Henrietta Barnett

Dame Henrietta Octavia Barnett DBE
Samuel and Henrietta Barnett portrait by Hubert von Herkomer in Toynbee Hall
Born	Henrietta Octavia Weston Rowland (1851-05-04)4 May 1851 Clapham, London, England
Died	10 June 1936(1936-06-10) (aged 85) Hampstead, London, England
Nationality	British
Occupation	Humanitarian, educator, author
Spouse(s)	Samuel Barnett

Dame Henrietta Octavia Weston Barnett, DBE (née Rowland; 4 May 1851 – 10 June 1936) was a notable English social reformer, educationist, and author. She and her husband, Samuel Augustus Barnett, founded the first 'University Settlement' at Toynbee Hall (in the East End of London) in 1884. They also worked to establish the model Hampstead Garden Suburb in the early 20th century.

Born in Clapham, London, Henrietta Octavia Weston Rowland lost her mother (Henrietta Monica Margaretta Ditges) at an early age. Her father, Alexander William Rowland, a wealthy businessman associated with the Macassar Oil Company, raised her and seven siblings at their London home and a country house in Kent, where she developed a lifelong appreciation of country pursuits.

At age 16, Henrietta was sent to a boarding school in Devon run by the Haddon sisters, who, influenced by James Hinton, were committed to social altruism. When her father died in 1869, Henrietta moved with two sisters to Bayswater, where she met and helped social activist and housing reformer Octavia Hill. Hill introduced Henrietta to the writings of John Ruskin, as well as many influential people similarly interested in improving the condition of London's poor.

Through Hill, Henrietta met Canon Samuel Barnett, then the curate of St Mary's, Bryanston Square. They married in 1873. The newlyweds soon moved to the impoverished Whitechapel parish of St Jude's, intent on improving social conditions. Henrietta continued her parish visiting activities, with a focus on women and children, including the more than 2000 prostitutes then active in Whitechapel alone. In 1875, Henrietta became a woman guardian for the parish, and the following year was named a school manager for the Poor Law district schools in Forest Gate. Another social initiative which the Barnetts helped set up was the Metropolitan Association for Befriending Young Servants (1876), with Jane Senior; the organisation aimed to prevent girls from becoming prostitutes, criminals or alcoholics, and provided domestic servants. The Barnetts' experiment in sending slum children for country holidays grew into the Children's Fresh Air Mission (Off to the Country), established in 1877, becoming the Children's Country Holidays Fund in 1884. Henrietta Barnett promoted Homes for Workhouse Girls starting in 1880, and founded the London Pupil Teachers Association in 1891. She also served as vice-president of the National Association for the Welfare of the Feeble-Minded (1895) and National Union of Women Workers (1895–96).