Advisory Boards for Moral Welfare

Administrative records of the various Advisory Boards for Moral Welfare, comprising minutes, reports and publications.

The Advisory Board was established in 1917 as the Archbishops' Advisory Board for Spiritual and Moral Work (AABSMW). The Board centralised the work of diocesan secretaries in moral welfare, increasing the supply of qualified workers and setting standards for their training. The Board's object was to lead the way on questions of moral welfare, specifically those affecting Christian standards of sexual morality. The chief concern was with women and young girls, but in 1922 men were included in the Board's membership. Training programmes were later carried out in association with the Central Council for Women's work.

The AABSMW became the Archbishops' Advisory Board for Preventive and Rescue Work (AABPRW) in 1923, which subsequently became the Church of England Advisory Board for Moral Welfare in 1932; its work remained the same, although the Church of Scotland and the Church of Wales were now represented. Two members of the Church Assembly (the governing body of the C of E, later General Synod) also served.

In 1932-1933, the Church Assembly Lay Workers (Central Organisations) Commission's recommendations resulted in increased membership and financial support from the Central Board of Finance.

According to its entry in the 1922 Church of England Yearbook, the aims of the Advisory Board are stated as intending to be of use in the following ways:

a) By increasing the supply of adequate teachers

b) By setting a standard of training, in all branches of the work

c) By collecting and imparting necessary and up-to-date and legislative information

d) by reporting progress and development of new methods

e) By providing visitors and special speakers when asked to do so

f) by advising in special difficulties and arranging for united action when desirable

g) by arousing interest and initiating work in new centres

In January 1939 the Advisory Board became the Church of England Moral Welfare Council; for whose records see MWC

Open

Appraised on transfer from the records management system to the archives.

For records of the successor body, see MWC.