In a letter to Mary Ward, written in 1895, Passmore Edwards commented that “several years ago” he had advanced a mortgage of nearly £4000 to the Cobden Clubs Institute in NW London .. “but I am sorry to say that it is largely kept on its feet by the drinking habits fostered. This rubs against my grain painfully…”
He was probably referring to the Cobden Club and Workingmen’s Institute, which was opened at 170 & 172 Kensal Road in 1880. It remained in existence as a social club with as many as 400 members in 1983. However, more recently reopened as a “private gentlemen’s club” it would have found even less favour with Edwards.
Category Archives: Miscellaneous Gifts
Miscellaneous Gifts and Donations (and a few that got away)
Well before Edwards commenced his period of “relentless giving” he was already giving large numbers of books to communities and his name appeared on many subscription lists following natural disasters and major accidents . These are just a few of his many other gifts and donations together with some of the offers that failed to reach completion
Oxford University Scholarship
Endowment for historical teaching at University hall, Clare Market (The LSE)
A Perpetual Pension for the Printers Pension Society
Ceremonial Staff, Truro Cathedral
Albert Palace
The English Mechanic, a life boat for Broughty Ferry
Endowment for free lecturers at london Public Libraries
A pension for the Actors Benevolent Society
A Pension for the Oddfellows
School for Disabled Children
Egyptian Mummy- Tahemaa