Rosamond Davenport Hill

Rosamond Davenport Hill
Rosamond Davenport Hill, 1888
Born	4 August 1825 Chelsea, London, England, United Kingdom
Died	6 August 1902(1902-08-06) (aged 77) Oxford, England, United Kingdom
Nationality	British
Occupation	Reformer Educational administrator

Rosamond Davenport Hill (4 August 1825 – 6 August 1902) was a British educational administrator and prison reformer.

Rosamond Davenport Hill was born on 4 August 1825 in Chelsea in London. Her parents were Matthew Davenport Hill and Margaret Bucknall. In 1826, the family moved to Chancery Lane then in 1831, they moved to Hampstead Heath. The children were Alfred Hill born in 1821, Florence Davenport Hill who was also born in Chelsea in 1828, Matthew Berkeley Hill and Joanna Margaret Hill who was born in Hampstead in 1836/7.

Rosamond's immediate family were all reforming individuals but her extended family on her father's side included the stamp inventor Rowland Hill, the prison inspector Frederic Hill and Francis Hill.

As a young girl, Davenport Hill was fond of botany, which she studied at a day school. She received a lot of her education at home, which was taught by her mother, who suffered from health problems and relied on Davenport Hill to help maintain the home. Davenport Hill was a very proactive child regarding her own education. As part of her schooling, she and her sister Florence interviewed the Irish writer Maria Edgeworth on 1 March 1840. That year, the family moved to . Upon their move, they became friendly with William Makepeace Thackeray.

In 1841, the family moved to France, followed by Belgium in 1844, and eventually Switzerland and Italy. The family moved back to England, settling in Bristol, in 1851 due to Matthew Davenport Hill becoming a bankruptcy commissioner. Davenport Hill began working for Mary Carpenter. She worked at Carpenter's St. James ragged school and taught the children arithmetic and home economics. She also worked for her father, who had become active in educational and criminal law reform. She visited Ireland in 1856, where she visited prisons with her father. She wrote a book about her experience titled "A Lady's Visit to the Irish Convict Prisons". In 1858, the two went to Spain, France, and Germany to visit prisons. Davenport Hill focused exclusively about prison reform until the mid-1870s. She co-authored a book with her father, in 1860, titled "Our Exemplars, Rich and Poor."