Adelaide Hoodless
| Adelaide Hoodless | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born | February 27, 1857 St George, Canada West |
| Died | February 26, 1910 (aged 52) Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Occupation | education reformer,administrator |
Adelaide Hoodless born as Addie Hunter (February 27 , 1857 – February 26, 1910) was a Canadian educational reformer who founded the international women’s organization known as the Women's Institute. She was the second president of the Hamilton, Ontario Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA), holding the position from 1890-1902. She maintained important ties to the business community of Hamilton and achieved great political and public attention through her work.
She was born on a farm in St George, Canada West (now Ontario), the youngest of 12 children. Her father died a few months after her birth on October 13, 1857. Her mother, Jane Hamilton Hunter, was left to manage the farm and a large household. Perhaps the hard work and isolation of her youth inspired Adelaide to take up the cause of domestic reform years later.
After her years in a one-room schoolhouse, she stayed with her sister Lizzie while attending 'Ladies College' in Brantford, Ontario. While there, she met John Hoodless who was also the close friend of her sister Lizzie's future husband, Seth Charlton. John Hoodless was the only surviving son of a successful Hamilton furniture manufacturer (Joseph Hoodless). Adelaide married John Hoodless on September 14, 1881 and moved to Hamilton, Ontario.
When they married, she exchanged the name ‘Addie’ for ‘Adelaide’. She also exchanged her life as a hard-working girl in a full and busy rural farmhouse for the life of a Victorian socialite. Adelaide and John had four children: Edna, Muriel, Bernard (Bernie) and John Harold.
Then personal tragedy struck: on August 10, 1889 her infant son John Harold died at the age of 14 months – from what has been attributed to as “summer complaint” but his death register states his cause of death as meningitis following an illness of 10 days duration. However, John Harold's death occurred at a time in history when dairy practices were questionable at best—pasteurization was only an emerging science and milk was often tainted from a variety of potential sources beginning on the farm through to the home delivery of uncovered and unrefrigerated containers of milk. John Harold was only 14 months and was probably weaning. Indeed, if he had ingested tainted milk during his illness (and with a debilitated immune system) any contaminated milk could have greatly increased his suffering. To further complicate the matter, there were numerous recipes for "invalid" food preparations that often included milk as an ingredient.
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