The Times (London).
18 February 1909

THE PROVIDENCE (ROW) REFUGE. - The Lord Mayor presided on Tuesday at the 11th annual founders' day of the Providence (Row) Night Refuge and Home, Crispin-street, Spitalfields.He was accompanied by Sheriff Baddeley, and among those present were the Archbishop of Westminster, Lord Edmund Talbot, M.P., Lady Mary Howard, and Sir John Knill. The Lord Mayor said that the refuge would celebrate next year its jubilee under a Chief Magistrate whom those living in that quarter of the City would be able to claim as "our Lord Mayor." In 1860 the refuge was started by Mgr. Gilbert. It then afforded accommodation for 14 destitute persons ; 35 years later, when its founder died, the refuge provided accommodation for 300 inmates. Although the refuge was associated with the Roman Catholic Church, its work was carried on without the observance of religious distinctions. About 60,000 lodgings, breakfasts, and teas were provided in the course of 12 months, and the accumulated work of the past 49 years showed a total of nearly 2,000,000 lodgings, teas, and breakfasts supplied. The refuge put the deserving but unfortunate on their feet again by supplying them with clothes, tools, food, and railway fares. He appealed for funds to enable those responsible to extend their charitable operations.