A Great Patriotic Duty: The Royal Victoria Patriotic Fund and the State’s Responsibility to Care for Soldiers’ Children, 1854-1890

Abstract

This article examines the creation of the Royal Victoria Patriotic Fund (RVPF) during the Crimean War to care for widows and orphaned children of soldiers. It further discusses how elite Commissioners used donations from throughout the British Empire to invest in imperial infrastructure projects, creating a fund to build an asylum for orphaned children of soldiers. The aim was to ensure that these children would supply the next generation of soldiers and domestic help, thereby furthering the Empire's expansion. This served as a primary mechanism for public/private charity in an era before the establishment of social welfare following the First World War.