Caroline "Hilda" Chamberlain (16 May 1872 – 28 December 1967) was a British political organiser and activist.

Life

Chamberlain was born in 1872 in

Edgbaston Edgbaston () is an affluent suburban area of central Birmingham, England, historically in Warwickshire, and curved around the southwest of the city centre. In the 19th century, the area was under the control of the Gough-Calthorpe family an ...

. Her parents were Florence (born Kenrick) and

Joseph Chamberlain Joseph Chamberlain (8 July 1836 – 2 July 1914) was a British statesman who was first a radical Liberal, then a Liberal Unionist after opposing home rule for Ireland, and eventually served as a leading imperialist in coalition with the Cons ...

. Her father was a leading statesman who had been married before. Her mother died in childbirth in 1875 and her elder half sister

Beatrice Beatrice may refer to: * Beatrice (given name) Places In the United States * Beatrice, Alabama, a town * Beatrice, Humboldt County, California, a locality * Beatrice, Georgia, an unincorporated community * Beatrice, Indiana, an unincorporated ...

became her de facto parent. She was educated at

Marie Souvestre Marie Souvestre (28 April 1830 – 30 March 1905) was an educator who sought to develop independent minds in young women. She founded a school in France and when she left the school with one of her teachers she founded Allenswood Academy in Lon ...

Allenswood Boarding Academy Allenswood Boarding Academy (also known as Allenswood Academy or Allenswood School) was an exclusive girls' boarding school founded in Wimbledon, London, by Marie Souvestre in 1883 and operated until the early 1950s, when it was demolished and re ...

together with her sisters,

Ida Ida or IDA may refer to: Astronomy * Ida Facula, a mountain on Amalthea, a moon of Jupiter *243 Ida, an asteroid *International Docking Adapter, a docking adapter for the International Space Station Computing *Intel Dynamic Acceleration, a techn ...

and Ethel. In 1914 her father died after being paralysed from a stroke for nearly eight years. During this period she and Ida had given up their own aspirations and social life to care for him, which may be the reason they did not marry. He left £20,000 to each of his daughters. She and Ida bought the "Bury House" (now Grade two listed), which dated from the 1600s and had good transport links to London. At the new house at Christmas 1914 they began to plan new works. Hilda was to get involved with creating parcels to go to prisoners of war. At the end of the war some women were given the vote. Hilda became involved with

Women's Institutes The Women's Institute (WI) is a community-based organisation for women in the United Kingdom, Canada, South Africa and New Zealand. The movement was founded in Stoney Creek, Ontario, Canada, by Erland and Janet Lee with Adelaide Hoodless being th ...

, where women could gather and discuss issues of importance. She used her Women's Institutes influence to help her sister Ida get elected to the Hampshire County Council. In 1935 she became the organisation's national treasurer. She and her sister were well-informed and politically active. Their brothers Austen and

Neville Chamberlain Arthur Neville Chamberlain (; 18 March 18699 November 1940) was a British politician of the Conservative Party who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940. He is best known for his foreign policy of appeasemen ...

held all the major positions in the British government and both of them would send regular and informative letters. At one time they were both in the cabinet. She and Ida were concerned about the military threat posed by Hitler's rise to power in Germany and tried to influence Neville as Prime Minister. In 1939 war broke out and Neville soon resigned. Her sister and housemate died at "The Bury" in

Odiham Odiham () is a large historic village and civil parish in the Hart district of Hampshire, England. It is twinned with Sourdeval in the Manche Department of France. The 2011 population was 4,406. The parish in 1851 had an area of 7,354 acres wi ...

in 1943. She survived her and died in her nineties, also at home in Odiham, in 1967.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chamberlain, Hilda 1872 births 1967 deaths People from Edgbaston British activists

Hilda Hilda is one of several female given names derived from the name ''Hild'', formed from Old Norse , meaning 'battle'. Hild, a Nordic-German Bellona, was a Valkyrie who conveyed fallen warriors to Valhalla. Warfare was often called Hild's Game. Th ...

Life

Further reading

References