In the 19th C charities often focused support on the "deserving poor" – defined as hard-working and frugal. To illustrate how hard it was to pass the tests required, an East End curate completed a form in the name of Jesus. He failed to get any help at all. 1/3

This was in a paper on the financialisation of philanthropy (investing in helping poor people for profit). Also highlighted was the idea that feeding schoolchildren was opposed as their hunger might be the parents fault as they 'might' have the money to feed them themselves. 2/3

Another reminder that the attitudes that Marcus Rashford (and others) are tackling today are nothing new. It is the same old story. The full paper (which is a great read) can be found here. 3/3 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/270590146_Investing_in_charities_in_the_nineteenth_century_The_financialization_of_philanthropy