described an acquaintance attending a ball wearing £400 of lace and £10,000 in diamonds. The Gaskell family moved between the two worlds, allowing Gaskell not only to collect charitable subscriptions from their wide circle and promote longer-lasting changes from within the local bureaucracy, but also to understand the real concerns of those living in poverty, with whom he was probably more at ease. In 1833 he helped to found the non-denominational Manchester Domestic Home Mission, and he acted as its secretary for many years. Inspired by a visit from Boston minister Joseph Tuckerman, the mission gave practical assistance such as food and blankets to the poor. He was also active in the District Provident Society, an organisation founded by James Kay and William Langton with similar pragmatic aims. Gaskell supported public health measures and housing reform, sitting on the committee of the Manchester and Salford Sanitary Association, as well as another committee formed to regulate beer halls in the area. Education and societies Gaskell was a gifted teacher and lecturer, with a lifelong determination to expand the educational opportunities available to the working classes in Manchester. Such opportunities were limited in the 1830s; a Manchester Statistical Society report of 1834 showed that, with the exception of Manchester Grammar School and Chetham's Hospital, the main establishments involved in educating the poor were Sunday Schools. These schools gave children of 5–15 years a few hours of education each Sunday, with two-thirds of children benefitting. Two-thirds of the Sunday Schools worked outside the Church of England. Both the Gaskells taught at the two Mosley Street Sunday Schools, which instructed young mill workers. Lessons covered basic numeracy and literacy in addition to traditional Biblical teaching, and Gaskell defended the practice of giving non-religious instruction on a Sunday, saying that they were doing 'their Father's business' by teaching reading. He and others lobbied successfully in 1832 for the two schools to be moved to improved premises, and some 400 pupils had been enrolled by 1847. In 1836, Gaskell started to give evening classes at the Manchester Mechanics' Institute, which was later to become the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology. Founded in 1824 to teach the poorest mill workers the institute was the first of its kind in the country. Its principal goal was to give mill workers sufficient knowledge so they might keep pace with the rapid technological progress of the time.