MARY CARPENTER. 81 



of Aberdeen ; the Rev. W. C. Osborn ; Mr. Russcli 

 Scott, of Bath ; Lord Ashley, who afterwards became 

 Lord Shaftesbury, and last but not least, Mr. 

 Matthew Davenport Hill, the Recorder of Bir- 

 mingham, with many others. With all these Mary 

 Carpenter was at one. 



But of all her friends there was not one with 

 whom Mary Carpenter was more heartily in sympathy 

 than with Mr. Matthew Davenport Hill. This good 

 man had filled the office of Recorder of Birmingham. 

 In this capacity he had had much to do with young 

 criminals, and had come to the opinion that imprison- 

 ment in gaol was worse than useless for them, because 

 it too often brought them into companionship with 

 those more hardened than themselves. Again and 

 again Mr. Davenport Hill had tried to convince the 

 public of the necessity for reformatories, and the im- 

 portance of education for the prevention and cure of 

 crime. But for a long time he spoke in vain. What 

 he and his friends would have liked would have been 

 the establishment of schools like our present Board 

 School*, which children should be compelled to 

 attend. But that was a great step in advance, and 

 the public were not yet prepared to go so far. For 

 the destitute and criminal he urged the establishment 

 of reformatories and ragged schools. 



The one fact which led people like Miss Carpenter 

 and Mr. Matthew Davenport Hill to desire the educa- 

 tion of the masses, was the prevalence of juvenile 

 F 



