erskine House, Hampstead, and thirdly Henrietta Barnett's ward, Dorothy Noel Woods, who died in 1901.

From Hampstead, Mrs Barnett drew her greatest strength. Whilst the Canon became more meditative, she continued her life of action by the promotion and foundation of the Hampstead Garden Suburb in the years following 1903. Although the Barnetts had no children, his brother had four, one of whom died in childhood. His brother had continued the family business in Bristol and took an active part in local politics as a Liberal councillor. His death in 1908 was a severe shock to the Canon who, however, continued writing his letters to his sister-in-law, his niece Mary Barnett, and his two nephews. The eldest nephew, S.H.G. Barnett, went into engineering, and the other, Stephen, emigrated to New Zealand as a farmer.