Octavia Hill, social activism and the remaking of British society

Elizabeth Baigent, Ben Cowell

• Publisher: University of London Press
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN:
  9781909646001
• eBook ISBN:
  9781909646346
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: European Medieval History
• Index: History

This volume reassesses the life and work of Octavia Hill, housing reformer, open space campaigner, co-founder of the National Trust, founder of the Army Cadet Force, and the first woman to be invited to sit on a royal commission. In her lifetime she was widely regarded as an authority on a broad range of social problems. Yet despite her early pre-eminence, and the remarkable success of the institutions which she helped to found, Hill fell from public favour in the twentieth century. This book provides a nuanced portrait of Hill and her work in a broader context of social change, reflecting recent scholarship on nineteenth-century society in general, and on philanthropy and preservation, and women's role in them, in particular.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Dedication
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• About the contributors
• Abbreviations
• List of illustrations
• Foreword
• I. ‘The habit of seeing and sorting out problems’: Octavia Hill’s life and afterlife
• II. ‘Beauty is for all’: art in the life and work of Octavia Hill
• III. ‘The value of abundant good air’: Octavia Hill and the meanings of nature
• IV. ‘A common inheritance from generation to generation’: Octavia Hill and preservation
• V. ‘The loving zeal of individuals which cannot be legislated for by Parliament’: Octavia Hill’s vision in historical context
• VI. Hill’s legacy
• Index