Free Breakfast Workers' collecting box, 19th century.
Many thousands of Glaswegians lived in slums and dire poverty during the 1800s. Charities and church groups tried to provide assistance, particularly to the "deserving" poor (broadly, those who were sober, God-fearing and willing to work) in the form of food, medicine, clothing and emergency accommodation. The Free Breakfast Workers collected money to provide breakfasts for people too poor to buy food for themselves.
Reference: PP.1983.115
Reproduced with the permission of Glasgow City Council, Glasgow Museums
Keywords:
charities, collecting boxes, food and drink, Free Breakfast Workers, poverty