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Many of these philanthropists were motivated by their evangelical or dissenting religious beliefs. Elizabeth Fry (1780-1845), the prison reformer, Hannah More (1745-1833), who established the Sunday school system, Jonas Hanway, who was involved in many of London's charities, William Wilberforce (1759-1833), who campaigned to abolish slavery – all were religious activists. As such, they were not interested simply in alleviating suffering but in changing behaviour.
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Part of their aim was to dampen any tendencies the poor had to revolt against their oppression and to persuade them to accept their station in life. The charity they handed out often disempowered and coerced those who received it. The rules of one Sunday school, set up in 1786, stated: 'Those parents who ... obstinately refuse to send their children to the Sunday School shall be deemed improper objects to receive any charity that shall in future be distributed to the parish ....'
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