85-466: Octavia Hill (3 December 1838 – 13 August 1912) was an English social reformer , whose main concern was the welfare of the inhabitants of cities, especially London, in the second half of the nineteenth century. Born into a family of radical thinkers and reformers with a strong commitment to alleviating poverty, she herself grew up in straitened circumstances owing to the financial failure of her father's businesses. Home educated by her mother, she worked from
170-483: A beating in all my life." Parliament and many concerned reformers had been attempting to improve the housing of the working classes since the early 1830s. When Hill began her work, the model dwelling movement had been in existence for twenty years, royal and select committees had sat to examine the problems of urban well-being, and the first of many tranches of legislation aimed at improving working class housing had been passed. From Hill's point of view these had all failed
255-408: A bit of desolate ground occupied by dilapidated cowsheds and manure heaps. The needful repairs and cleaning were carried out, the waste land was turned into a playground where Mr. Ruskin had some trees planted." After being improved the properties were let to those on intermittent and low incomes. A return of five per cent on capital was obtained as promised to Ruskin; any excess over the five per cent
340-545: A bout of mental instability, she found a new supporter, the Ecclesiastical Commissioners , who handed over to her the management of their housing estates in several poor areas of south London. By the end of the nineteenth century, Hill's women workers were no longer unpaid volunteers but trained professionals. Hill's influence spread beyond the properties under her own control. Her ideas were taken up and copied, with her enthusiastic support, in continental Europe and
425-535: A campaign for universal suffrage. This movement sought to redraw the parliamentary districts within Great Britain and create a salary system for elected officials so that workers could afford to represent their constituents without a burden on their families. Many consider Mary Wollstonecraft 's Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792) to be the source of the reformers' long-running campaign for feminist inclusion and
510-495: A community hall, and soundly maintained attractive houses, Hill here anticipated the fundamental ingredients of town planning by some 15 years. The Settlement movement (creating integrated mixed communities of rich and poor) grew directly out of Hill's work. Her colleagues Samuel and Henrietta Barnett, founded Toynbee Hall , the first university-sponsored settlement, which together with the Women's University Settlement (later called
595-574: A day in. The preservation of Wimbledon and Epping shows that the need is increasingly recognised. But a visit to Wimbledon, Epping, or Windsor means for the workman not only the cost of the journey but the loss of a whole day's wages; we want, besides, places where the long summer evenings or the Saturday afternoon may be enjoyed without effort or expense. She campaigned hard against building on existing suburban woodlands, and helped to save Hampstead Heath and Parliament Hill Fields from development. She
680-424: A few houses, purified and improved, a few new and better ones built, a certain amount of thoughtful and loving management, a few open spaces..." But, she said, more important would be "the quick eye to see, the true soul to measure, the large hope to grasp the mighty issues of the new and better days to come – greater ideals, greater hope, and patience to realize both." The Horace Street Trust, founded by Hill, became
765-526: A great network of railways, partly to develop the natural resources of the country, and partly to increase its power for defense and attack. Military reforms included universal conscription, introduced for all social classes on 1 January 1874. A new judicial administration (1864), based on the French model, introduced security of tenure. A new penal code and a greatly simplified system of civil and criminal procedure also came into operation. Reorganisation of
850-541: A model for many subsequent housing associations and developed into the present trust that bears her name, Octavia Housing. Today it owns several of the homes, including Gable Cottages, designed by Elijah Hoole , who worked with Hill for many years. Hill's determination to provide community space can still be seen in the shape of the Red Cross site in Southwark (1888), among others. The Octavia Hill Society website states that with
