National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children

Despite late 18th-cent. humanitarianism and philanthropy, there was scant concern about neglect and abuse of children before 1870. Pioneer work in America observed by the Liverpool banker Thomas Agnew (1881) led to the formation of several provincial societies for the prevention of child cruelty 1883-5. The London society amalgamated with some provincial counterparts to form the NSPCC (1889).