The Liverpool Food Association, later known as the Liverpool
Food and Betterment Association from 1898-1909, became the the League of Welldoers in 1909. It was
founded in 1893 by H. Lee J. Jones, a pioneer in the introduction of the
middle-classes into social work. Under Jones, as Honorary Secretary, and the
City Coroner, as President, the Association took premises in Limekiln Lane,
Scotland Road, Liverpool and put up soup boilers. In the first season, dinners
at 1/2d each (or free to the poorest) were distributed to eleven schools.
Other services followed, such as the distribution of food to
housebound invalids by voluntary Lady Attendants. To many this was quite
literally a lifeline, without the charitable work of the League of Welldoers
many people would have starved.
Herbert Lee Jackson Jones was born in Runcorn in 1868. He was educated at Liverpool College,
becoming proficient in art and wood engraving. Although he’d given thought to a
career in the church, he gave this up to devote his life to philanthropy,
funding the ‘Liverpool Food Association’ in 1893. In later life he was also a
proficient photographer, taking photographs of the area in which his charitable
work took place.
The range of charitable activities increased and diversified
to include the notion of cultural "betterment", for example open-air
concerts were provided in slum areas "to elevate the seared mind or
brighten the dulled hour amongst the poor and the poorest poor". Herbert
Lee Jackson Jones, known locally as Lee Jones, the founder of the League of
Welldoers, took the notion of personal service to the extent of martyrdom,
living in the service of the Association on no more than 15 pounds per year,
plus uniform and austere board and lodgings.
From the earliest days his band of helpers were based in
Limekiln Lane, right amongst those who he strove to serve. When it was known,
in October 1936, that Jones was dying, crowds knelt outside the front corner of
the building, praying for their true friend and benefactor.
The front of the building was destroyed in the May 1941
blitz and only rebuilt in 1952. The figures above the door, dated 1953, are by
M. Newton
 |
| League of Welldoers War Orphans dinner at St George's Hall in 1945 |
The League of Welldoers exists to this day offering their
services to young and old alike, you can find out more about them on the
website, link below.
Link
Photo credits Lee Jones Collection, Courtesy of the
League of Welldoers
By Robert F Edwards
