This lantern slide, “London Street Patrol of the Hospitality League,” shows a group Y.M.C.A. war workers, members of the London Street Patrol, standing on a sidewalk at night and talking. During World War I, the Australian Y.M.C.A pooled their resources with the United States, Canada, England, and New Zealand to form the International Hospitality League, which provided social services to all Allied troops. In a 1920 publication about the American Y.M.C.A.’s work during World War I, the Hospitality League was described as combating “the avarice of certain elements of a people, among whom foreign troops are quartered, and the conspiracies, plots, schemes that are deeply laid by criminal classes in every country to rob the soldier of his money and his honor.” The Street Patrol, only one aspect of the organization’s varied work, sent out “wise and friendly young women” in pairs to meet soldiers and sailors, and to “rid the public thoroughfares of vicious characters and designing women who were preying on the soldiers in a strange land.” They brought the soldiers to hotels, put them in touch with English families for home visits, and arranged sightseeing tours. From January 1918 to April 1921, 826,338 men were dealt with by Y.M.C.A. street patrols; 1,195,496 were welcome in the social rooms; 55,008 provided with free hospitality and entertainment in private homes; thousands of men were taken from the streets and assisted to their quarters; 301,548 were kept from the temptations of the streets by free entertainments in theatres and other places of amusement; 170,637 were piloted round historic London by honorary guides, while no fewer than 2,197,840 inquiries were actually registered at the inquiry bureau. This slide is part of Springfield College’s collection of lantern slides depicting Australian Y.M.C.A. war work during World War I.
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Publisher:
Springfield College
Notes:
Serious foxing partially obscures image; Text on border reads, "Australian Y.M.C.A. Historical Record Section; Y.M.C.A. Women Patrol."
Part of the Australian Y.M.C.A. WWI Lantern Slide Series
