Hélène de Gingins (née Tronchin; 15 May 1828 – 23 July 1905) was a Swiss salonnière, abolitionist, and feminist. She hosted political and religious salons in

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

and was active in promoting children's welfare and fighting to end female prostitution. From 1891 to 1905, she served as the vice president of the

International Abolitionist Federation The International Abolitionist Federation (IAF; ), founded in Liverpool in 1875, aimed to abolish state regulation of prostitution and fought the international human trafficking, traffic in women in prostitution. It was originally called the Brit ...

Biography

Hélène Tronchin was born on 15 May 1828 in

, the daughter of Colonel Armand ''Henri'' Louis Jacob Tronchin, a military officer and lay president of the Evangelical Society of Geneva. She grew up at

Les Délices Les Délices ("The Delights") was from 1755 to 1760 the home of the French philosopher Voltaire (1694–1778) in Geneva, Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe ...

, her family's mansion that had previously been the home of

Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778), known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' Voltaire (, ; ), was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, philosopher (''philosophe''), satirist, and historian. Famous for his wit ...

. In 1848, she married the Swiss nobleman Charles Wolfgang de Gingins,

Seigneur A seigneur () or lord is an originally feudal title in France before the Revolution, in New France and British North America until 1854, and in the Channel Islands to this day. The seigneur owned a seigneurie, seigneury, or lordship—a form of ...

Gingins Gingins is a municipality in the district of Nyon in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. History Gingins is first mentioned around 1144-59 as ''Gingins''. In October 1535, a major battle was fought in that locality between the forces of the Repub ...

. Her husband's family owned La Sarraz Castle. Chateau de la Sarraz

De Gingins became a salonnière, hosting political and religious salons in her home in Geneva. Through her salons, she was introduced to the English social reformer

Josephine Butler Josephine Elizabeth Butler (; 13 April 1828 – 30 December 1906) was an English feminist and social reformer in the Victorian era. She campaigned for women's suffrage, the right of women to better education, the end of coverture in B ...

, who convinced her to join the Comité intercantonal de dames in 1876. Through this organization, de Gingins worked to end female prostitution and promote children's welfare. Later, she joined the Association of Friends of the Young Girl and l'Association du sou pour le relèvement moral, which financed relief work. From 1891 to 1905, she served as vice president of the

. De Gingins died in Geneva on 23 July 1905.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gingins, Hélène de 1828 births 1905 deaths Anti-prostitution feminists People from Geneva Swiss abolitionists Swiss feminists Swiss nobility Swiss salon-holders Swiss socialites Swiss suffragists Swiss women activists Swiss women's rights activists Hélène 20th-century Swiss women