Superintendent and Secretary THOMAS JACKSON, 279, Whitechapel Road, London, E. Ministerial Assistants REV. J. E. THORP, 279, Whitechapel Road, London, E. 1. REV. J. DOBSON, 37, Harrington Road, W. Ealing, W. 13. Lay Assistant (FOR INSTITUTE AND Home) MR. WM. JACKSON, 279, Whitechapel Road, E. 1. Prison -Gate and Police Court Missionary H. E. KINCHIN, 53. Carey Road, Leytonstone, E. Matron (Homes OF REST) Mrs. TYLER, Marine Parade, Southend-on-Sea. Assistant Matrons Miss BANHAM, MRS. Tomson, and Miss ARTHUR. Sister of the people SISTER ANNIE, 114, Old Ford Road, Bethnal Green, E. 2. Scout Leaders and Gymnasium Instructors A. J. GILL and J. MULHOLLAND. TRUSTEES BOURNE TRUST CORPORATION, LTD. Committee Revs, G. ARMITAGE. J.T. BARKBY, A. BALDWIN, J. K. ELLWOOD, T. JACKSON, COUN. W. E. MORSE, MESSRS. ADAM LEE, S. A. BUTT, J. W. HARTLEY, C. R. MAYNARD, and W. TYLER, J.P. Treasurer C, R, MAYNARD, Esq., The Moorings. Queen Anne's Road. Bush Hill Park, N. Solicitors MESSRS. E. C. RAWLINGS, BUTT, & BOWYER, 2, Walbrook, E.C. 4. Auditor A. E. TURBERVILLE, Esq., Chartered Accountant, 15 Queen Street, E.C. BANKERS BARCLAYS BANK LIMITED, Mile End Branch, 234 and 236, Whitechapel, Road, E. 1.
Whitechapel Mission ANNUAL REPORT, 1920.
A Personal Note. It is with special gratitude and pleasure that I prepare and submit this brief statement of the work of Whitechapel Mission to my kind supporters and subscribers. Having completed my three-score years and ten in age, and my forty-fourth year of ministry in East London, it will not surprise my friends and helpers that the personal note should be very prominent, and will please them to hear that I am happy, healthy, and hopeful upon my commencement of the forty fifth round of ministerial activity.
Thomas Jackson			Mrs. T. Jackson
With a heart full of thankfulness to my Heavenly Father for His great goodness and many mercies to my wife and self, and a depth and extent of appreciation I cannot adequately express, for all the support and encouragement my friends have rendered me, " I press forward," well knowing that he who keeps his face towards the sun never sees his shadow. On the 12th of October, 1876, I entered upon my task of opening a new mission, at the request of the General Missionary Committee, and had an empty Chapel and no funds to welcome me, and a temporary home in the notorious Sidney Street, a house opposite to one where subsequently the Whitechapel assassins perished, to cheer me. The conditions there were the very opposite to those I would have chosen for my comfort and sphere of labour, but they had the effect of challenging the best that was in me and deepening my sense of need for God's help and blessing. To-day " I remember all the way the Lord my God bath led me these forty years, - to humble me and to prove me " (Deut. viii 2), and praise Him for any useful service I may have been favoured to contribute to my Church and to the poor of the East End. Perplexing Conditions. The East End of London is a far more difficult area for evangelistic effort today than ever before. The problem of dealing with the alarming. increase in the alien population and the dwellers in the terrible slums is an acute one, and if our watchword is not that of the Apostle, " As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men," then it is hopeless to expect ordinary statistics for Church schedules and the suburban type of Church members and contributors, however much money and labour we expend. But to seek and save the lost while it may weary, sadden, and often impoverish the worker for Christ, is not, and will never be, in vain. The oratory of prominent men upon religious platforms may serve the purpose of Church " window dressing," but silence respecting the scores of places of worship that have been closed, the abandoning of large areas embracing slums and poor populations, and to the demoralising activities of the drink traffic, crime, and the agitator, will not produce results at all comforting or complimentary to the Christian Church. If popular preachers, and those who crave for the lime-light, would exchange the West End for the East End, and select the slums for their residence and sphere of labour instead of the suburbs, there would soon be heard from them a loud. Macedonian cry, "Come over and help us." Golf Clubs would be substituted for Soup Kitchens, and Freemasons would be purveyors of Cast-off Clothing. Spiritual Refreshment. In the work of our Mission we seek to keep in mind continually the Master's assurance, " Lo, I am with you always," and to expect " times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord." In our Public Services, Sunday School, Christian Endeavour Societies, Fellowship Classes, Women's Meetings, Band of Hope, Open-air Meetings, the spiritual is supreme and soul-culture is the all-important question. Not a few during the past year have been won for Christ and a better life. This is the best reward we could have, and our workers are thereby kept from " being weary in well doing." The effects of the war are still felt severely by us in lost members and workers, though we are slowly, but surely, filling up gaps and making the best of adverse circumstances. The best of all, " God is with us," and the daily task and common round, in consequence, never become irksome and unwelcome.

