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Obituary . —Benjamin Hawes , Esq . 31 ,
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VOL . XVII . 2 S
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In his own immediate neighbourhood , his chanty , which often amounted to munificence , could not always escape the detection of gratitude ; but , wherever it was practicable , his benefactions were onnnvmous : he seemed even ingenious
in devising means of ' < doing good by stealth ; " and he literally " blushed to find it fame . " In many instances he even made considerable transfers of stock to meritorious individuals whom he saw struggling wkh adversity ; and who were never informed of the source from which their timely accession of property was
derived . With the same shrinking modesty , he became an anonymous contributor to many public institutions for the alleviation of pain and suffering , the instruction of the ignorant , or the reformation of the depraved . Naturally attached , for 48 years together , to an institution founded by his brother , and congenial with his own . generous sensibility , his liberal annual donation to the Royal Humane Society was nevertheless contributed under the mere designation of " A Life Governor in 1774 . "
But the great object which interested his philanthropic feelings through life was the abolition of the Slave Trade , To promote this measure of enlightened humanity , he in many different ways contributed large sums anonymously . Nay , so indignant was he , on the close of the late war , at the treaties which tolerated
that abominable traffic , that in a letter which he had sketched to Mr . Wilberforce ( whether he ever sent it we know not ) he offered to sacrifice several thousands a-year if that sum could ensure the adoption of means to compel all the European powers to put an end to the all * - _ _ .
^ ^ ^ — ^ ^ ^ ^ -Muve l raue entirely . hven m this princely conception , however , ostentation had no parr ; for he stipulated for the absolute concealment of his name , and only identified himself in the letter as the individual who , between 1780 and 1790 , had inclosed to the then Treasurer in Loml Street , five Exchequer Bills , and "bout 1810 had sent an India Bond di-^ Qied to the Secretary of the African Institution .
Mr . Hawes was habitually an early lls tir , usually quitting his bed , in winter il well as summer , at four o ' clock , or earlier . One of his great delights was to ° L > serve the rising sun . He considered exeicise in the ooen air to be
essentially conducive to health ; and , by a l ll dent arrangement of bin time , even | 'umi engaged in an extensive business , ile genera lly contrived to walk on an ivcrage about twenty miles a-day ; and Ilns practice he continued at Worthing
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till the afternoon which terminated his mortal existence . Though he sedulously avoided company he well knew what was going on in the busy world . His dress was always neat , but so plain that it might be mistaken for that of a , Quaker ; and , in fact
though not one of the Society of Friends , he occasionally attended their meetings His religious faith was that of a Protestant Dissenter . Having diligently made the Holy Scriptures his habitual study , he was from principle and conviction a firm believer in the great and important doctrines inculcated by the inspired writers .
It is needless to say , that this model of true Christian charity acted under the impulse of the strongest religious feeling ; but it was a feeling so destitute of all prejudice , that he embraced in the large circle of his beneficence his fellow-creatures of every religious persuasion , as well as of every species of affliction ; and the records of testamentary bounty afford few parallels to the following list of benefactions , which are to be made to various societies after the death of a near and dear relation , a daughter of his eldest brother , who had constantly contributed to his health and comfort .
3 % per cent . Stock . Royal Humane Society . . . £ 1000 Refuge for the Destitute . . 1000 Foreigners in Distress .... 1000 Philanthropic Society .... 1000 St . Luke ' s Hospital .... 1000 Magdalen Hospital , . 1000 Asylum 1000 Indigent Blind 1000 Society for the Relief of Prisoners for small Debts 1000 Jews' Poor , Mile End . . . 1000 City of London Truss Society . 1000 General Penitentiary .... 1000 London Hibernian Society . . 1000 London Hospital , Whitechapel . 1000 The Missionary Society . . . 1000 British and Foreign Bible Society 1000 Religious Tract Society . . . 1000 Quakers' Poor House .... 1000 Methodist Preachers .... 1000 Presbyterian Ditto 1000 Baptist Ditto 1000 Independent Ditto 1000 Roman Catholic Ditto .... 1000 Quakers' Ditto 1000
Mr . Hawes had no children ; but he had numeiou . s relations , among whom he distributed the bulk of his ample property , with strict attention to their just claims on his notice ; nor is there one of them who has not reason to remember iiim with gratitude .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1822, page 313, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2512/page/57/
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