Abstract
The British Dental Association Benevolent Fund, founded in 1882, is a charity which exists to support dentists and their dependents in times of hardship. The foundation and early beneficiaries of the Charity have been described previously. This paper summarises the first 30 years of its existence, describing the nature of the work of the committee and its officers, those who were helped and the difficulties in raising sufficient funds from the profession in order to help all of those who applied for support.
Key points
The British Dental Association Benevolent Fund was founded in 1882 and continues to this day to support any member of the profession, dental students or their dependents who are in need.
The Charity continued to grow in its first 30 years. Funds were rarely sufficient to help all of those in need but giving financial support to orphans of dentists who wished to study dentistry was always a priority.
Eventually, the work of the Charity became too burdensome to be run entirely by a voluntary committee and administrative support was bought in.
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Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge with thanks the help and support of Helen Nield (of the BDA Library), Rachel Bairsto (of the BDA Museum) and Laura Hannon (Chief Executive of the Charity), the Vice-Presidents and former staff of the BDA Benevolent Fund in the preparation of this paper.
The information in this paper is derived from the minute books and annual reports of the British Dental Association Benevolent Fund.
A note on currency - money is described in pre-decimalisation pounds, shillings and pence: £5 pounds 10 shillings and sixpence is written £5/10/6; there were 20 shillings to the pound and 12 pence to the shilling; 1 guinea was worth £1/1/0; and £1 in 1914 is equivalent in purchasing power to about £147 today.
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Paul Hellyer researched and drafted the paper. John Ulahannan edited and checked the manuscript. The final version was agreed by both authors.
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Hellyer, P., Ulahannan, J. The history of the British Dental Association Benevolent Fund: the first 30 years - Part 2. Br Dent J 235, 817–821 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41415-023-6453-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41415-023-6453-x
