Browning Hall

Its main object was the establishment of "settlement houses" in poor urban areas, in which volunteer middle-class "settlement workers" would live, hoping to share knowledge and culture with, and alleviate the poverty of, their low-income neighbors.

[1] An early and prominent example was offered by the formation of Toynbee Hall by Samuel and Henrietta Barnett The Browning Hall settlement was formed by Francis Herbert Stead, a congregationalist minister who served at the York Street Chapel in Walworth.

Initially closely associated with the chapel, the settlement was inaugurated in November, 1895 with an address given by H. H. Asquith.

Browning Hall offered a wide range of services over time, including adult education (including acting as the Walworth centre for the London University Extension Society), social-work training, a savings club, legal aid, organised country holidays, summer camps, and a range of clubs and societies.

It became a hub for trade union activity, most notably giving rise to the 1899–1908 National Committee of Organised Labour, which successfully campaigned for the introduction of general tax funded old-age pensions; and later becoming involved in a further successful campaign for the provision of old-people's homes.