The magazine
Spring 1904 edition
Read every surviving page of the typewritten magazine, with its original character carefully retained.
ExploreThe Whitwar · For the Little Folks
Deeds are the fruit, Words are but the leaves
The Whitwar magazine was created by twelve-year-old Gladys Evelyn Warren and her friends to raise money for the Little Folks Ward at the North-Eastern Hospital for Children in Bethnal Green.
Founded1903
Created byGladys Warren
In aid ofLittle Folks Ward
PlaceBethnal Green
A remarkable survival
The magazine
Stories, travel writing, poems, jokes and competitions fill the fragile pages of the surviving Spring 1904 edition.
The magazine offers an unusual record of children writing, editing and organising for a charitable cause. This archive preserves the original pages alongside readable transcriptions and historical context.
Discover what is inside“Deeds are the fruit, words are but the leaves.”
Motto printed in The Whitwar
Bethnal Green, London
The hospital and the Little Folks Ward
The story reaches beyond one magazine. It connects young fundraisers, nurses, doctors, newspaper appeals and the wider history of the North-Eastern Hospital for Children.
Follow the storyFrom the archive
Paths into the research
People, places and primary sources—carefully connected.
Reading the past carefully
Historical language, modern context
Edwardian charitable writing often portrayed children as objects of pity and moral duty. Contemporary sources are transcribed faithfully for historical accuracy, while editorial notes provide context and do not imply endorsement of those attitudes.
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