935-603: A necessity. They are better than paid workers, and can be had in sufficient numbers." Later, she found it expedient to maintain a paid workforce. Her system required a large staff. Rent was collected on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday mornings. Rent accounts were balanced in the afternoons and arrangements were made with contractors for repairs. On Thursdays and Fridays arrears were pursued, contractors' invoices paid, new tenancy lettings and tenants' moves organised. If any of Hill's assistants had spare time, whether during normal working hours or in frequent voluntary after-hours working, it
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#17328588014041020-672: A profession during the twentieth century. COS is still in operation today as the charity Family Action . In 1907, Parliament passed the first National Trust Act, enshrining the trust's permanent purpose and giving it powers to protect property for the benefit of the nation. The trust now looks after a wide range of coast, countryside and historic buildings. According to the trust's website, "Staff, volunteers and tenants are engaged daily in providing access to open spaces for people's enjoyment, providing habitats for wildlife and in improving our environment – 'for ever, for everyone'." A single grave marker for Miranda Hill, Octavia Hill and Harriot Yorke
1105-404: A return on investment. An American admirer described her as "ruling over a little kingdom of three thousand loving subjects with an iron scepter twined with roses." Although Hill drove her associates hard, she drove herself harder. In 1877, she collapsed and had to take a break of several months from her work. Darley ascribes a number of contributory causes: "chronic overwork, a lack of delegation,
1190-748: A tradition of training for housing managers, and the Octavia Hill Birthplace House established by the Octavia Hill Society at her birthplace in Wisbech . Octavia Hill was key in pushing for the creation of what is now known as the Army Cadet Force, after seeing the success it was having in schools who ran what is now known as the Combined Cadet Force. Originally aiming to teach young boys respect and discipline and to take them off of
1275-488: A trust that could buy and preserve places of natural beauty and historic interest for the nation. On 16 November 1893, Hill, Hunter and Rawnsley met in the offices of the Commons Preservation Society and agreed to launch such a trust. Hill suggested that it should be called "The Commons and Gardens Trust", but the three agreed to adopt Hunter's suggested title, the "National Trust". Under its full formal title,
1360-456: Is wrong. The sentence was rendered by professional judges. A host of new reforms followed in diverse areas. The tsar appointed Dmitry Milyutin to carry out significant reforms in the Russian armed forces. Further important changes were made concerning industry and commerce, and the new freedom thus afforded produced a large number of limited liability companies . Plans were formed for building
1445-789: The First Constitutional Era in 1876. The Tanzimat reform era was characterized by various attempts to modernize the Ottoman Empire , to secure its territorial integrity against nationalist movements and aggressive powers. The reforms encouraged Ottomanism among the diverse ethnic groups of the Empire, attempting to stem the tide of nationalist movements within the Ottoman Empire . The reforms attempted to integrate non-Muslims and non-Turks more thoroughly into Ottoman society by enhancing their civil liberties and granting them equality throughout
1530-619: The London Hospital in the East End inspired Octavia Hill's concern for the poorest in early Victorian London. She received no formal schooling: her mother educated the family at home. The family settled in a small cottage in Finchley , now a north London suburb, but then a village. Octavia Hill was impressed and moved by Henry Mayhew 's London Labour and the London Poor , a book that portrayed
1615-523: The Speenhamland system of poor relief as operated by various Poor Law Boards. Because these systems did not encourage recipients to work, she regarded them as "a profligate use of public funds." Under her methods, personal responsibility was encouraged. She insisted on dealing with arrears promptly; she appointed reliable caretakers; she took up on references of prospective tenants, and visited them in their homes; she paid careful attention to allocations and
1700-584: The middle and working classes . The energy of reform emerged from the religious fervour of the evangelical element in the established Church of England, and Evangelical workers in the Nonconformist churches, especially the Methodists. Reformers also used the scientific methodology of Jeremy Bentham and the utilitarians to design specific reforms, and especially to provide for government inspection to guarantee their successful operation. The greatest success of