Hungry Little Ones. A good dinner for a penny is the testimony of thousands of slum children who have visited Brunswick Hall during the winter months. The total number of meals supplied during the past winter was upwards of thirteen thousand, making the record for the past three seasons, 83,000 dinners. Children with scanty clothing to protect them from inclement weather, often shoeless, and in not a few instances hungry to ravenousness, have trooped into our School Room five days per week and been the recipients of Primitive Methodist philanthropy. No sectarian condition has been a barrier to their admission; nationality has been no obstacle to their receiving a welcome. The one essential qualification has been privation and need, and to all who have this there has been an open door. The only exception has occasionally been when our supply has not been equal to the demand, and then we have had with regret to send some little ones "empty away." The increased cost of providing these meals is taxing our funds seriously, but we feel we can rely upon the sympathy and generosity of our friends to supply the needful to meet the demands made upon us. He who feeds the sparrows and hears the young ravens when they cry will not fail us.

A Guest made Happy.

Christmas Cheer. The festivities of Christmas, 1919, were quite equal to those of years past. The strain and suspense of war days had passed, and both Mission workers and guests had a busy but happy time. Some hundreds of articles of clothing distributed made adults and the children to feel warmer and present a better appearance. The generous gift of nearly one ton of vegetables from our Purton friends and Christian Endeavourers helped to improve many dinners on Christmas Day. Alderman J. D. Kiley, M.P., made one thousand young hearts joyful by a splendid gift of toys. Old-age pensioners and widows had cheering gifts of coal and grocery. The Mothers' Meetings had their teas and treats, the homeless men their Christmas dinner; and Father Christmas on three days visited Brunswick Hall and bestowed gifts and created applause as he smiled upon nearly one thousand waifs and poor bairns from the slums. The Mission staff had no respect for the restriction to an eight hours day for toil, and were pleased to be weary in, but not of, well doing. The writer was made glad by the letters and subscriptions friends generously sent, and a happier Christmas we never spent in helping and heightening the lives and homes of the poor in slumland. Shortly after Christmas a further treat was provided for nearly four hundred waifs and cripples by the proceeds of an entertainment provided by Mrs. Snook and friends at Cadnam, in the Romsey Circuit. To all our kind helpers we owe many thanks.	Some of our Christmas Guests.
Befriending the Fallen. It is a relief to us to report fewer homeless men as having needed our aid. The weekly meetings and free suppers have been continued during the year, but the ~number attending has been smaller than in years past. Still we have kept, and shall keep, the light burning on the shore, so that social and moral shipwrecked voyagers may be guided and ,helped to safety. One who through the kindness and help we rendered him by giving him free shelter and food when he was homeless and destitute was led to give his heart to God and become a total abstainer. He is now in a good situation; ,is a Primitive Methodist local preacher; has a converted wife, and a happy home; both husband and wife praise God for ,what Whitechapel Mission has done for them.
"'Tis ne'er too late, while life shall last, A new life to begin ; 'Tis ne'er too late to leave the past, And break with self and sin."
