I began this book by asking myself why I bothered to disinter the record of a broken life. I have come full circle. After years of toil and much tribulation on my part, what answer can I give to my own question? At the end of the day, what did it all add up to? His career cut short by protracted illness, what did this man actually achieve? How is it that out of his commitment to a vision should come the most down-to-earth of practical conclusions? What relevance has the saga of his search for an answer to the problem of poverty to the world of the twenty-first century? Why bother?

D'Aeth's contemporaries would have had no hesitation in replying to the question. To them his achievement in introducing method into the muddle and waste of voluntary effort was a source of astonishment and cause for gratitude. It was indeed an amazing feat and one that should be acclaimed as a major contribution to the new approach to the problem of poverty. In effect, D'Aeth played a leading role in bridging a chaotic period in the history of social welfare, linking the vigorous society of the past era of the philanthropic tradition into the unknown future of a welfare state. In doing so, he showed the great potential of the ways in which voluntary effort and citizenship can be effectively harnessed to the greater good of all.

It is important to bear in mind the circumstances in which D'Aeth and his generation found themselves. Just as we, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, eye the prospect of life in a technological economy with a mixture of bewilderment and fearful anticipation, so they too faced a future that was almost beyond imagination.