1785-738: The Blackfriars Settlement) continues to serve local communities. Overseas, Hill's name is perpetuated in the Octavia Hill Association in Philadelphia , a small property company founded in 1896 to provide affordable housing to low and middle-income city residents. Women who had trained under Hill formed the Association of Women Housing Workers in 1916. This later changed its name to the Society of Housing Managers in 1948. After merging with
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#17328588014041870-572: The British Parliament the Representation of the People Act 1918 granting the vote to women over the age of 30 who were householders, the wives of householders, occupiers of the property with an annual rent of £5, and graduates of British universities. There was also Warner's suffrage movement. Earl Grey , Lord Melbourne and Robert Peel were leaders of Parliament during the earlier years of
1955-636: The British reform movement. Grey and Melbourne were of the Whig party, and their governments saw parliamentary reform , the abolition of slavery throughout the British Empire, and Poor Law reform . Peel was a Conservative , whose Ministry took an important step in the direction of tariff reform with the abolition of the Corn Laws . William Ewart Gladstone was a reformer. Among the reforms he helped Parliament pass
2040-422: The Empire's population of 74 million. They belonged to the state, to monasteries and to 104,000 rich gentry landowners. ` The emancipation reform of 1861 that freed the 23 million serfs was the single most important event in 19th-century Russia and the beginning of the end for the landed aristocracy's monopoly of power. Emancipation brought a supply of free labour to the cities, stimulating industry, and allowed
2125-426: The Empire. Peasants often opposed the reforms because they upset traditional relationships. The Russian Empire in the 19th century was characterized by very conservative and reactionary policies issued by the autocratic tsars. The great exception came during the reign of Alexander II (1855–1881), especially the 1860s. By far the greatest and most unexpected was the abolition of serfdom, which affected 23 million of
2210-506: The Institute of Housing Managers in 1965, the society became the present day Chartered Institute of Housing in 1994. The CIH is a professional body for those working in the housing profession in the UK and overseas. The training that Hill gave to Charity Organisation Society volunteers contributed to the development of modern social work, and COS continued to be instrumental in developing social work as
2295-520: The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty was inaugurated the following year. The trust was concerned primarily with protecting open spaces and endangered buildings of historic interest; its first property was Dinas Oleu, Merioneth , its first built property was Alfriston Clergy House and its first nature reserve was Wicken Fen . The number of homes managed by Hill continued to grow. Although Ruskin had turned against her in
2380-643: The National Trust, a new variety of rose, "Octavia Hill", was named in her honour. A zonal pelargonium 'Octavia Hill' bred in Germany by plant-breeding company Elster PAC Jungpflanzen was launched at the Birthplace House in June 2009. Octavia is remembered in the Church of England with a commemoration on 13 August. A housing development in the 1990s by Winchester Housing Group, now part of A2Dominion housing association,
2465-605: The Reformers was the Reform Act 1832 . It gave the rising urban middle classes more political power, while sharply reducing the power of the low-population districts controlled by rich families. Despite determined resistance from the House of Lords to the Bill, this Act gave more parliamentary power to the liberals, while reducing the political force of the working class, leaving them detached from
2550-546: The United States of America. Beatrice Webb said that she "first became aware of the meaning of the poverty of the poor," while staying with her sister, who was a rent collector for Octavia Hill in the East End. Queen Victoria 's daughter, Princess Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt , was taken incognito on a tour of some of Hill's properties, and she translated Hill's Homes of the London Poor into German . Among those whom Hill trained
2635-426: The age of 14 for the welfare of working people. Hill was a moving force behind the development of social housing, and her early friendship with John Ruskin enabled her to put her theories into practice with the aid of his initial investment. She believed in self-reliance, and made it a key part of her housing system that she and her assistants knew their tenants personally and encouraged them to better themselves. She
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2720-413: The age of 73. When John Singer Sargent 's portrait of her was presented by her fellow-workers in 1898, Hill made a speech in which she said, "When I am gone, I hope my friends will not try to carry out any special system, or to follow blindly in the track which I have trodden. New circumstances require various efforts, and it is the spirit, not the dead form, that should be perpetuated. We shall leave them
