Rachel McMillan on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
Rachel McMillan (1859–1917) was an American-born health visitor and advisor on education, who mainly worked in England. She came to notice due to the efforts of her sister
She did not take paid employment until her grandmother died in 1877, when she went to London and ran a hostel for women. She later qualified as a sanitary inspector in London and was appointed by Kent County Council where she worked for 17 years as a peripatetic teacher of hygiene.
McMillan's growing understanding and support for socialism were used in a case study of growing public understanding of the writings of
Lost Hospitals of London, Retrieved 1 January 2015 McMillan's reputation as a convert relies on a valedictory biography written about her by her sister in 1927. Margaret had been nursed through a severe illness by Rachel. Rachel and Margaret had lived together at lodgings at 51 Tweedy Road in Bromley, and there they entertained well-known people including Pyotr Kropotkin, the Lansburys, Margaret Llewelyn Davies, and the Countess of Warwick. In 2009
English Heritage, Retrieved 20 December 2015 Margaret created the Rachel McMillan Training College in 1930. She not only named the college after her sister, but also ascribed the innovations in teaching there to McMillan. The biography that she wrote for her sister describes her as having an ideal childhood and being a leader in the development of child care and teacher training. McMillan was a hard working woman who worked with children, education and health issues, but her notable life appears to have been the creation of her sister.Carolyn Steedman, ‘McMillan, Rachel (1859–1917)’,
accessed 18 Dec 2015
/ref>
Margaret McMillan
Margaret McMillan (20 July 1860 – 27 March 1931) was a nursery school pioneer and lobbied for the 1906 Provision of School Meals Act. Working in deprived districts of London, notably Deptford, and Bradford, she agitated for reforms to ...
, who memorialised her life after her death. Margaret named the Rachel McMillan Nursery School and Children's Centre after her sister Rachel in 1917, the year of her death.
Life
McMillan was born in 1859 atThroggs Neck
Throggs Neck (also known as Throgs Neck) is a neighborhood and peninsula in the south-eastern portion of the borough of the Bronx in New York City. It is bounded by the East River and Long Island Sound to the south and east, Westchester Creek on ...
in New York state
New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. stat ...
to Scottish emigrant parents. Her parents, James and Jane (born Cameron), had married the year before; they would have one other surviving daughter, Margaret. McMillan's father and an infant sister died in 1865 from scarlet fever, and their mother took the family back to Scotland. Rachel and Margaret were brought up in Inverness and attended the Inverness Academy. McMillan was there until she was fifteen, when she went to teach in Coventry for three years at a women's college.
She did not take paid employment until her grandmother died in 1877, when she went to London and ran a hostel for women. She later qualified as a sanitary inspector in London and was appointed by Kent County Council where she worked for 17 years as a peripatetic teacher of hygiene.
McMillan's growing understanding and support for socialism were used in a case study of growing public understanding of the writings of William Morris
William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He ...
and Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...
, but her claim to fame arrived after her death in 1917. As early as 1887, however, she had been converted to Christian Socialism by listening to sermons by the Rev. John Glasse.
Margaret renamed a nursery school which had been founded in 1914 the Rachel McMillan Nursery School.Rachel McMillan Open Air Nursery SchoolLost Hospitals of London, Retrieved 1 January 2015 McMillan's reputation as a convert relies on a valedictory biography written about her by her sister in 1927. Margaret had been nursed through a severe illness by Rachel. Rachel and Margaret had lived together at lodgings at 51 Tweedy Road in Bromley, and there they entertained well-known people including Pyotr Kropotkin, the Lansburys, Margaret Llewelyn Davies, and the Countess of Warwick. In 2009
English Heritage
English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses.
The charity states that i ...
had a blue plaque placed on this house in Bromley to record Margaret and Rachel lodging there.Rachel and Maraget McMillanEnglish Heritage, Retrieved 20 December 2015 Margaret created the Rachel McMillan Training College in 1930. She not only named the college after her sister, but also ascribed the innovations in teaching there to McMillan. The biography that she wrote for her sister describes her as having an ideal childhood and being a leader in the development of child care and teacher training. McMillan was a hard working woman who worked with children, education and health issues, but her notable life appears to have been the creation of her sister.Carolyn Steedman, ‘McMillan, Rachel (1859–1917)’,
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...
, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 200accessed 18 Dec 2015
/ref>
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:McMillan, Rachel 1859 births 1917 deaths American educators American Christian socialists People from Throggs Neck, Bronx