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Grace Eyre Woodhead (24 February 1864 – 5 April 1936) was a British philanthropist and mental health reformer. She looked after people all her life and the organisation she created, the Guardianship Society, is now known as the Grace Eyre Foundation. She believed that people with disabilities should be cared for in the community.
Woodhead died in
Life
Woodhead was born inBrighton
Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London.
Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...
in 1864. Her father was a Major, an agent for the navy, and he and Emily (born Clements) Woodhead had eleven children (One source says 12). Grace was the penultimate. She attended the local high school for girls (now Brighton Girls
Brighton Girls, formerly Brighton and Hove High School, is an independent day school for girls aged 4 to 18 in the city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England.
Brighton Girls GDST is ISI rated ‘Excellent’. The school was founded in 1876 ...
) before going on to Lady Margaret Hall
Lady Margaret Hall (LMH) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England, located on the banks of the River Cherwell at Norham Gardens in north Oxford and adjacent to the University Parks. The college is more formall ...
in 1883 in the company of her younger sister, Hilda. She left university in 1885.
In 1895 she was living in London and she was concerned by the treatment of people with learning disabilities. At the time the default solution was to place them in institutions. Woodhead arranged for them to have holidays in Heathfield, East Sussex
Heathfield is a market town in the Wealden District of East Sussex, England. The town had a population of 7,732 in 2011. With neighbouring Waldron, it forms the civil parish of the Heathfield and Waldron, which had a population of 11,913 in 2011 ...
using, at times, her home in Hove. She believed that these children should be cared for in the community. By 1898 the organisation began to take shape although the name of the ''Guardianship Society'' was formally registered in line with the Mental Deficiency Act of 1913. In 1914 (what may have been) the first British day-centre was opened in Brighton establishing Care in the Community
Care in the Community (also called "Community Care" or "Domiciliary Care") is a British policy of deinstitutionalisation, treating and caring for physically and mentally disabled people in their homes rather than in an institution. Institutional ca ...
.
In the 1920s they bought two farms in Sussex so that men could learn rural skills. These farms operated until 1959.
Death and legacy
Woodhead died in Brighton
Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London.
Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...
in 1936. After she died the whole organisation had to be restructured as up till then it had all revolved around Woodhead.
In 1950 the Guardianship Society moved to a new headquarters in Hove at the old Methodist Church Hall.
In 1988 the society adopted the name of its founder and became the Grace Eyre Foundation after 75 years since its registration.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Woodhead, Grace 1864 births 1936 deaths People from Brighton Alumni of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford British disability rights activists British philanthropists People educated at Brighton and Hove High School