A Gift to the RAMC 6 May 1941 H 009418 1 (cropped)

Hope Elizabeth Hope-Clarke

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(February 1870 – 19 July 1950) was a British charity campaigner, the founder and honorary organiser of the

Silver Thimble Fund The Silver Thimble Fund was founded by Miss Hope Elizabeth Hope-Clarke of Wimbledon in 1915 to collect damaged thimbles and other items made from precious metals, melt them down and raise money for medical equipment. It became "one of the most su ...

, "one of the most successful charities of the First World War". Hope Elizabeth Hope-Clarke was born in February 1870, in

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

. A few years after the war ended, Hope-Clarke moved to the United States and settled in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

, where she befriended

Martha Gilmore Robinson Martha Gilmore Robinson (August 18, 1888 – February 1981) was an American women's rights and civic activist, who founded the Silver Thimble Fund of America, the Woman Citizens' Union, co-founded the Louisiana Landmarks Society, and was presid ...

, who set up the Silver Thimble Fund of America, which helped injured British and American soldiers in the Second World War. Hope-Clarke was awarded an

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

in the

1949 New Year Honours The 1949 New Year Honours were appointments by many of the Commonwealth realms of King George VI to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. They were announced in supplements to the '' London ...

List. Hope-Clarke died in London on 19 July 1950, at the age of 80.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hope-Clarke, Hope Elizabeth 1870 births 1950 deaths Officers of the Order of the British Empire British charity and campaign group workers British women activists Activists from Kolkata British people in colonial India