2805-614: The age of make-believe". She invited a serving officer of the Derbyshire Regiment to set up the company, and such was its popularity that its numbers had to be capped at 160 cadets. It would be wrong to assume that Octavia's principle of housing management was guided simply on the question of the payment of rent. Despite being up to date with his rent, a tenant was surprised to receive Notice to Quit, because he would not send his children to school and had overcrowded his rooms. Octavia's response to his complaint that he didn't owe any rent
2890-572: The author of the Married Women's Property Acts of 1870 and 1882. In 1889, Pankhurst founded the unsuccessful Women's Franchise League , and in October 1903 she founded the better-known Women's Social and Political Union (later dubbed 'suffragettes' by the Daily Mail ), an organization famous for its militancy. Led by Pankhurst and her daughters, Christabel and Sylvia, the campaign culminated in 1918, when
2975-608: The daily lives of slum dwellers. She was also strongly influenced by the theologian, Anglican priest and social reformer F. D. Maurice , who was a family friend. She began her work on behalf of London's poor by helping to make toys for Ragged school children, and serving as secretary of the women's classes at the Working Men's College in Bloomsbury in central London. A co-operative guild providing employment for "distressed gentlewomen" accepted Hill for training in glass-painting when she
3060-604: The death of her close friend Jane Senior, the failure of a brief engagement", as well as an attack on her by John Ruskin. The Hill family found a companion for her, Harriot Yorke (1843–1930). Yorke took on a great amount of the everyday work that had contributed to Hill's collapse. She remained her companion until Hill's death. A further palliative was the building of a cottage, at Crockham Hill near Sevenoaks in Kent, where they could take breaks from their work in London. Among Hill's concerns
3145-498: The destruction of communities. At the heart of the Octavia Hill system was the weekly visit to collect rent. From the outset, Hill conceived this as a job for women only. She and her assistants (who included Emma Cons and Eva McLaren ) combined the weekly rent collection with checking every detail of the premises and getting to know the tenants personally, acting as early social workers. At first Hill believed, "Voluntary workers are
3230-524: The dramatic removal of severe limitations on Catholics in Britain. The Radical movement campaigned for electoral reform , against child labour , for a reform of the Poor Laws , free trade , educational reform , prison reform , and public sanitation . Originally this movement sought to replace the exclusive political power of the aristocracy with a more democratic system empowering urban areas and
3315-492: The drastic restrictions on Poor Law relief were a source of acute distress. The London Working Men's Association , under the guidance of Francis Place , found itself in the midst of a great unrest. In the northern textile districts the Chartists, led by Feargus O'Connor , a follower of Daniel O'Connell , denounced the inadequate Poor Laws. This was basically a hunger revolt, springing from unemployment and despair. In Birmingham,
3400-471: The early part of the twentieth century. She was against female suffrage on the grounds that "men and women help one another because they are different, have different gifts and different spheres." She also believed that provision of social services and old-age pensions by the government did more harm than good, sapping people's self-reliance. Hill died from cancer on 13 August 1912 at her home in Marylebone , at
3485-441: The emergence of Mexico, as a nation state , from colonialism . It envisioned a modern civil society and capitalist economy . All citizens were equal before the law , and Mexico's 1829 abolition of slavery was reaffirmed. The Liberal program, documented in the 1857 Constitution of Mexico , was based on: The Tanzimat, meaning reorganization of the Ottoman Empire , was a period of reformation that began in 1839 and ended with
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3570-571: The enjoyment of the British public. She was a founder member of the Charity Organisation Society (now the charity Family Action ) which organised charitable grants and pioneered a home-visiting service that formed the basis for modern social work. She was a member of the Royal Commission on the Poor Laws in 1905. Hill's legacy includes the large holdings of the modern National Trust, several housing projects still run on her lines,
