[ Hesba Stretton; NSPCC ] Autograph Letter Signed Hesba Stretton to an unnamed lady about the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, organising its foundation on 11 July 1884.

One page, 12mo, neat hand, laid down on slightly larger paper, good condition. The ladies of the Children's Safety Committee gave me permission last Thursday to send to each member of the society ten invitation cards for the meeting of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, in the hope that they would kindly give them to such of their friends as take a real interest in the welfare of Children. May I suggest that you will either write your name on each card or enclose your own card, to secure the invitation from being passed over unheeded. Note: In 1884, Smith {Hesba Stretton] was one of the co-founders (with Benjamin Waugh, Baroness Burdett-Coutts, Lord Shaftesbury and others) of the London Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, which combined with similar societies in other cities such as Manchester to form the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children some five years later.