Society for the Suppression of Mendicity

Bodkin also acted as "assistant manager" of the society's inquiry and relief office, at a salary of up to £300 per annum,[a] plus bonuses.

Roberts notes two classes of early members of the society; father-figures - individuals already associated with the cause of dealing with beggars and who provided an imprimatur for the society, such as Matthew Martin, responsible for the establishment of the Bath Society for the Investigation and Relief of Occasional Distress; William Allen a Quaker well known for his work in schemes of social and penal improvement; and Patrick Colquhoun, founder of the first regular preventive police force in England; and then early enthusiasts such as Joseph Hume, David Ricardo, Charles Barclay, John Abel Smith, William Williams and William Sturges Bourne, all MPs, who allied themselves with the society in its earliest stages to further their interests in fostering moral self-discipline amongst the working population.

[2] Perhaps arising from Joseph Hume's persuasion, Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany, second son of the monarch, George III, became patron of the society in its first year.

Hugh Percy, 2nd Duke of Northumberland took office as president, and the society attracted a contingent of aristocrats as vice-presidents.

[2] The society appears widely to have been recognised as filling a gap in the provision of charitable activity in London, and established a solid funding base of about 1,500 regular subscribers, and a larger set of casual donors, so that its annual revenue for the first ten years of operation was circa £3,000.