3655-592: The fells overlooking Buttermere , in the English Lake District , with damaging effect on the unspoilt scenery. The campaign was led by Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley , who secured the support of Ruskin, Hill, and Sir Robert Hunter , solicitor to the Commons Preservation Society . From 1875 onwards, Hunter had been Hill's legal adviser on the protection of open spaces in London. Both he and Rawnsley, building on an idea put forward by Ruskin, conceived of
3740-677: The government of the Great National Assembly, of which he was president, Mustafa Kemal fought the Forces of the Entente and the Sultan's army which had remained there in collaboration with the occupying forces. Finally, on 9 September 1922 he succeeded in driving the Allied Forces back to Izmir, along with the other forces which had managed to penetrate the heartland of Anatolia. By this action he saved
3825-446: The guild. Her views on encouraging self-reliance led to her association with the Charity Organisation Society (COS), described by Hill's biographer Gillian Darley as "a contentious body which deplored dependence fostered by kindly but unrigorous philanthropy … support to the poor had to be carefully targeted and efficiently supervised. Later in life, however, she began to think the COS line …
3910-472: The introduction of public hearings , the jury trial , and a professional advocate that had never existed in Russia. However, there were also problems, as certain obsolete institutions were not covered by the reform. Also, the reform was hindered by extrajudicial punishment , introduced on a widespread scale during the reigns of his successors – Alexander III and Nicholas II . One of the most important results of
3995-440: The judiciary occurred to include trial in open court, with judges appointed for life, a jury system and the creation of justices of the peace to deal with minor offences at local level. Legal historian Sir Henry Maine credited Alexander II with the first great attempt since the time of Grotius to codify and humanise the usages of war. Alexander's bureaucracy instituted an elaborate scheme of local self-government ( zemstvo ) for
4080-748: The main body of middle class support on which they had relied. Having achieved the Reform Act of 1832, the Radical alliance was broken until the Liberal-Labour alliance of the Edwardian period. The Chartist movement in nineteenth-century Britain sought universal suffrage . A historian of the Chartist movement observed that "The Chartist movement was essentially an economic movement with a purely political programme." A period of bad trade and high food prices set in, and
4165-466: The message that the idea and the ideals of outdated imperialism ought be dropped so that people within the national boundaries could make decisions in accordance with the principles and general guidelines of an effective national policy. After the occupation of Istanbul by the Forces of the Entente he laid the foundations for the new Turkish State when in 1920 he united the Great National Assembly in Ankara. With
4250-405: The middle class to increase in number and influence. The freed peasants did not receive any free land. They had to pay a special tax for what amounted to their lifetime to the government, which in turn paid the landlords a generous price for the land that they had lost. All the property turned over to the peasants was owned collectively by the mir , the village community, which divided the land among
4335-406: The most successful and consistent of all his reforms. A completely new court system and order of legal proceedings were established. The main results were the introduction of a unified judicial system instead of a cumbersome set of estates of the realm courts, and fundamental changes in criminal trials. The latter included the establishment of the principle of equality of the parties involved ,
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#17328588014044420-442: The number of properties under their management. A.S. Wohl notes that in the 1880s Hill had about £70,000 worth of property under her management, and at the end of her career she was managing the dwellings of "perhaps three or four thousand people at the most." The London County Council, by contrast, had a budget of £1,500,000 for its programme of rehousing London's poor in 1901–02. Hill was opposed to other reforms that came about in
4505-416: The older Birmingham Political Union sprang to life under the leadership of Thomas Attwood . The Chartist movement demanded basic economic reforms, higher wages and better conditions of work, and a repeal of the obnoxious Poor Law Act. The idea of universal male suffrage, an initial goal of the Chartist movement, was to include all males as voters regardless of their social standing. This later evolved into
