She took a job and encouraged her daughters to do likewise. Her mother took charge of the family, moving them to London. He fell into a deep depression and abandoned his wife and children. Her family lived in a comfortable 18th-century townhouse, but all that changed when her father declared bankruptcy after his investments failed. They opened a school for poor young lads and lasses and encouraged its use as a “Hall for the People” in the evenings, with lectures, dances and meetings of the Mental Improvement Society. Thomas Southwood Smith was one of the leading public health reformers of early Victorian Britain and dedicated his life to campaigning for better housing conditions and for the urban working classes.īoth of her parents were also social reformers and followers of Robert Owen, a founder of Utopian Socialism. She was the third daughter of merchant James Hill and his third wife, Caroline Southwood Smith. Her belief in the importance of access to nature for human well being and the need to stop the destruction of the natural landscape remain relevant today. She worked to improve urban housing and to protect green spaces. One of the three founders of the England National Trust, Hill was a pioneer social reformer. She established the idea of personal case work and the importance of maintaining good housing. In the early part of her career she used her skills as a manager of working-class housing to create healthier communities and trained other women to do the same. Octavia Hill was one of Victorian Britain’s most important social reformers. Conventional notions of the era dictated that middle-class women emphasize female sexual innocence and asexuality. Their love could be expressed in very erotic terms, but not necessarily described as being sexual. This enabled many of them to remain unmarried and form their closest emotional ties with other women. We all want beauty… we all need space.“įrom the mid-19th century, more and more educated women sought paid work as writers or in the professions of teaching, philanthropic social work, and nursing. Octavia Hill by John Singer Sargent, The National Portrait Gallery
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