The British Dental Association Benevolent Fund is a charity which exists to support all dentists, dental students and their dependents in times of hardship. For the past 140 years, the Fund has provided financial, educational and personal support to thousands of struggling members of the profession and their families. Its history is tied firmly to the development of dentistry as a profession, with the introduction of registration of dentists and with the creation of the British Dental Association. Those who had the vision for an association of dentists also saw it as an opportunity - perhaps a necessity - for a community of professional people to support each other in times of need. This paper describes the years before the foundation of the Fund in 1883, along with the attendant dental politics and the social environment into which it was born, as well as the very early years of the Fund itself. It is the first of four papers describing the history of the Fund, those who gave their time to manage it and those to whom it gave help.