4590-516: The origin of the Women's Suffrage movement. Harriet Taylor was a significant influence on John Stuart Mill 's work and ideas, reinforcing Mill's advocacy of women's rights . Her essay, "Enfranchisement of Women," appeared in the Westminster Review in 1851 in response to a speech by Lucy Stone given at the first National Women's Rights Convention in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1850, and it
4675-465: The peasants and supervised the various holdings. Although serfdom was abolished, since its abolition was achieved on terms unfavourable to the peasants, revolutionary tensions were not abated, despite Alexander II's intentions. Revolutionaries believed that the newly freed serfs were merely being sold into wage slavery in the onset of the industrial revolution, and that the bourgeoisie had effectively replaced landowners. The judicial reforms were among
4760-513: The placing of tenants, with regard to size of families and the size and location of the accommodation to be offered; and she made no rules that could not be properly enforced. In 1884, the Ecclesiastical Commissioners recognised her enlightened approach and turned to her to manage and reform 48 of their slum properties in South London, which were notorious for poverty and petty crime. Hill turned these estates into model properties, which still paid
4845-424: The poorest members of the working class, the unskilled labourers. She found that their landlords routinely ignored their obligations towards their tenants, and that the tenants were too ignorant and oppressed to better themselves. She tried to find new homes for her charges, but there was a severe shortage of available property, and Hill decided that her only solution was to become a landlord herself. John Ruskin, who
4930-506: The priests returned home. Others stayed to minister to their native parishioners, who remain members of the Russian Orthodox Church into the 21st century. Atatürk's Reforms were a series of significant political, legal, cultural, social and economic changes that were implemented under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in the 1920s and 1930s in the new Republic of Turkey In the years between 1919 and 1923 Mustafa Kemal
5015-461: The provision of housing, Hill had to cope with the newly created London County Council and the involvement of the council and other local authorities in providing housing for the poor. In 1884 a Royal commission on the housing of the working classes was set up, but the prime minister, W.E. Gladstone , and his ministerial colleagues vetoed a proposal to include Hill among the members of the commission. The municipal authorities quickly surpassed her in
5100-414: The reform was wide introduction of jury trials . The jury trial included three professional judges and twelve jurors. A juror had to possess real estate of a certain value. Unlike in modern jury trials, jurors not only could decide whether the defendant was guilty or not guilty but also could decide that the defendant was guilty but not to be punished, as Alexander II believed that justice without morality
5185-604: The rural districts (1864) and the large towns (1870), with elective assemblies possessing a restricted right of taxation, and a new rural and municipal police under the direction of the Minister of the Interior . The Alaska colony was losing money, and would be impossible to defend and wartime against Britain, so in 1867 Russia sold Alaska to the United States for $ 7.2 million (equivalent to roughly $ 200 million in current dollars). The Russian administrators, soldiers, settlers, and some of
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#17328588014045270-472: The seat, and two Octavia Hill Trails in Kent. The Octavia Hill Society was set up in 1992 "to promote awareness of the ideas and ideals of Octavia Hill, her family, fellow workers and their relevance in today's society nationally and internationally". Under the society's auspices her birthplace at Wisbech has been turned into the Octavia Hill Birthplace House . In 1995, to mark the centenary of
5355-424: The self-sustaining village economy, as a mode of social change . Reactionary movements , which can arise against any of these, attempt to put things back the way they were before any successes the new reform movement(s) enjoyed, or to prevent any such successes. After two decades of intensely conservative rule, the logjam broke in the late 1820s with the repeal of obsolete restrictions on Nonconformists, followed by
5440-503: The slogan "Bring Beauty Home to the Poor" it aimed to bring art, books, music and open spaces into the lives of the urban poor. For a short period it flourished and expanded, and although it declined after a few years, it was a template for the National Trust , 20 years later. Before that, however, Hill was engaged in a campaign in 1883 to stop the construction of railways from the quarries in
