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During
the course of the day we covered Josephine
Butler, Marie Curie, Isabella Beeton, Beatrice Webb and Lady
Louisa de Rothschild and her daughters, especially Lady
Battersea.
Each talk dealt with the most important facets of their
lives and looked at their domestic and emotional lives. Of
particular interest was what motivated these Victorian
women: those whose lives were spent in philanthropic work
had strong religious beliefs and had been introduced to
charitable causes by their parents. Mrs Beeton’s husband
had encouraged her to write; Beatrice Webb came from a
freethinking family and Marie Curie was determined to
succeed in her research, supported by her husband until his
untimely death. Apart
from Marie Curie, none of them had had a real education, but
they were all extremely literate and contributed a great
deal to the improvement of life for both men and women.
We examined the links between the English women and
NCW.
Mrs Creighton,
our founder, knew Josephine Butler; Beatrice Webb was
originally on the Management
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Committee and her argument with NCW can be
found in “The First One Hundred Years” (our centenary book)
whilst Lady Battersea was a President.
Josephine
Butler was perhaps the bravest, in that she worked on
behalf of prostitutes to alleviate the rigours of the law at
a time ‘respectable ladies’ were only prepared to talk
about the moral implications of prostitution. She, as well
as Lady Battersea,
was concerned with the trafficking of women and children.
Both women travelled through
Europe
seeking information and ways
in which to institute reform.
Marie Curie, well known for the discovery of radium, is
an early example of a woman breaking into a male dominated
profession whilst at the same time ‘juggling’ home life,
children and work.
Isabella
Beeton, who died tragically very young, wrote the first
modern cookery book and initiated the format for recipes
used today.
Beatrice Webb, from a very young age, researched the
condition of the poor, even working for a short period in a
sweat shop to gain first hand experience and brought her
concern about employment issues to NCW.
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