1. Caroline Chisholm's father, William Jones, had been widowed three times and Caroline was a daughter of William's fourth wife, Sarah.
36 Facts About Caroline Chisholm
1. 2.
On 27 December 1830, Caroline, then 22, married Archibald Chisholm who was ten years her senior.
3.
Caroline Chisholm was an officer serving with the East India Company's Madras Army and a Roman Catholic.
4.
Around this time, Caroline Chisholm converted to his faith, and they raised their children as Catholics.
5.
Caroline Chisholm's husband returned to his regiment in Madras in January 1832.
6.
Caroline Chisholm became aware that young girls growing up with their families in the barracks were picking up the bad behaviour of the soldiers.
7.
In 1838, Captain Archibald Caroline Chisholm was granted a two-year furlough on the grounds of ill health.
8.
Caroline Chisholm found placement for these young women in shelters, such as her own, and helped find them permanent places to stay.
9.
Caroline Chisholm started an organisation with the help of the governess for an immigrant women's shelter.
10.
In 1840, Captain Caroline Chisholm returned to his regiment in India, but he encouraged his wife to continue her philanthropic efforts.
11.
Caroline Chisholm set up the first home in Sydney for young women and organised other homes in several rural centres.
12.
In March 1842, Caroline Chisholm rented two terraced dwellings in East Maitland.
13.
Caroline Chisholm converted them into a single cottage to be used as a hostel for homeless immigrants who had travelled to the Hunter Valley in search of work.
14.
Caroline Chisholm was requested to give evidence before two Legislative Council committees.
15.
Caroline Chisholm carried out her work in New South Wales without accepting money from individuals or individual organisations, as she wanted to act independently.
16.
Caroline Chisholm did not want to be dependent upon any religious or political body.
17.
The girls and families whom Caroline Chisholm helped came from different backgrounds and held different religious beliefs.
18.
Caroline Chisholm raised money for the homes through private subscriptions.
19.
Caroline Chisholm's husband was invalided out of the Army and returned to Australia in 1845.
20.
Caroline Chisholm believed the only way to encourage emigration from England to Australia was for prospective emigrants to read letters from pioneers already living in the colony.
21.
Chisholm's daughter, Caroline Agnes, was born in 1848, during the couple's time in London.
22.
Caroline Chisholm gave evidence before two House of Lords select committees and gained support for some of her initiatives.
23.
In 1849, with the support of Lord Shaftesbury, Sir Sidney Herbert, and Wyndham Harding, Caroline Chisholm founded the Family Colonisation Loan Society from her home in Charlton Crescent in Islington.
24.
Caroline Chisholm held regular meetings at Charlton Crescent to give practical advice to emigrants.
25.
In 1851, her husband, Archibald Caroline Chisholm, returned to Australia to act as an honorary colonial agent, to help newly arrived migrants and to collect repayment of loans.
26.
Caroline Chisholm gave emigration lectures throughout Britain, and toured France and Italy.
27.
Caroline Chisholm collected their son William from the Propaganda College, where he had been studying to become a Roman Catholic priest.
28.
Caroline Chisholm had an audience with Pope Pius IX at the Vatican, who gave her a Papal Medal and bust of herself.
29.
Caroline Chisholm toured the Victorian goldfields and was appalled by the conditions en route.
30.
Caroline Chisholm proposed the construction of shelter sheds about a day's walk apart so that prospectors and their families could travel to the work of the goldfields.
31.
Caroline Chisholm called for land to be allocated so that emigrant families could establish small farms.
32.
Caroline Chisholm believed such action would provide greater stability among the new settlers in the colonies.
33.
Caroline Chisholm wrote a novella, Little Joe, that was serialised in the local paper.
34.
Caroline Chisholm's husband accompanied the younger children back to England in 1865.
35.
Caroline Chisholm died in London, England on 25 March 1877, and her husband died in August that year.
36.
Caroline Chisholm's body was taken to her home town, Northampton, where it rested overnight in the Cathedral of Our Lady and St Thomas.