Voluntary transnational humanitarian aid dates back to the Napoleonic Wars, when affiliates of the British and Foreign Bible Society and some other British subjects, frequently of immigrant background, organized a relief campaign to the benefit of certain allied nations, in particular in Germany and Sweden. The paper accounts for the little known origins of transnational relief and asks for the driving forces of donors, examines the impact of their help, and problematizes the interaction of providers and recipients of aid. The focus will be  on how morality, politics, and economy were interwoven with one another. The paper also discusses the lessons that can be drawn from this early example of humanitarian aid, and which lasting structural problems were evident already two-hundred years ago.