15 Facts About Eglantyne Jebb

Eglantyne Jebb was a British social reformer who founded the Save the Children organisation at the end of World War I to relieve the effects of famine in Austria-Hungary and Germany.

Eglantyne Jebb drafted the document that became the Declaration of the Rights of the Child.

Eglantyne Jebb was born in 1876 in Ellesmere, Shropshire, daughter of Arthur Jebb and his wife and cousin, Eglantyne Louisa Jebb, and grew up at "The Lyth", her family's nearby estate.

Eglantyne Jebb's mother had founded the Home Arts and Industries Association, to promote Arts and Crafts among young people in rural areas; her sister Louisa Wilkins would help found the Women's Land Army in World War I Another sister, Dorothy, who married the Labour MP Charles Roden Buxton, campaigned against the demonisation of the German people after the war and served as a faculty member at Wellesley College, Massachusetts, United States, in 1929, teaching courses in English literature.

From 1895 to 1898, Eglantyne Jebb read history at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, intending to become a school teacher.

Eglantyne Jebb taught for a year at St Peter's School, Marlborough.

Eglantyne Jebb moved to Cambridge to look after her sick mother.

In 1906, Eglantyne Jebb published Cambridge, a Study in Social Questions based on her research.

In 1907, Eglantyne Jebb was appointed to the Education Committee of Cambridge Borough Council, although in her first year she attended only 13 of a possible 31 meetings.

Eglantyne Jebb sat on the committee of the newly formed League for Physical Education and Improvement, but resigned citing pressures from other workloads.

In 1913, Eglantyne Jebb was influenced by Charles Roden Buxton to undertake a journey to Macedonia on behalf of the Macedonian Relief Fund.

Eglantyne Jebb was arrested for distributing leaflets in Trafalgar Square.

In London, Eglantyne Jebb was in charge, and she ensured that the Fund adopted the professional approach she had learnt in the Charity Organisation Society.

Eglantyne Jebb headed to Geneva, to a meeting of the International Save the Children Union, with a plan for a Children's Charter.

Eglantyne Jebb drafted a short and clear document which asserted the rights of children and the duty of the international community to put children's rights at the forefront of planning.