Dame Sophia Gertrude Wintz DBE (1847–16 January 1929) was a

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

-born

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philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

who co-founded the Royal Sailors' Rests. She was also a temperance activist. Sophia Wintz was born in

Schaffhausen Schaffhausen (; gsw, Schafuuse; french: Schaffhouse; it, Sciaffusa; rm, Schaffusa; en, Shaffhouse) is a list of towns in Switzerland, town with historic roots, a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in northern Switzerland, and the ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. Her father died when she was a child and her mother brought her to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Her younger brother, Lewis Wintz, joined the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

and rose to the rank of vice-admiral. She was educated in a school near Fareham,

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

. While staying at Bath she met

Agnes Weston Dame Agnes Elizabeth Weston, Order of the British Empire, GBE (26 March 1840 – 23 October 1918), also known as Aggie Weston, was an English philanthropist noted for her work with the Royal Navy. For over twenty years, she lived and worked among ...

, who lived there, and the two became close friends and remained so for the rest of their lives. In the 1870s they began to hold Sunday afternoon meetings at Wintz's mother's house for boys from the

training ship A training ship is a ship used to train students as sailors. The term is mostly used to describe ships employed by navies to train future officers. Essentially there are two types: those used for training at sea and old hulks used to house classr ...

s at Devonport. These meetings grew into a major movement in both

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

and

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

and the two women later bought a

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

in each city, demolished them and replaced them with the two Sailors' Rests to serve as homes for sailors of all nationalities on shore leave. The establishment in Plymouth opened in 1876 and that in Portsmouth in 1881. They also founded the Royal Naval Temperance Society and established journals, ''Monthly Letters'' and ''Ashore and Afloat'', and a library for sailors which distributed literature to ships all over the world. Weston died in 1918, but Wintz continued to serve as superintendent of the homes until her own death in 1929. She was appointed

Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire 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 ...

(DBE) in the 1920 civilian war honours. She was given a full naval funeral at Devonport Dockyard Church attended by four hundred officers and ratings of the Royal Navy and was buried next to Weston.

References

Sources

*Obituary, ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'', 17 January 1929 1847 births 1929 deaths English philanthropists Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire Swiss emigrants to the United Kingdom Swiss expatriates in England British women in World War I People from Schaffhausen English temperance activists {{Philanthropist-stub