Elizabeth Malleson (''née'' Whitehead; 1828–1916) was an English educationalist, suffragist and activist for women's education and rural nursing.

Life

Elizabeth Whitehead was born into a Unitarian family in

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

, Malleson was the first child of 11. After working as a governess she taught at the experimental Portman Hall School. In May 1857, she married a businessman and lifelong Unitarian named Frank Rodbard Malleson and they were to have four children. Malleson became involved with Frederick Maurice's Working Men's College. In 1863, she was a founding member of the

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. Other founder members and executive committee included Mary Estlin,

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and another women's college founder

Charlotte Manning Charlotte Manning ('' née'' Solly; 30 March 1803 – 1 April 1871) was a British feminist, scholar and writer. She was the first head of Girton College. Family Charlotte Solly was born in 1803, daughter of merchant Isaac Solly of Leyton, Es ...

. Malleson founded the Working Woman's College in Queen Square in Bloomsbury in 1864, and the Rural Nursing Association in 1889 which supplied

District Nurses District Nurses work manage care within the community and lead teams of community nurses and support workers. The role requires registered nurses to take a NMC approved specialist practitioner course. Duties generally include visiting house-bound ...

to England's villages.

Working Women's College

The Women's Superintendent in 1865 was

Sarah Amos Sarah Maclardie Amos born Sarah Maclardie Bunting (1840–1908) was a political activist. She was the superintendent of the Working Women's College in Queen Square, London. Life Amos was born in Manchester in 1840 to Eliza and Thomas Percival Bun ...

. The college became open to both men and women in 1874 after the Working Men's College refused an offer to merge. This co-educational idea was driven by Malleson and her husband and the resulting opposition in the college led to a group moving away to form another college for women. The Malleson's "College for Men and Women" continued in operation to 1901.Working Women's College
Bloomsbury Project, Retrieved 19 July 2015

Rural nursing

Malleson moved with her family to Dixton Manor in 1884 and there she was concerned to find that there was little local service of nurses for pregnant women. Malleson arranged for a trained nurse to be available to serve the people of

Gotherington Gotherington is a small village north of Bishops Cleeve in Gloucestershire, England. It is surrounded on the north by the villages of Woolstone and Oxenton, and to the south by Woodmancote and Bishop's Cleeve, a very large urban village. G ...

. Malleson's scheme was not the first but she decided to form a national organisation and her appeal for help brought her into contact with Lady Lucy Hicks-Beech. She was the wife of

Michael Hicks Beach, 1st Earl St Aldwyn Michael Edward Hicks Beach, 1st Earl St Aldwyn, (23 October 1837 – 30 April 1916), known as Sir Michael Hicks Beach, Bt, from 1854 to 1906 and subsequently as The Viscount St Aldwyn to 1915, was a British Conservative politician. Known as "B ...

and they gathered enough support to launch a Rural Nursing Association. In 1871, Queen Victoria decided to use £70,000 donated to her Jubilee to found the

Queen's Nursing Institute The Queen's Nursing Institute (QNI) is a charity that works to improve the nursing care of people in their own homes in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. It does not operate in Scotland, where the Queen's Nursing Institute Scotland performs ...

in 1889. Malleson's nurses became the Rural Nursing Division in 1891 and Malleson became the organisation's secretary.

References

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Malleson, Elizabeth 1828 births 1916 deaths Schoolteachers from London People from Chelsea, London