5525-566: The streets and out of trouble. Octavia Hill was born in Bank House (now named the Octavia Hill Birthplace House), South Brink, Wisbech , Isle of Ely, Cambridgeshire, the daughter of James Hill, a corn merchant, former banker and follower of Robert Owen , and his third wife, Caroline Southwood Smith . James Hill had been widowed twice, and had six surviving children (five daughters and a son) from his two previous marriages; Octavia
5610-464: The undertaking would succeed". Ruskin placed these houses, which were "in a dreadful state of dirt and neglect", under Hill's management. He told her that investors might be attracted to such schemes if a five per cent annual return could be secured. In 1866 Ruskin acquired the freehold of five more houses for Hill to manage in Freshwater Place , Marylebone. The Times recorded, "The houses faced
5695-533: Was 13. When the work of the guild was expanded to provide work in toy-making for Ragged school children, she was invited, at the age of 14, to take charge of the workroom. The following year she began working in her spare time from the guild as a copyist for John Ruskin in Dulwich Art Gallery and the National Gallery . She was deeply aware of the dreadful living conditions of the children in her charge at
5780-508: Was a system of public education in the Elementary Education Act 1870 . In 1872, he saw the institution of a secret ballot to prevent voter coercion, trickery and bribery. By 1885, Gladstone had readjusted the parliamentary district lines by making each district equal in population, preventing one MP from having greater influence than another. The Mexican Liberal Party, led by Benito Juárez and Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada , guided
5865-620: Was at the forefront of the Turkish War of Independence and involved with the eradication of the antiquated institutions of the Osmanic Empire and in laying the foundations of the new Turkish State. He approached the National Congresses of Erzurum and Sivas to organise and lift the morale of the people in its determined opposition to the Forces of the Entente who were occupying Anatolia. By the end of these conventions he had managed to convey
5950-531: Was based on closely managing not only the buildings but the tenants; she insisted, "you cannot deal with the people and their houses separately" and she strongly believed that good quality, well-managed homes make for happier, healthier lives. She maintained close personal contact with all her tenants, and was strongly opposed to impersonal bureaucratic organisations and to governmental intervention in housing. In her view, "municipal socialism and subsidized housing" led to indiscriminate demolition, re-housing schemes, and
6035-473: Was declared bankrupt. Caroline Hill's father gave the family financial support, and took on some of Hill's paternal role. Southwood Smith was a health and welfare reformer concerned with a range of social issues including child labour in mines and the housing of the urban poor. Caroline Hill held similar views on social reform, and her interest in progressive education, influenced by Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi , and Southwood Smith's daily experience in his work at
6120-601: Was her assistant and secretary, Maud Jeffery, who was later engaged by the Commissioners of Crown Lands to run new housing estates in London on Octavia Hill's lines. Even some local authorities, despite Hill's distrust, followed her model: some of the earliest examples of municipal council housing, at Kensington and Camberwell , were run on her lines, with the acquisition of working-class houses, and their gradual improvement, without evictions or demolitions. Despite her opposition to interference by national or local government in
6205-413: Was her father's eighth daughter and tenth child. He had been impressed by the writings on education of his future wife, the daughter of Dr Thomas Southwood Smith , a pioneer of sanitary reform. He engaged Caroline as a governess to his children in 1832, and they were married in 1835. The family's comfortably prosperous life was disrupted by James Hill's financial problems and his mental collapse. In 1840, he
6290-566: Was interested in the co-operative guild, knew Hill from her work as his copyist and was impressed by her. As an aesthete and a humanitarian he was affronted by the brutal ugliness of the slums. In 1865, having inherited a substantial sum of money from his father, he acquired for £750 the leases of three cottages of six rooms each in Paradise Place, Marylebone . The obituary for Octavia Hill, published by The Times 15 August 1912 quoted that Hill herself confessed "not many men would have trusted that
6375-581: Was large and mobile, but not improved by laughter. Indeed, Miss Octavia was nicest when she was made passionate by her earnestness." Barnett also spoke of Hill's streak of ruthlessness. Gertrude Bell called Hill despotic. Later in Hill's life, the Bishop of London, Frederick Temple , encountered her at a meeting of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, and wrote, "She spoke for half an hour … I never had such
