Friends Relief Service Collected Records

Friends Relief Service history: The Friends' War Victims' Relief Committee (FWVRC) was established in 1870 by the London Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) for war relief to civilians during the Franco-Prussian War. After the outbreak of war in 1914 the Friends' War Victims Relief Committee was revived to undertake overseas work of relief during World War I and later post-war reconstruction. The Friends' War Victims' Relief Committee was re-formed in 1940. In about 1942, the FWVRC was incorporated with the Friends Ambulance Unit (FAU)'s Civilian Relief Section and briefly renamed Friends' War Relief Service, then renamed again as the Friends Relief Service (FRS) in 1943. It conducted all the Society's official short-term work at home and abroad, handing over long-term responsibilities to the Friends Service Council after the FRS closed in May 1948.