| Administrative History | The National Vigilance Association was formed in August 1885 'for the enforcement and improvement of the laws for the repression of criminal vice and public immorality'. The Association grew rapidly in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, but became plagued by financial difficulties in the 1920s and 1930s, culminating in financial crisis in 1951, and amalgamation in 1952, with the similarly-focussed British National Committee. The new group was named the British Vigilance Association.
This information was taken from the collection level description of the National Vigilance Association, compiled by the Women's Library, London, who hold the Association's archives. |
| Description | Handwritten notes for address on mental health and the work of the Vigilance Association, [? given to a local branch of the Association], 4 November 1938. Discusses 'feeblemindedness' with reference to 'Mendelian Inheritance', sterilisation and 'nurture' versus 'nature.' States that the 'Vigilance Association very humbly and in a small way tries to improve the environment of those who have been unfortunate.' Also, refers to a Miss Niven, who 'Does not preach but really practices Christianity by doing to others as she would be don by and loving her neighbours as herself.' |