Lord Mayor's Charities Fund October Appeal Committee (known as the Hospital and Charities Sunday Committee, 1874-c.2002)

Full description

The Hospital and Charities Sunday Committee was colloquially known as the Hospital Sunday Committee.

The first meeting of the Hospital Sunday Committee was held 5 March 1874. It is understood that the original constitution was dated 4 November 1874. The honorary secretary was John Williams (who was also the honorary secretary of Melbourne Hospital). The Lord Mayor of Melbourne, John McIlwraith, was invited to the inaugural meeting (by letter).

The committee met at the Melbourne Town Hall. The committee was formed to raise funds for hospitals and charities in and around Melbourne. Collections were made at churches, synagogues, etc., on a particular Sunday in September each year. The funds were later distributed to hospitals such as the Sick Children's, the Melbourne, the Women's, the Eye and Ear, and other institutions such as the Immigrants Home and the Benevolent Asylum.

The Hospital Sunday Committee in Melbourne was similar to philanthropic bodies in operation in some English cities in the nineteenth century.

The Hospital Sunday Committee also gathered money through Hospital Saturday appeals. These funds were collected by employers from their employees on pay day and forwarded to the committee.

The Hospital Sunday Committee was separate from The Lord Mayor's Fund Committee even though the Lord Mayor's Fund also supported worthy causes and was based at the Melbourne Town Hall. There was an administrative change in the 1990s when the finances of the Hospital Sunday Committee were managed by The Lord Mayor's Fund Committee (but the committees were still separate).

In (circa) 2002, the Hospital Sunday Committee began to operate as the Lord Mayor's Charities Fund October Appeal Committee. Money raised will be used to assist needy families.

Further research is required into the administrative history of this agency.