Description:Submitted by Michael Hunkin, Birmingham Archives and Heritage.
This report book was compiled by the Missionary appointed by the Church of the Messiah Sunday Schools and Home Mission. The reports are essentially itineraries of the Missionary's visits of various houses in the neighbourhood of the church. Although the names of the families are not mentioned, they nonetheless provide a powerful account of slum life in central Birmingham during the 1880s and the feelings of those who worked with some of Birmingham's poorest families, some of which were former pupils at the school. He describes families who were starving and destitute, widows bringing up families of children without a steady income and orphaned children who were brought up by neighbours, and the relief many felt when he visited. The Missionary also described various attempts to induce children from poor families back to the church schools, as well as trying to provide assistance to parents who suffered ill-health or unemployment, even providing financial assistance to one or two pauper families emigrating to America.