Hilda Mary Seligman (''née'' McDowell; 18 January 1882 – 20 December 1964) was a British sculptor, author and campaigner. Hilda McDowell was born in

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the Ribble Valley, east of Preston and north-n ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

in 1882. She married the metallurgist and chemical engineer Richard Seligman (1878–1972) in London in 1906. They had four sons:

Adrian Adrian is a form of the Latin language, Latin given name Adrianus (given name), Adrianus or Hadrianus (disambiguation), Hadrianus. Its ultimate origin is most likely via the former river Adria (river), Adria from the Venetic language, Venetic and ...

(1909–2003), Peter, Oliver (who was killed in WWII), and

Madron Madron ( kw, Eglos Madern) is a civil parish and village in west Cornwall, Great Britain. Madron is named after Saint Madern's Church. Its annual Trafalgar Service commemorating the death of Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson was started on 27 Octo ...

(1918–2002); and a daughter: Audrey Babette Seligman (1907–1990). During the inter-war period, Seligman entertained

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

and the

Emperor Haile Selassie Haile Selassie I ( gez, ቀዳማዊ ኀይለ ሥላሴ, Qädamawi Häylä Səllasé, ; born Tafari Makonnen; 23 July 189227 August 1975) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He rose to power as Regent Plenipotentiary of Ethiopia (' ...

at her home in

Wimbledon, London Wimbledon () is a district and town of Southwest London, England, southwest of the centre of London at Charing Cross; it is the main commercial centre of the London Borough of Merton. Wimbledon had a population of 68,187 in 2011 which includes ...

. She spent some time in India and founded the 'Skippo' Fund in London in 1945. The fund was set up with royalties from her book ''Skippo of Nonesuch'' (1943) about a goat named 'Skippo', and donations and gifts from

Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence, Baroness Pethick-Lawrence (; 21 October 1867 – 11 March 1954) was a British women's rights activist and suffragette. Early life Pethick-Lawrence was born in Bristol as Emmeline Pethick. Her father, Henry Pethick, w ...

and

Isobel Cripps Dame Isobel Cripps, GBE (''née'' Swithinbank; 25 January 1891 – 11 April 1979), also known as Isobel, the Honourable Lady Cripps, was a British overseas aid organiser and the wife of the Honourable Sir Stafford Cripps. Born at Denham, Buckin ...

. The Fund paid for a mobile health van that was custom built in the UK, and later other health vans to serve isolated villages in India and Pakistan. The Fund's 'Asoka-Akbar Mobile Health Vans' were given to the

All India Women's Conference The All India Women's Conference (AIWC) is a non-governmental organisation (NGO) based in Delhi. It was founded in 1927 by Margaret Cousins in order to improve educational efforts for women and children and has expanded its scope to also tackle ...

to administer. Seligman also wrote two other small books: ''When Peacocks Called'' (1940), ''Asoka, Emperor of India'' (1947).

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...

wrote the foreword to ''When Peacocks Called''. In 1999, Seligman's papers (Ref: 7HSE) were presented as a gift to the

Women's Library The Women's Library is England's main library and museum resource on women and the women's movement, concentrating on Britain in the 19th and 20th centuries. It has an institutional history as a coherent collection dating back to the mid-1920s, ...

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...

, where they are still held.

Sculptures

Seligman created a

bust of Haile Selassie A bust of the Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie formerly stood in Cannizaro Park in Wimbledon Common, London. A work of the sculptor Hilda Seligman, it was destroyed in June 2020. History During the 1930s, Ethiopia came into conflict with t ...

from life in 1936 during his exile from Ethiopia, when he stayed at Selgman's family home, Lincoln House. The bust originally stood in the grounds of the house, and remained there until the building was demolished in 1957. The bust was later installed in Cannizaro Park, where it stood until 30 June 2020, when it was toppled and smashed to pieces by protestors. Her bronze sculpture, '

J. P. Blake John Percy "Jack" Blake (13 November 1874 – 19 December 1950) was a British local politician and sportsman. He competed for the United Kingdom at fencing at the 1908, 1912 and 1920 Summer Olympics. He was also a keen player of water polo and ...

, Esq.' was displayed at the

Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts The Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts (RGI) is an independent organisation in Glasgow, founded in 1861, which promotes contemporary art and artists in Scotland. The institute organizes the largest and most prestigious annual art exhibitio ...

Eighty-Second Annual Exhibition, 1943, and at the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...

. Seligman made and donated a bust of

Chandragupta Maurya Chandragupta Maurya (350-295 BCE) was a ruler in Ancient India who expanded a geographically-extensive kingdom based in Magadha and founded the Maurya dynasty. He reigned from 320 BCE to 298 BCE. The Maurya kingdom expanded to become an empi ...

, founder of the

Maurya Empire The Maurya Empire, or the Mauryan Empire, was a geographically extensive Iron Age historical power in the Indian subcontinent based in Magadha, having been founded by Chandragupta Maurya in 322 BCE, and existing in loose-knit fashion until 1 ...

who reigned from 321 B.C. to 296 B.C., for installation in The Indian Parliament complex. It today stands in the courtyard opposite Gate No. 5 of Parliament House, on a red sandstone pedestal, bearing the inscription "Shepherd boy

, dreaming of the India he was to create".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Seligman, Hilda 1882 births 1964 deaths People from Blackburn 20th-century British sculptors 20th-century English women writers 20th-century English writers English philanthropists English women philanthropists English women sculptors English activists English women activists 20th-century English women artists 20th-century British philanthropists 20th-century women philanthropists