Social good

From the introduction to Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce & the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery

"From where we stand today . .  the end of slavery seems inevitable, and it's impossible for us not to take it largely for granted.  But that's the wild miracle of his achievement, . .  . . . [he] can be pictured as standing as a kind of hinge in the middle of history: he pulled the world around a corner, and we can't even look back to see where we've come from.

"He seems to rise up out of nowhere and with the voice of unborn billions, with your voice and mine, shriek to his contemporaries that they are sleepwalking through hell . . ."

An end to the slave trade and the freeing of eight hundred thousand slaves in the British empire, these are the most notable achievements of Wilberforce and the abolitionists.  But here are some societies they also created to help the unfortunate in their own country:

"Asylum for the Support and Encouragement of the Deaf and Dumb Children of the Poor
Society for Bettering the Condition and Increasing the Comforts of the Poor
Institution for the Relief of the Poor of the City of London and Parts Adjacent
Society for the Relief of the Industrious Poor
British National Endeavor for the Orphans of Soldiers and Sailors
Asylum House of Refuge for the Reception of Orphaned Girls (the Settlements of Whose Parents Cannot Be Found)
Institute for the Protection of Young Girls

". . . and finally, the interestingly named Friendly Female Society for the Relief of Poor, Infirm, Aged Widows and Single Women, of Good Character, Who Have Seen Better Days"

They were "do-gooders" who made goodness fashionable, the first society-wide social conscience.