Mary Jane Kinnaird
| Mary Kinnaird | |
|---|---|
Lady Kinnaird
|
|
| Born |
Mary Jane Hoare 1816 Northamptonshire |
| Died | 1888 |
| Known for | founding YWCA |
| Spouse(s) | Arthur Kinnaird, 10th Lord Kinnaird |
Mary Kinnaird or Mary Jane Kinnaid, Lady Kinnaird; Mary Jane Hoare (1816 – 1888) was an English philanthropist and co-founder of the Young Women's Christian Association. Kinnaird has at least one school and hospital in India named after her.
Kinnaird was born Mary Jane Hoare in 1816 at Blatherwick Park in Northamptonshire. Her parents William Henry and Louisa Elizabeth died in 1819 and 1816 respectively leaving her an orphan whilst still a child. She lived with her paternal grandfather until he died in 1828 when her elder brother became her legal guardian. Her day to day care was left to aunts and uncles and a governess. She was inspired by reading the evangelist William Romaine's works to bible study, daily prayers and evangelism. In 1837 she became her uncle's de facto secretary. He was the Honourable and Reverend Baptist Wriothesley Noel who was based at St John's Chapel in Bedford Row in London. She established her own projects and formed the St John's Training School for Domestic Servants in 1841. Another pet project was to help fund a Calvin memorial hall in Geneva. She and the Reverend Noel wanted to encourage the spread of European Protestantism and she was visited several times by both the Swiss minister Jean-Henri Merle d'Aubigné and the French minister Frédéric Monod.
Her work was empowered when she married Arthur Fitzgerald Kinnaird who was the tenth Lord Kinnaird of Inchture and the second Baron Kinnaird of Rossie in 1843. They settled in London and every Wednesday they would invite discussion on philanthropic projects. She was shy and did not undertake public speaking but she was the driving force. Her own personal project was to raise money by crowd sourcing a book of prayers. The funds raised were for the Lock Hospital and Asylum which she and her husband supported. On the other hand her husband was strong supporter of women's suffrage, but she felt that this was not in keeping with her idea of a woman's role. She did not speak in public but it is speculated that she wrote her husband's speeches. She worked with Florence Nightingale to train nurses to go to the Crimean War and as part of this work she created the North London Home where women could stay. The home had its own library. This was the same year as she gave birth to the last of her children, Emily.
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