6460-605: Was named "Octavia Hill". Reform movement Reformism is a type of social movement that aims to bring a social or also a political system closer to the community's ideal. A reform movement is distinguished from more radical social movements such as revolutionary movements which reject those old ideals, in that the ideas are often grounded in liberalism , although they may be rooted in socialist (specifically, social democratic ) or religious concepts. Some rely on personal transformation; others rely on small collectives, such as Mahatma Gandhi 's spinning wheel and
6545-467: Was opposed to municipal provision of housing, believing it to be bureaucratic and impersonal. Another of Hill's concerns was the availability of open spaces for poor people. She campaigned against development on existing suburban woodlands, and helped to save London's Hampstead Heath and Parliament Hill Fields from being built on. She was one of the three founders of the National Trust , set up to preserve places of historic interest or natural beauty for
6630-585: Was over-harsh." It introduced the Elberfeld system to Britain. Hill was short, like all her family, and indifferent to fashion. Her friend Henrietta Barnett wrote: "She was small in stature with a long body and short legs. She did not dress, she only wore clothes, which were often unnecessarily unbecoming; she had soft and abundant hair and regular features, but the beauty of her face lay in brown and very luminous eyes, which quite unconsciously she lifted upwards as she spoke on any matter for which she cared. Her mouth
6715-517: Was placed in Holy Trinity churchyard, Crockham Hill, Kent. Commemorations of Octavia Hill include a monument to her at a Surrey beauty spot, on the summit of a hill called Hydon's Ball . Shortly after her death, the family erected a stone seat there, from which walkers can enjoy views over the Surrey countryside. The National Trust, who now own the site, has set up a commemorative guided walk that passes
6800-449: Was reinvested within the properties for the benefit of the tenants. Rent arrears were not tolerated, and bad debts were minimal. As Hill said, "Extreme punctuality, and diligence in collecting rents, and a strict determination that they shall be paid regularly, have accomplished this." In consequence of her prudent management, Hill was able to attract new backers, and by 1874 she had 15 housing schemes with around 3,000 tenants. Hill's system
6885-538: Was reprinted in the United States. Mill cites Taylor's influence in his final revision of On Liberty, (1859) which was published shortly after her death, and she appears to be obliquely referenced in Mill's The Subjection of Women. A militant campaign to include women in the electorate originated in Victorian times. Emmeline Pankhurst 's husband, Richard Pankhurst, was a supporter of the women's suffrage movement and had been
6970-516: Was that her tenants, and all urban workers, should have access to open spaces. She believed in "the life-enhancing virtues of pure earth, clean air and blue sky." In 1883 she wrote: There is perhaps no need of the poor of London which more prominently forces itself on the notice of anyone working among them than that of space. ... How can it best be given? And what is it precisely which should be given? I think we want four things. Places to sit in, places to play in, places to stroll in, and places to spend
7055-435: Was that it was not the only thing she insisted upon. In her view, she could not allow anything so wrong as the neglect of children and overcrowding to continue where she had the power to prevent it! R.J. Wyatt Hill's principles were summed up in an article of 1869: "Where a man persistently refuses to exert himself, external help is worse than useless." She was an outspoken critic of the principles of " outdoor relief " or
7140-537: Was the first to use the term "Green Belt" in 1875 for the protected rural areas surrounding London and prevent the city sprawling out. Three hills in Kent (Mariners Hill, Toys Hill and Ide Hill ) which she helped to protect from development form part of the belt. In 1876 Hill became the treasurer of the Kyrle Society, founded in that year by her eldest sister, Miranda , as a "Society for the Diffusion of Beauty". Under
7225-569: Was used to promote tenants' associations and after-work and children's after-school clubs and societies. In 1859, Hill created the Southwark detachment of the Army Cadet Force , its first independent unit, which gave training along military lines for local boys. Hill considered that such an organisation would be more like the "real thing" than such existing outfits as the Church Lads' Brigade and therefore more attractive to young men "who had passed
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