Eglantyne Jebb

Eglantyne Jebb, (25 August 1876 – 17 December 1928) was a British social reformer and founder of the Save the Children organization.

She was born in 1876 in Ellesmere, Shropshire, and grew up on her family's estate. The Jebbs were a well-off family and had a strong social conscience and commitment to public service. Her mother, Eglantyne Louisa Jebb, had founded the Home Arts and Industries Association, to promote Arts and Crafts among young people in rural areas; her sister Louisa would help found the Women's Land Army in World War I. Another sister, Dorothy Frances Jebb, who married the Labour MP Charles Roden Buxton, campaigned against the demonisation of the German people after the war. She also served a a faculty member at Wellesley College in 1929, teaching courses in English literature.

She was known as the 'White Flame' because the flame of her dedicated love for children in distress burned to a white heat of passion all her life.

Having studied history at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, Jebb trained to become a school teacher, but a year's experience as a Primary School teacher, at St. Peter's Junior School in Marlborough, convinced her that this was not her vocation, though it increased her awareness of the difficulties and widespread nature of poverty faced by young children.

She moved to Cambridge to look after her sick mother. There she became involved in the Charity Organisation Society, which aimed to bring a modern scientific approach to charity work. This led her to carry out an extensive research project into conditions in the city, and in 1906 she published a book, Cambridge, a Study in Social Questions based on her research.

The Cambridge Independent Press, a weekly liberal-supporting newspaper published a number of articles covering Eglantyne's campaigning and political activities in Cambridge in the run up to the First World War. She was appointed to the Education Committee of Cambridge Borough Council in 1907, although in her first year only attended 13 of a possible 31 meetings. She was also on the committee of the newly formed League for Physical Education and Improvement, but resigned citing pressures from other workloads.

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