Waugh's efforts upon a national non-sectarian basis, with a constitution approved by Manning, the Bishop of Bedford, and the chief rabbi. It was incorporated by royal charter in 1895 as the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. Up to this date Waugh received no remuneration save a small salary for editing the society's organ, the ‘Child's Guardian,’ but from 1895 till 1905 he acted as paid director. His organising capacity, courage, and energy triumphed over obstacles. He was an admirable platform advocate, and his enthusiasm was tempered by candour and fairness. On legislation affecting children Waugh exerted much influence, chiefly with the aid of Samuel Smith, M.P. [q. v. Suppl. II]. He supported the agitation of William Thomas Stead in 1885, and caused to be inserted in the Criminal Law Amendment Act of that year a provision enabling young children's evidence to be taken in courts of law although they were too young to be sworn. To his effort was almost entirely due the important Act of 1889 for the prevention of cruelty to and better protection of children, which allowed a child to be taken from parents who grossly abused their power and to be entrusted to other relatives or friends or to an institution, whilst the parents were obliged to contribute to its maintenance. The Act recognised a civil right on the part of children to be fed, clothed, and properly treated. In accordance with Waugh's views, more stringent Acts followed in 1894, in 1904, and 1908, and all greatly improved the legal position of uncared-for and misused children.
Waugh's society worked in co-operation with the police by a system of local aid committees directed from the headquarters. Offending parents received warning before prosecution. Waugh was careful not to interfere unnecessarily with parental authority. Until 1891 his operations were hampered by want of funds, but subsequently the finances of the society prospered. In 1897 its administration was attacked in the press, but Waugh was amply vindicated by a commission of inquiry, consisting of Lord Herschell, Mr. Francis Buxton, and Mr. Victor Williamson. His disinterestedness was proved, and thenceforth the society's progress was unimpeded. Waugh resigned the active direction of the society in 1905, owing to failing health. He died at Westcliff-on-sea on 11 March 1908, and was buried in the Southend borough cemetery. He married in 1865 Lilian, daughter of Samuel Boothroyd of Southport. She survived him with three sons and five daughters. His widow was granted a civil service pension of 70l. in 1909.
Besides the work mentioned, Waugh published: 1. ‘The Children's Sunday Hour,’ 1884; new edit. 1887. 2. ‘W. T. Stead: a Life for the People,’ 1885. 3. ‘Hymns for Children,’ 1892. 4. ‘The Child of Nazareth,’ 1906. He was a leading member of a well-known literary dining club, the Eclectic, which met monthly in the Cathedral Hotel, St. Paul's Churchyard.
A memorial of Waugh with medallion portrait is affixed to the wall of the offices of the N.S.P.C.C. in Leicester Square.
[The Life of Benjamin Waugh, by Rosa Waugh and Ernest Betham, 1912; information from Mr. E. Betham. See also Review of Reviews, Nov. 1891 (with portrait); The Times, 13, 14, 17 March 1908; Who's Who, 1908; Brit. Mus. Cat.; Encycl. Brit., 10th ed.; Sunday Mag., vol. 34, pp. 661–5, art. ‘The Champion of the Child,’ by Hinchcliffe Higgins (with portrait); Benjamin Waugh: an Appreciation, by Robert J. Parr (Waugh's successor as director to the R.S.P.C.C.), 1909 (portrait), who has kindly revised this article.]
WAUGH, JAMES (1831–1905), trainer of racehorses, born at Jedburgh on 13 Dec. 1831, was son of Richard Waugh, a farmer there. Brought up on his father's farm, he became in 1851 private trainer of steeplechasers at Cessford Moor to a banker named Grainger. He frequently rode the horses in races. In 1855 he went to Jedburgh to train for Sir David Baird and Sir J. Boswell, and four years later succeeded Matthew Dawson in the training establishment at Gullane. Thence he soon removed to Ilsley, in Berkshire, where he became private trainer to Mr. Robinson, an Australian, for whom he won the Royal Hunt Cup at Ascot with Gratitude. In 1866, on Robinson's retirement from the turf, Waugh succeeded Matthew Dawson at Russley, on the Berks-Wilts border, where he was a successful private trainer for James Merry. He saddled Marksman, who ran second to Hermit in the Derby of 1867; Belladrum, second to Pretender in the Two Thousand Guineas in 1869; and Macgregor, who, in 1870, won the Two Thousand Guineas.
At the close of the season of 1870 Waugh left Russley for Kentford, Newmarket, whence he soon migrated to Naclo, on the Polish frontier, to train for Count Henckel. After two years at Naclo he spent seven years at Carlburg, in Hungary, where he
