Toward a Conceptual History of Radical Philanthropy: Spenceanism and the Ragged-Trousered Lovers of Mankind (Imperial Britain, ca. 1790–1820)

Abstract: By focusing mainly on Spencean radicalism and touching upon the trade unionist and revolutionary abolitionist traditions, this article sheds light on the existence of a short-lived current of “philanthropism from below” that emerged in Britain at the turn of the nineteenth century. At a time when the notion of “philanthropy” had yet to permanently acquire its middle class and paternalist overtones and its current meaning as an act of giving by the rich to the poor, some British ultra-radicals voiced a powerful alternative by presenting as “philanthropic” the overhaul of the social order and its proprietary and racial hierarchies.