1. Alice Hart was part of the Rowland Macassar oil company family.
16 Facts About Alice Hart
1. 2.
In 1883 Alice Hart went to County Donegal with her husband where they discovered extreme poverty.
3.
Alice Hart made an appeal publicly for money to deal with the acute issues but saw the need to find a way to deal with the chronic unemployment in the area.
4.
Alice Hart decided that the best option was to revive the local cottage industries, especially of weaving tweed.
5.
In 1884 the Donegal tweed was shown at the London International Health exhibition and was so successful that Alice Hart opened a shop at 31 New Cavendish St, London.
6.
Alice Hart worked with the local weavers, sending designs and examples of Scottish tweeds to them and by experimenting with dyes from local plants.
7.
In 1885 Alice Hart expanded her ideas, appealing to Irish women for help in setting up embroidery schools which resulted in the 'Kells embroidery' schools.
8.
Alice Hart had paintings shown in both the Dudley and Dowdeswell galleries as well as being commended by the Magazine of Art in 1895 for her far east landscapes.
9.
Alice Hart invested her own and her friends money into the business.
10.
Alice Hart followed the original crafts with investment in carpentry and woodcarving.
11.
Alice Hart initially assisted Hart in the creation of an industrial village at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893, though a later falling out meant that there were two such villages present.
12.
Alice Hart became the editor of House Beautiful in 1904.
13.
The Donegal Industrial Fund itself didn't survive long after Alice Hart was no longer involved.
14.
Alice Hart married Ernest Hart in 1872, becoming his second wife.
15.
Alice Hart was a surgeon and editor of the British Medical Journal.
16.
Alice Hart's husband had become unwell and he died in January 1898.