Medal

The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK) was founded at a meeting of five Anglicans in Lincoln's Inn on 8 March 1698. Established to 'counteract the growth of vice and immorality', the Society's purpose was to educate the poor through the publication and distribution of Christian literature. The SPCK was the driving force behind the charity school movement for which it provided a model curriculum and books. Charity schools were designed to give children basic literacy and numeracy skills as well as vocational training. Typically boys would be apprenticed in a trade and girls would enter domestic service upon leaving school.

This medal was awarded to Arthur Mundy in 1908 upon completion of his training at the SPCK's Training College for Lay Workers in Stepney. The College was established in January 1896 in a converted boot factory on Commercial Road. The first intake of students numbered seven. The aim of such institutions was to spread Christianity in urban areas by educating working men at evening classes to become lay readers. The Church hoped this would make up for the shortage of Anglican clergy. Students at the college contributed £15 a year toward the cost of their training with the remaining £35 being paid by the SPCK. The Church paid an annual salary of £75 for a lay reader in London.

Originally from Godalming in Surrey, Arthur Mundy was raised as a Wesleyan. After his training at the college, he went on to attend the Church Army College at Blackheath in 1912. After 1914 he continued to work for the Church Army until he was conscripted for war service in 1916. The Stepney Training College closed in 1924 after its intake of students was depleted by World War I. The medal was donated to the Museum of London by Arthur Mundy's daughter in 2002.