No Boxing. At the Annual Meeting of the Institute and Home held in May last, and presided over by Sheriff Sir Charles Eves, in the unavoidable absence of the Lord Mayor, the Lady Mayoress, when presenting prizes to the lads, asked me if we had no boxing at the Institute. 1 replied, "we have no boxing." Then 1 am sorry to hear that, said her Ladyship. When proposing a vote of thanks to the Sheriff and Lady Mayoress, Mr. Johnson, who is a member of the L.C.C., a justice of the Peace, and an old friend of the Institute, remarked, " 1 have known the Superintendent many years and that was the first time he had known him have a knock-out blow." This trivial item was good copy for nearly all the London newspapers to report and the ,Sporting Life" found it a choice tit-bit to have in its columns. However, the knock-out blow has not added boxing to the Whitechapel Institute and Home and will not so long as Thomas Jackson is responsible for its management. Sir Stuart Samuel, Bart., when moving the adoption of the Report at the Annual Meeting said, " he was a very old admirer of the work which Mr. Jackson was doing. He regarded that Institute as a Palace of Hope in its sympathising work among lads." This is a far more welcome testimony than any boxing competitions could produce.
Some of the Lads Rescued during 1920.
Police Court Work. We present our friends with the Probation Officer's Report submitted to the Institute Committee in October last. " A brief statement of our Police Court Prison Gate and Rescue work for the past six months is here presented. The visitation of the courts has been maintained, on an average two courts each day; sometimes as many as four or five call for our presence. We have received into the Home 92 boys, chiefly homeless, friendless lads, charged with wandering, and sad indeed is the story many of them have to tell. Fifteen adult cases have been dealt with under our Prison Gate Dept. Many probation cases have been visited at their homes or place of employment, and by special request of magistrates enquiries have been instituted, medical advice and assistance obtained, surgical appliances and spectacles secured , and assistance given to obtain employment, for which we have again and again received the public thanks of the magistrates and court missionaries. Of the 92 lads referred to: 23 had lost both parents; 17 had lost mother ; 16 had lost father ; 7 others state they have no knowledge of the whereabouts of their parents ; and in 5 other cases, parents were living apart. The condition many of these lads were in when brought to the Home is indescribable and must have taxed the strength, courage, and resource of my colleague, Mr. Wm. Jackson , to the uttermost limit, as also the problem of clothes and boots. Five cases were in such a condition we were compelled to send on to the Infirmary for medical treatment. The finding of employment for this number of men and boys has not been an easy task. But here again God has graciously helped us; doors have opened in unexpected places, so that we have seldom had more than 3 or 4 Out of employment at one time. In Yorkshire we have been able to place lads in coal mines; in Lancashire a fine opening has been found in an immense manufactory ; and at Cardiff opportunities have been afforded for those desirous of a sea-faring life. We are thankful to 'be thus able to place lads in situations having a future for them rather than blind alley occupations. We append a list Of occupations in which these lads are engaged : Glass Making 14, Mining 6, Sea-faring 8, Army 9, Restaurants 14, Warehouses; 11, General and Builders' Labourers 7, Printing 3, Lift-attendants 4, Boot Trade 2, Painters' Labourer 2, Carmen 2. Others have found employment as shop boys and messengers; these we seek to place in improved positions as opportunity serves. The health of the lads has been good, and the discipline of the Home well maintained, thanks to the unremitting devotion of Mr. W. Jackson, who is ever striving to promote the comfort and happiness of the lads and to give what many before have never had a home that is a reality. But these increased activities mean increased expenditure. To equip and send a lad to Lancashire, Yorkshire, or Cardiff, means £5 extra expenditure. My own travelling expenses is a considerable item. We are grateful that some courts (especially Old Street) are recognising this and the worth of the work and are making a grant toward the cost of each lad so dealt with, an example we wish would be followed by others. Surely to take these boys off the streets, away from the haunts of vice and crime, to provide them with a good home, steady work with a prospect for the future, is better than providing for their maintenance in prisons and reformatories. The fruit and hop picking season is over. Hundreds of lads are returning to the London streets ; winter is approaching; work is difficult to obtain; with what result? A visit to any police court will show. We are hoping to be able to place a dozen or fifteen lads per month away from the old surroundings, if funds permit. just a note or two from letters received. From Lancashire "All the lads you brought us are doing well. They are also attending the services in the P.M. Chapel. I am prepared to recommend our Directors to apprentice each one of them. "Yorks" The lads you brought us are doing well. We shall recommend you to other miners seeking boys." From the Boys-" I am getting on fine and thank you for your kindness to me; I never had a friend in the world till I met Mr. Jackson." H.J. writes,-" I am very happy. I like my home, my work, and the country. We live like fighting cocks here." A.J. says,-" I am sorry for all the trouble I caused you. 1 will never, never do like it again. I have a good home. I am fond of the work. I get plenty to eat ; have good clothes ; and Mr. W. is a good sport. I never want to come back to London but intend to stick to this." The following list will show how far reaching is our work. Of the lads referred to in this report, the following places have been recorded as their homes. London and Suburbs (all quarters), Arundel, Birmingham, Bristol, Brighouse, Basingstoke, Cardiff, Coventry, Devon, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Hereford, Ipswich, Ilford, Luton, Lowestoft, Nottingham, Newport (Mon.), Scunthorpe, Yarmouth: Australia (Melbourne), Capetown (S.A.), Canada, and Malta." Yours in the joy of service, - H. E. KINCHIN,	An Old Boy Mounted.
