The Christmas Letter Mission was an English charity established in the 19th century, which aimed to send a Christmas card to every hospital patient in England.[1] The card was accompanied by a letter.[2][3] The charity had its origins in a programme set up by Miss E. E. Steele Elliott in 1871[4] and overseen by a church in Brighton, which aimed to send Christmas cards to all patients in the county of Sussex.[1] The charity's aims later expanded again to include prisoners and those in workhouses,[1] police officers, railway workers, post office employees and others.[5] The cards were distributed on Christmas Eve by local volunteers organised by a county secretary.[5]
References edit
- ^ a b c Flanders, Judith (2007). Consuming Passions: Leisure and Pleasure in Victorian Britain. London: Harper Perennial. pp. 486–487. ISBN 9780007172962.
- ^ "Ashby-de-la-Zouch". Leicester Chronicle and the Leicestershire Mercury. 5 January 1884.
- ^ "Christmas Books". The Graphic. 6 December 1884.
- ^ "Obituary for 1897". The Times. 1 January 1898.
- ^ a b "Christmas Letter Mission". The Derby Mercury. 23 December 1885.
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