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Yesterday was the anniversary of the death of an intriguing figure: publisher & satirist Hugh Shimmin (1820-1879)- friend & scourge of philanthropy in Liverpool in the late C19.
In case you’ve never heard of him (and TBH fair enough), here's some info to pique your interest: 1/
In case you’ve never heard of him (and TBH fair enough), here's some info to pique your interest: 1/
Born on the Isle of Man, he lived most of his life in Liverpool- becoming known as a fearless investigative journalist, social commentator & satirist.
Most notably as a founder & the original editior of "The Porcupine", a satirical Liverpool journal that ran for 55 YEARS! 2/
Most notably as a founder & the original editior of "The Porcupine", a satirical Liverpool journal that ran for 55 YEARS! 2/
The Porcupine spent a lot of time satirising philanthropy & the middle/upper classes of Liverpool.
Margaret Simey talks about it a fair bit in her magisterial history of philanthropy in C19th Liverpoo, outlining its role in the philanthropic landscape as follows: 3/
Margaret Simey talks about it a fair bit in her magisterial history of philanthropy in C19th Liverpoo, outlining its role in the philanthropic landscape as follows: 3/
Shimmin's relationship with philanthropy was complex.
He was not a cynic, but was unforgiving in calling out perceived cant or bad practice & did it in Porcupine in a way that made him a tough critical friend to take. Some might even say he was TOO SPIKY...
Sorry. 4/
He was not a cynic, but was unforgiving in calling out perceived cant or bad practice & did it in Porcupine in a way that made him a tough critical friend to take. Some might even say he was TOO SPIKY...
Sorry. 4/
Attacks like this one - on what Shimmin saw as the shallowness with which many in Liverpool's elite class adopted philanthropy as a status symbol or fashion statement - are amazing in their ferocity.
I'm guessing he didn't get invited to that many dinner parties after this... 5/
I'm guessing he didn't get invited to that many dinner parties after this... 5/
There's also this wonderfully grumpy critique of what he saw as a new fad for social science as a method of philanthropy, and the accompanying proliferation of theorising from all and sundry about the nature of social ills and how to address them: 6/
Shimmin was evidently fearless in his attacks and his pursuit of what he saw as right- he was jailed for libel (as a "first class miscreant") for exposing a ship scuttling scam in Liverpool, but was bailed out following what amounted to a crowd-funding campaign. 7/
He also wrote a running series in which he told a satricial history of Liverpool, facing up totally unblinking to the role that slavery had played in the city's growth and prosperity: 8/
Sadly there isn't a huge amount of info on Shimmin or the Porcupine online.
By far the best source is this (now defunct?) digitisation project: https://victorianpress.wixsite.com/liverpoolporcupine/about-c24vq
(There's also a bit on Shimmin in this biography of Manx worthies: http://isle-of-man.com/manxnotebook/fulltext/worthies/p107b.htm) 9/
By far the best source is this (now defunct?) digitisation project: https://victorianpress.wixsite.com/liverpoolporcupine/about-c24vq
(There's also a bit on Shimmin in this biography of Manx worthies: http://isle-of-man.com/manxnotebook/fulltext/worthies/p107b.htm) 9/
You can find some refs to Shimmin in Hugh Cunningham's history of philanthropy work & there's a book called "Low Life & Moral Improvement in Mid-Victorian England: Liverpool Through the Journalism of Hugh Shimmin" (which I don't own, but am buying!) 10/ https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Low-Life-and-Moral-Improvement-in-Mid-Victorian-the-Shimmin-Walton/70a837fe16ed97cb3fe00e58bdf1db62861d85a5
Lastly, I've had it in my head for a while now to make a virtue of the fact I'm based in Liverpool and head to the Central Library archives to trawl throught the complete archive of The Porcupine they hold
If I get round to it, I'll share any good bits on here... End/
If I get round to it, I'll share any good bits on here... End/
Sources for quotes in this thread:
-Liverpool Porcupine (Revisited) https://victorianpress.wixsite.com/liverpoolporcupine
-Simey (1992) "Charity Rediscovered"
-Davies, J. (2008) "Political Satire: C19th Comic Histories of Liverpool" https://www.hslc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/157-6-Davies.pdf
-Western Mail, 3 May 1870: https://newspapers.library.wales/view/4467325/4467328/41/hugh%20shimmin%20porcupine
-Liverpool Porcupine (Revisited) https://victorianpress.wixsite.com/liverpoolporcupine
-Simey (1992) "Charity Rediscovered"
-Davies, J. (2008) "Political Satire: C19th Comic Histories of Liverpool" https://www.hslc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/157-6-Davies.pdf
-Western Mail, 3 May 1870: https://newspapers.library.wales/view/4467325/4467328/41/hugh%20shimmin%20porcupine
(And yes, I did post this earlier today but the typos were nagging at me so badly that I went back and re-did it).
