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Lower-Middle-Class Masculinity and the Young Men’s Christian Association, 1844-1880

This article examines how old and new theological strains within nineteenth century Evangelicalism were adopted by British YMCAs to cater to the distinct wants and needs of their members in the decades immediately after their founding in 1844. YMCAs sought to address their members’ lower middle class educational, fraternal, and overall masculine requirements through the careful adoption of agencies of intellectual development. These programmes intersected with both Evangelical theology and the earthly self-improving aspirations of young commercial men. Although scholarship has devoted most of its attention to the British YMCA’s development of physical recreations in the nineteenth century, gymnasiums and athletic clubs did not become commonplace until the end of the century. Their acceptance within YMCA circles was facilitated by the success of these earlier YMCA programs that continued to provide opportunities for lower middle class masculine maturation until well into the twentieth century.