An Old Boy with his Wife and Children.

A Lad's recent Testimony. "Sir, I have never known what a real home was till I came here. I had given no thought to religion. Now, thanks to what I have seen here and heard from Revs. Jackson and Thorp, I intend to give myself to God, and will try day by day to love and serve Him."	Three Portuguese Stowaways cared for and restored to their Homes.
The Work of the Home was never more prosperous than now, and its influence for good upon lads in peril of becoming criminals was never before so effective and extensive. A regrettable feature is the inadequate support we receive for this special branch of our work. As fifty per cent. of the lads we have to care for are orphans, the G. M.C. is to approach the Orphanage Committee, with a view to assistance being given from the Orphanage Funds. A Stipendiary Magistrate's Appreciation. W. Clarke Hall, Esq., J.P., writes, - "Dear Mr. Jackson, I desire to take this opportunity of thanking you for the great and most valuable help you have given me at this Court (Old Street). I have greatly appreciated Mr. Kinchin's services in this matter. I find you have taken nineteen of my boys during the past year, the majority of whom have done well." Many other justices give a similar testimony.
A New Vocation. We regard it as not in any way inconsistent with our position as a Minister to help in giving unfed or underfed poor a good meal when we have an opportunity of doing so. When, therefore, the Fish Distribution Officer, at Grimsby, wrote asking if I would arrange for the sale of fish to the poor of Whitechapel at a price that would cover the cost of carriage to London, I promptly accepted the offer. in as many days, three tons of fish were delivered at Brunswick Hall. We soon had stalls fixed up in the street, and the needful appliances to be-in business, with large notices displayed, informing the poor that good fish could be obtained at three-halfpence per pound. The writer weighed the fish, willing workers wrapped it in paper and handed it to purchasers, a cashier took the money, the police assisted in forming a queue, and many onlookers were surprised to see the Minister disposing of fish where they had been accustomed to hear him preaching the Gospel. The crowd attracted the snap-shot photographer, the newspapers accepted his photos as good copy, and this incident in our daily round of duty went on its way round the world by means of the illustrated papers. The Evening News described me as "Parson as Fishmonger ": the Daily Sketch as the "Parson Fishmonger " ; the Daily Graphic as , Fish at three-halfpence a pound " ; Daily Mirror as " Parson Fishmonger " ; the Christian Herald as " A Minister as Fishmonger." All the work of the Whitechapel Mission for the past year was unnoticed by these and other periodicals, but the simple act of selling fish to the poor of our slums was of such importance that the world had to be made acquainted with it. To us, the reward was not the cheap notoriety given us, but the gratitude of hundreds of hungry people, who blessed us for helping them to have a good meal. We felt honoured by having the interest and sympathy of known and unknown Grimsby and Cleethorpes Primitive Methodist fish salesmen, and to them our sincere thanks were tendered.
A Parson Fishmonger.
Holiday and Convalescent Homes. The work of the Sea-side Homes has had to contend with high prices, rationing, and the difficulty of getting suitable domestic servants, but, thanks to our Matron and her assistants, all obstacles have been overcome and the year's record is a very cheering one. One thousand, two hundred and thirty adults have been entertained at the two Homes, and these have represented many Churches and Circuits in various parts of the country, as well as London. Free board and residence have been given to sixty-two needy and deserving adults for periods varying from one to four weeks, and severity-four adults have been admitted at greatly reduced charges, as circumstances necessitated. One of a number of Superannuated Ministers, who has been accommodated in the new Home, No. 2, after he had inspected the Home, expressed his astonishment that no notice of such splendid freehold and debtless premises should have appeared in our Connexional Magazines. The letters expressing gratitude, appreciation, and admiration for the work of the Homes would fill a large volume. We were never more grateful than to have been the means of securing these Homes to the Connexion. We thank the many friends who have subscribed to the funds for the great and increasing beneficial services being rendered by them.	A Free Visitor to Home. 40 years a Primitive Methodist.
