Louisa Octavia Augusta Hope (1814 – 23 October 1893) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

promoter of household science teaching.

Life

She was the eighth and youngest daughter of Charles Hope,

Lord President of the Court of Session The Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General is the most senior judge in Scotland, the head of the judiciary, and the presiding judge of the College of Justice, the Court of Session, and the High Court of Justiciary. The L ...

, and Lady Charlotte Hope. She was born in 1814 and her elder siblings included the Scottish judge

John Hope, Lord Hope John Hope PC FRSE (1794–1858) was a Scottish judge and landowner. Life He was the eldest son of Charles Hope, Lord President of the Court of Session, and Lady Charlotte Hope, and was born on 26 May 1794. His younger sister Louisa Hope wa ...

and the lawyer James Hope. In 1852 Hope and others created the Scottish Ladies Association for Promoting Female Industrial Education. The intention was to ensure that females would learn sewing and it time other domestic subjects in separate gender based education. The Church of Scotland had decided in 1849 that it wanted female "schools of industry". Women were seen as centres of moral and religious values for families and the middle and upper class ladies in the new association saw it as their role to provide it. In 1853 she published her book, ''The Female Teacher: Ideas Suggestive of Her Qualifications and Duties'' where she notes that women should be "keepers at home" and men should see to his "labour and his work until the evening". Education of females would elevate the "lower classes" and this was the "aim of the Scottish Ladies Association for Promoting Female Industrial Education". It was Hope who organised a petition of 130 signatures of "principal ladies of Scotland" demanding improved sewing lesson for girls in Scottish schools. The petition was supported by letters sent to newspapers and this of underestimated influence. By 1861 grants were available to support this objective and in 1870 70% of schools were including sewing in their curriculum according to inspectors.

Death and legacy

Upper class ladies like Hope saw it as their role to assist in these lessons and it can be seen as the start of

Domestic Science Home economics, also called domestic science or family and consumer sciences, is a subject concerning human development, personal and family finances, consumer issues, housing and interior design, nutrition and food preparation, as well as texti ...

being taught in schools. Hope died at her home in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

in 1893.

References

1814 births 1893 deaths {{Improve categories, date=December 2022