Olive Christian Malvery was an

Anglo-Indian Anglo-Indian people fall into two different groups: those with mixed Indian and British ancestry, and people of British descent born or residing in India. The latter sense is now mainly historical, but confusions can arise. The ''Oxford English ...

journalist, best known for her investigations into the working conditions of women and children in London.

Early life

Malvery was born in

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

, in the

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

, in 1871Ancestry.com. India, Select Births and Baptisms, 1786-1947 atabase on-line Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014. Original data: India, Births and Baptisms, 1786-1947. Salt Lake City, Utah: FamilySearch, 2013. from parents of European and Indian ancestry. Following her parents' separation, she and her brother were raised as

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

in India by her maternal grandparents. Both siblings were well-educated. She moved to London in 1900 to train as a professional singer at

The Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music is a music school, conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the Undergraduate education, undergraduate to the Doctorate, doctoral level in a ...

. To support herself during this time she gave

elocution Elocution is the study of formal speaking in pronunciation, grammar, style, and tone as well as the idea and practice of effective speech and its forms. It stems from the idea that while communication is symbolic, sounds are final and compelli ...

lessons, wrote fiction for periodicals and gave drawing-room performances about Indian legends.

Journalistic career

In 1904, she was commissioned to write a seven part series of articles for

Pearson's Magazine ''Pearson's Magazine'' was a monthly periodical that first appeared in Britain in 1896. A US version began publication in 1899. It specialised in speculative literature, political discussion, often of a socialist bent, and the arts. Its contribut ...

. For this she explored women's work in various trades by disguising herself as a street singer, street

peddler A peddler, in British English pedlar, also known as a chapman, packman, cheapjack, hawker, higler, huckster, (coster)monger, colporteur or solicitor, is a door-to-door and/or travelling vendor of goods. In England, the term was mostly used fo ...

, factory girl, shop girl,

costermonger A costermonger, coster, or costard is a street seller of fruit and vegetables in British towns. The term is derived from the words ''costard'' (a medieval variety of apple) and ''monger'' (seller), and later came to be used to describe hawkers i ...

, waitress, and barmaid. The series 'The Heart of All Things' appeared in the magazine between November 1904 and May 1905, before being published together in her first book 'The Soul Market'. The success of this book led to Malvery being in great demand as a public speaker. Malvery donated some of the royalties from her books to Christian charities and to build two shelters for homeless women in London. Malvery describes the success of The Soul Market as "the first book that roused the public to shame and sympathy". This would appear to have affected charitable giving, as she later went on to say "To-day there are a great many Mission which have been founded by people who were stirred by that book". Malvery also lectured for the

temperance movement The temperance movement is a social movement promoting temperance or complete abstinence from consumption of alcoholic beverages. Participants in the movement typically criticize alcohol intoxication or promote teetotalism, and its leaders emph ...

in Europe and North America.

Works

* The Alien Question (1905) * The Soul Market. New York: McClure, Phillips & Co, 1907 * Baby Toilers. London: Hutchinson, 1907 * Thirteen Nights. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1908. * The Speculator. London: T. Werner Laurie, 1908. * Year and a Day. London: Hutchinson, 1912. * Mackirdy, Olive C. M, and W N. Willis. The White Slave Market. London: S. Paul & Co, 1912. * Mackirdy's Weekly (1914)

Personal life

When Malvery married Archibald Mackirdy, a Scottish-born U.S. diplomat, she invited a thousand London working girls as wedding guests. Her bridesmaids were costermongers from

Hoxton Hoxton is an area in the London Borough of Hackney, England. As a part of Shoreditch, it is often considered to be part of the East End – the historic core of wider East London. It was historically in the county of Middlesex until 1889. I ...

. Malvery and her husband had three children before he died in 1911. She died aged 37 in 1914, having been ill with cancer. The cause of death was apparently from an accidental overdose of sedatives.

References

External links

East End Women's Museum. Olive Christian Malvery: journalist, 'lecturer, reciter, and social worker'.Olive Christian Malvery: Creating a biography of Edwardian Britain's pioneering undercover journalist.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Malvery, Olive Christian 1871 births 1914 deaths Journalists from Lahore Indian women journalists Undercover journalists Anglo-Indian people Temperance activists Indian women's rights activists Journalists from British India People from Lahore