Benjamin Waugh (20 February 1839 – 11 March 1908) was a Victorian era social reformer and campaigner who founded and directed the UK charity, the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) in the late 19th century.

Between 1862 and 1865, he studied at the Congregationalist Airedale Theological College in Bradford and on graduation, married Sarah Boothroyd with whom he moved to Newbury, near Reading, as minister to the local Congregational church.

[2] As a Congregational minister in poverty-stricken East Greenwich, Waugh devoted himself to improving the conditions of the inhabitants, including establishing a creche for working mothers and a Society for Temporary Relief in Poverty and Sickness.

[3] After another breakdown in 1877, he resigned his ministry in Greenwich on medical advice and accepted an offer by the publisher Isbister to edit the widely-circulated monthly periodical, The Sunday Magazine.

[4] It attracted contributions from numerous well-known writers, including novelist Hesba Stretton who helped found what later was to become the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.

And although Herschell found that Benjamin Waugh sometimes used too vehement and impetuous language, "It was rare for the zeal and enthusiasm to promote a great cause... [to be] combined with a philosophic calm".

[3] Waugh was so dedicated to the Society that he refused to take a salary for the first 11 years, relying solely on the income from editing the Sunday Magazine which he eventually gave up in 1895.

[1] With his wife Sarah, Waugh had 11 children (three of whom died in infancy) including his daughters Edna, who would become a notable watercolour artist and Rosa, his biographer and who would follow in his footsteps as a social activist.

A blue plaque marks the site of the house in Southgate and at what was mistakenly believed to be that of Waugh's residence on Croom's Hill when it was installed in 1984 by the Greater London Council.