Stato Generale Dall' Amministrazione

This account sheet, printed in Italian, provides a summary of the finances for the Italian Free School in Greville Street, Hatton Garden for its opening year. The school was opened in 1841 by Giuseppe Mazzini to offer a free education to poor Italian children living in Clerkenwell. By this time Clerkenwell was known as 'Little Italy' due to the settlement of many economic Italian migrants in the area.

Mazzini had arrived in London as a political exile fighting for the unification of Italy. As well as founding the school he, together with fellow exiles, became a teacher there. The school campaigned for a law to protect Italian children in London from exploitation by unscrupulous employers. After Mazzini returned to Italy in 1848, the school closed down. A second school in Sardinia Street run by priests also offered free education for local Italian children.