Records of YMCA work in England and the United Kingdom

The world-wide YMCA movement began in a small room above a shop in London, England. George Williams, a farmer’s son from Somerset, was among the founders and accepted as the main driving force behind the development of the YMCA. From the founding of the YMCA in 1844, YMCA movements believed in the idea of universal Christian brotherhood and the power of their evangelical mission to transcend national boundaries. Outside Britain, the Great Exhibition of 1851 helped forge links with young men’s associations in other countries and in 1855 the first YMCA International Conference was held in Paris. A confederation formed which became the World Alliance of YMCAs. After the expansion of the YMCA into Western Europe, North America and the British Colonies, the missionary movement began and spread the association’s work to Africa, Asia and South America. By 1894, the time of the jubilee of the World Alliance, there were 7,676 YMCAs in forty-five countries with a membership of 707,667. The British and North American YMCA movements shared interests in the development of many national YMCA movements, including but not limited to India, multiple African nations, and eventually China, Russia, and the Caribbean. They assisted each other on many projects and disagreed on many others. Often times the associations chose to clearly define their individual areas of assistance and to stay within these boundaries in order to avoid disagreement.

During the first World War the YMCA came into connection with a much broader section of society. Work with soldiers began in 1890. The YMCA provided activities and support at summer training camps for army volunteers. When war broke out in 1914 the British YMCA immediately put out an appeal to fund emergency war work. The main focus of the British YMCA’s work during the first World War was the YMCA hut, which offered a retreat for soldiers along front lines of French battlefields. These huts supplied food, a place to rest and stationery for letters home. Many national YMCAs, including the North American YMCA, assisted their troops with this sort of work as well, following the progress of the soldiers from their country. Huts, equipment and merchandise were loaned between national YMCAs working within an area in order to assist the troops to the best of their ability. It was understood that the original nation of the troops being assisted would dictate the nationality of the YMCA that was in charge of the service offered. During this period the red triangle was adopted as an easy to recognise emblem of the international YMCA war work movement.

The British YMCA, along with other national YMCAs, including the North American YMCA movement, also worked world-wide with prisoners of war. The work for prisoners of war in Great Britain was first undertaken just after the beginning of the war. The World Alliance of YMCAs coordinated work which included food and medical relief parcels, and religious services for troops of all nationalities and affiliations imprisoned in camps across the world. The primary services within these camps included, social gatherings, sports activities and religious and educational work. The YMCA was very careful not to overlap the work done by various other agencies working for prisoners of war.

In addition to the Y’s original focus on young men, boy’s work expanded after World War I. By 1932 there were 217 Boys Clubs in England, Ireland and Wales. At the same time, YMCA emigration programs sent teenage boys from areas with high unemployment rates to start new lives abroad.These boys were given basic agricultural training before leaving for Canada, Australia and New Zealand. When emigration laws changed, these programs evolved into the British Boys for British Farms scheme, which offered school-leavers agricultural training and a work placement on a farm in Britain. This was the first complete training program run by the YMCA. Financial assistance was issued from the Overseas League, the Fellowship of the British Empire Exhibition, Miners Welfare Committees and the Carnegie Trust. An Indian student hostel, built for the Indian Student Movement in London with a grant from the North American International Committee and the assistance of the Indian National Council, was run by the Indian YMCA in London. This hostel was rebuilt after the 1940s Blitz bombing of London with the financial assistance of the YMCA World Youth Fund with assistance of the North American National Council.

During World War II, the concept of the “tea car” or mobile canteen, a second-hand van fitted with a small kitchen and painted camouflage green, was introduced by the British YMCA. By the end of 1940 there were 500 vans in service with various national YMCAs running them, including the North American YMCA. These vans followed advancing and withdrawing armies, serving tea and selling cigarettes, chocolate, cake, hair cream, toothpaste and stationery. During the Blitz, these mobile canteens aided burning cities, providing food and drink to those made homeless and hungry due to bombings. As the war went on the YMCA developed library vans, entertainment vans, cinema vans and permanent centers for troops. Internationally, the World Alliance of YMCAs expanded its prisoner of war and refugee work. More that 250 secretaries visited camps in 38 countries. In Britain there were large-scale education programs for POWs. One thousand prisoners were trained as primary school teachers, coached to pass university entrance exams or given basic theological training.

After World War II the British YMCA needed to rebuild a great number of their buildings. The World Alliance of YMCAs and the North American International Committee assisted the rebuilding effort in Europe and specifically in the United Kingdom through fundraising activities and grants. Buildings for Brotherhood, the World Youth Fund, YMCA World Service and other developmental services were used to secure financial contributions to these projects.

In the 1970s the North American International committee and the World Alliance of YMCAs assisted rebuilding efforts in Belfast after bombing campaigns that took place within Ireland. The North American International YMCA and the British YMCA remained connected through projects associated with YMCA World Service, Y Care International, the YMCA World Urban Network and through the World Camps Program. These programs sponsored youth and secretary exchanges and world work in the North American, British and other YMCA associations.

Historical information largely adapted and quoted from World Service: A History of the Foreign Work and World Service of the Young Men’s Christian Associations of the United States and Canada, (New York: Association Press, 1957) by Kenneth Scott Latourette, and from the collection.