ABSTRACT
The single largest charity operating between 1914 and 1918 was, not surprisingly, the British Red Cross Society. The first problem is that it is quite difficult to agree on a definition of a wartime charity. By the charitably inclined Wilson was speaking of the upper and middle classes, especially those on fixed incomes, whose spending power decreased as wartime inflation hit them hard. In contrast to Wilson's assertion modern research clearly indicates that poorer people contribute proportionally more of their income to charity. As a final confirmation of at least a steady state of donation one straightforward statistic is the date of formation of charities registered under the War Charities Act. Clearly this does not cover those that had ceased operation by 1916 or did not register and, it might be argued, takes no account of the scale of the organisation; however, it gives some sort of guide.