Group of our Scholars from Brady Street Slum Area.
A Lingering Slum. The sentence of demolition was pronounced upon the Brady Street area, opposite Brunswick Hall, more than ten years ago. Social reformers, politicians, municipal representatives, and royalty have pronounced the slums in that area as terrible! terrible! but they remain to this day and are worse than ever. Thousands of adults and children, by force of circumstances, are compelled to live, or rather exist, there, and all the evil and vicious consequences arising from such surroundings poison the moral atmosphere and corrupt the social life of the inhabitants. In this area the majority of our people, adults and children, reside, and here our principal labours are expended. In a great variety of ways we seek to insert the leaven of the gospel into the personal and domestic life of these slums. It is not a comfortable or pleasant experience that our workers frequently have, but you cannot "rescue the perishing and care for the dying " except by getting into close contact with them, and this we do for the Master's sake and the benefit of those for whom He died. My Helpers. I am favoured above many by having a loyal and devoted staff of helpers. In July last, the G.M.C. and Conference appointed the Rev. J. E. Thorp, who for five years had done excellent work on the South Wales Mission, as my colleague, with the intention of ultimately becoming my successor. He and his family have been heartily welcomed by our people, and are now settled in the Institute Rooms I formerly occupied. The Rev. James Dobson continues to render cheerful and acceptable assistance in the evangelistic work. Sister Annie adds to her various other duties the principal care of the women's meetings, and is much appreciated by us all. Mr. Williarn jackson and Mr. H. E. Kinchin act as foster parents to the lads, and by their devoted labours relieve me of much care in respect of them. The Matron of the Holiday Homes and three assistants do their work so heartily and efficiently that my duties are made light and my anxiety almost nil. Conductor Gill, Instructor Mulholland, and Miss Smallwood, who have charge of the Boy Scouts and Girl Guides, are most attentive to their duties and render gratuitous service. The Poor Man's Lawyer continues weekly to give gratuitous advice, without fee or remuneration, to upwards of two thousand poor clients annually. I deeply appreciate the co-operation and these, and all my helpers, render me in the difficult, varied, and responsible activities of our Mission, and feel honoured by having them.
Rev. J. E. Thorp.
Appeal to all my Friends. At a recent meeting of the Whitechapel Board of Guardians, of which I have been a member for many years past, the tenders for the next six months provisions, etc., were considered. In extenuation of the high prices for all requisites, one of the Guardians remarked, " you cannot have anything in these days at pre-war rates," to which another Guardian replied, "yes you can." He was asked to name it, and answered, " our Church collection remains at pre-war rates." I have no need to tell my subscribers that the high and increased prices of all things that we need for maintaining our agencies and carrying on our work mean that we must have a corresponding increase in our income, otherwise it will be inevitable for us to curtail our expenditure or incur debt. The latter we are resolved not to do, and the former we shall be grieved to do. It, therefore, only remains for me once more to appeal to my many kind friends to increase, wherever they can, if but a little, their generous help and so relieve me of a pressing anxiety. I do not ask my supporters to assist without doing all I can myself, and this will be apparent when I reluctantly state that Mrs. Jackson and I have practised the severest economy in our domestic life in order to be able to give back, as we have in recent years, fifty per cent. of my salary to the work of Whitechapel Mission. For obvious reasons we cannot continue doing this much longer, and, therefore, I must appeal to my friends. In your kindly thought this Christmas of 1920 please remember the needs of Whitechapel Mission.
"There are lonely hearts to cherish, While the days are going by; There are weary souls who perish, While the days are going by; If a smile we can renew, As our journeys we pursue. Oh, the good we all may do, While the days are going by." THOMAS JACKSON.
279, Whitechapel Road, London, E. 1. December 1st, 1920.