Lord Ashley told his friend, Edwin Hodder, why he had spent much of his life involved in social reform.

A drawing of Lambeth Ragged School in 1846

"(6) Lord Ashley told his friend, Edwin Hodder, why he had spent much of his life involved in social reform.

My religious views are not very popular but they are the views that have sustained and comforted me all though my life. I think a man's religion, if it is worth anything, should enter into every sphere of life, and rule his conduct in every relation. I have always been - and, please God, always shall be, an Evangelical."

Source:

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/IRashley.htm   

It is worth noting that it was much harder - or infinetely much harder - at the time (first half of 19. Century England) to work for social reform than it is for a highly paid member of the danish Parlament to work for "social reforms" by redistributing the people's money through the the tax system.  

Lord Ashley, Earl of Shaftesbury