An Imperial Mission? The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children and the International Dissemination of Ideas around Child Protection prior to World War I

Although the origin story of the child protection movement traditionally begins with the founding of the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children in 1874, it was through the United Kingdom, with its imperial links, that the movement first became national and later international. The amalgamation of thirty-two local societies to form the UK National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) in 1889 provided a powerful platform from which to disseminate ideas around child protection and develop frameworks for legislation, establishing models that would be embraced by reformers across the empire. Within ten years of its foundation, the NSPCC was reporting on kindred societies in India, South Africa, New Zealand, and several of the Australian colonies, although none was able to completely replicate the original model. This article traces the transmission of NSPCC ideas throughout the colonies and, identifying the factors that led to success or failure (or, more often, local adaptation), evaluates the NSPCC's imperial child protection mission.