History
It was a Catholic charity established in 1708 to give relief to poor Catholics of good character
It was associated with the Society of Vincent de Paul and St Joseph’s Almshouses
Briefly suspended in the anti-Catholic troubles of 1780, it resumed operation in 1781, and was traditionally supported by the Vicars Apostolic of London, in particular Richard Challoner (J. J. Ratton, Historic Records of the Aged Poor Society: An Abstract, 1915)
It provided pensions to the aged and deserving poor across the whole country, and also built almshouses in west London in the 1850s (J. J. Ratton, Historic Records of the Aged Poor Society: An Abstract, 1915)
A low-key and relatively poor charity for much of its first hundred and fifty years, it became slightly better known with the re-establishment of a Catholic hierarchy in the mid nineteenth century; Cardinals Wiseman and Manning successively became its Patrons (J. J. Ratton, Historic Records of the Aged Poor Society: An Abstract, 1915)
It ceased to operate around 1989
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What was reforming about it?
It was associated with the re-establishment of a Catholic hierarchy in the mid nineteenth century
Where in Bloomsbury?
Its headquarters were at 31 Queen Square (Edward Walford, Old and New London, 1878)
However, its almshouses were in west London, and Bloomsbury is not at all mentioned in J. J. Ratton, Historic Records of the Aged Poor Society: An Abstract (1915)
Website of current institution
It no longer exists, and there is no successor institution
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Books about it
Colin Moretti, ‘The Aged Poor Society and St Joseph’s Almshouses’, Catholic Ancestor, vol. 10, no. 3 (2004)
Archives
There are minutes and reports in London Metropolitan Archives, ref. LMA/4439; details are available online via Access to Archives (opens in new window)
“The earliest records of the Aged Poor Society have, unfortunately, been lost; but it possesses a series of printed and bound ‘Annual Reports,’ extending from the year 1820 onwards” (J. J. Ratton, Historic Records of the Aged Poor Society: An Abstract, 1915)
There is a summary of information about the Society, J. J. Ratton, Historic Records of the Aged Poor Society: An Abstract (1915), also held in London Metropolitan Archives (ref. LMA/4439/02/009), although this is not specifically a guide to sources
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