Elizabeth Margaretta Maria Gilbert (7 August 1826 – 7 February 1885) was an English philanthropist.

Early life

Elizabeth Gilbert was born in

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, the daughter of

Ashurst Gilbert Ashurst Turner Gilbert (14 May 1786 – 21 February 1870) was an English churchman and academic, Principal of Brasenose College, Oxford, from 1822 and bishop of Chichester. Life The son of Thomas Gilbert of Ratcliffe, Buckinghamshire, a capta ...

, principal of

Brasenose College, Oxford Brasenose College (BNC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It began as Brasenose Hall in the 13th century, before being founded as a college in 1509. The library and chapel were added in the mi ...

, and later the

Bishop of Chichester The Bishop of Chichester is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Chichester in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers the counties of East and West Sussex. The see is based in the City of Chichester where the bishop's seat ...

and his wife, Mary Ann Wintle Gilbert. Elizabeth caught

scarlet fever Scarlet fever, also known as Scarlatina, is an infectious disease caused by ''Streptococcus pyogenes'' a Group A streptococcus (GAS). The infection is a type of Group A streptococcal infection (Group A strep). It most commonly affects childr ...

at the age of two, which resulted in her becoming blind. Her parents chose to educate her alongside her sisters, and she learned languages and music, and after 1851 used a "Foucault frame" writing device to write. She also enjoyed tactile astronomy lessons with an

orrery An orrery is a mechanical model of the Solar System that illustrates or predicts the relative positions and motions of the planets and moons, usually according to the heliocentric model. It may also represent the relative sizes of these bodies; ...

, according to her biographer. "The little fingers fluttered over the planets and followed their movements with great delight."Frances Martin
''Elizabeth Gilbert and Her Work for the Blind''
(Macmillan and Company 1887): 9.

Philanthropy

In 1842, Gilbert came into a sizeable inheritance from a godmother, allowing her financial independence in adulthood. In 1854 she and William Hanks Levy (who was also blind) established a vocational training program, initially only for men, called "The Association for Promoting the General Welfare of the Blind" (GWB). Soon, as Gilbert's fundraising efforts succeeded, a library and more classes were added, and blind women were included by 1857. She gained the support of

Frances Martin (Mary Anne) Frances Martin (November 4, 1829 – March 13, 1922) was a British educationist and author. She founded and ran what became the Frances Martin College for Working Women in London until 1966. Life Martin was born in Richmond in 1829. H ...

who was also of independent means and an advocate for the education of women. Martin would in time become her biographer.

Later years and legacy

Elizabeth Gilbert, never in robust health, became more ill in 1875, and died in 1884, aged 58 years.Martha Stoddard Holms
''Fictions of Affliction: Physical Disability in Victorian Culture''
(University of Michigan Press 2010): 172-183. The organization Gilbert founded continues today as CLARITY - Employment for Blind People.

References

External links

* The National Portrait Gallery ha
two 1860s portraits of Elizabeth Margaretta Maria Gilbert
in its collection. {{DEFAULTSORT:Gilbert, Elizabeth Margaretta Maria British disability rights activists 1826 births 1885 deaths English blind people Blind activists British activists with disabilities