Emma Knox Maitland (17 May 1844 – 13 June 1923) was a

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

suffragist and educationist.

Life

Maitland was born in

Tenby Tenby ( cy, Dinbych-y-pysgod, lit=fortlet of the fish) is both a walled seaside town in Pembrokeshire, Wales, on the western side of Carmarthen Bay, and a local government community. Notable features include of sandy beaches and the Pembroke ...

in 1844. Her father was a JP but he died when she was young. She had six children with Frederick Maitland whom she married in 1862. He was a clerk and she took some interest in the emerging ambition for women to vote in 1866. It was said that she was not able to take a full interest in public life until her children were grown. However she applied her

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

interests when she campaigned for

Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Elizabeth Garrett Anderson (9 June 1836 – 17 December 1917) was an English physician and suffragist. She was the first woman to qualify in Britain as a physician and surgeon. She was the co-founder of the first hospital staffed by women, ...

to be a member of the local school board, unsuccessfully, in 1870.Jane Martin, ‘Maitland , Emma Knox (1844–1923)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 201
accessed 11 Jan 2017
/ref> She became involved with school boards and she stood herself unsuccessfully in 1888. She was part of second generation of women to get involved in school boards and she was a contemporary of Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, Annie Besant and

Emily Davies Sarah Emily Davies (22 April 1830 – 13 July 1921) was an English feminist and suffragist, and a pioneering campaigner for women's rights to university access. She is remembered above all as a co-founder and an early Mistress of Girton Coll ...

. Maitland was said to be a key member of the

Women's Local Government Society The Women's Local Government Society was a British campaign group which aimed to get women into local government. Its initial focus was on county councils but its remit later covered other local government roles such as school boards. History The ...

which had been renamed in 1893. The aim of this society was to get women elected to local government. In 1894 she was elected to the London School Board to represent Chelsea and she took a special interest in the education offered to children who were blind or deaf. She travelled abroad to find out the latest ideas for teaching the deaf and dumb. She became responsible for nine schools and she and the Women's Local Government Society defended the rights of women to serve on the new Local Education Boards. in 1901 she was elected with three others to represent the London school boards on the Association of School Boards. Maitland died in Hampstead in 1923.

Legacy

Maitland's grandchildren included

Geraldine Aves Dame Geraldine Maitland Aves, DBE (22 August 1898 – 23 June 1986) was a British civil servant, United Nations advisor on welfare, and social reformer. Early life Aves was born on 22 August 1898 in Hertfordshire to social reformer Harr ...

.Phyllis Willmott, ‘Aves, Dame Geraldine Maitland (1898–1986)’, rev. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 200
accessed 11 Jan 2017
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maitland, Emma 1844 births 1923 deaths People from Tenby English educational theorists Members of the London School Board