Octavia Hill (3 December 1838 – 13 August 1912[1]) was an English social reformer, whose main concern was the welfare of the inhabitants of cities, especially London, in the second half of the nineteenth century. Born into a family of radical thinkers and reformers with a strong commitment to alleviating poverty, she herself grew up in straitened circumstances owing to the financial failure of her father's businesses. Home educated by her mother, she worked from the age of 14 for the welfare of working people.
Hill was a moving force behind the development of social housing, and her early friendship with John Ruskin enabled her to put her theories into practice with the aid of his initial investment. She believed in self-reliance, and made it a key part of her housing system that she and her assistants knew their tenants personally and encouraged them to better themselves. She was opposed to municipal provision of housing, believing it to be bureaucratic and impersonal.
Another of Hill's concerns was the availability of open spaces for poor people. She campaigned against development on existing suburban woodlands, and helped to save London's Hampstead Heath and Parliament Hill Fields from being built on. She was one of the three founders of the National Trust, set up to preserve places of historic interest or natural beauty for the enjoyment of the British public. She was a founder member of the Charity Organisation Society (now the charity Family Action) which organised charitable grants and pioneered a home-visiting service that formed the basis for modern social work. She was a member of the Royal Commission on the Poor Laws in 1905.
Hill's legacy includes the large holdings of the modern National Trust, several housing projects still run on her lines, a tradition of training for housing managers, and the Octavia Hill Birthplace House established by the Octavia Hill Society at her birthplace in Wisbech.
Octavia Hill was key in pushing for the creation of what is now known as the Army Cadet Force, after seeing the success it was having in schools who ran what is now known as the Combined Cadet Force. Originally aiming to teach young boys respect and discipline and to take them off of the streets and out of trouble.
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OctaviaHill (3 December 1838 – 13 August 1912) was an English social reformer, whose main concern was the welfare of the inhabitants of cities, especially...
and the campaigner OctaviaHill. This succeeded in raising the required £300,000, and in 1899 the East Park Estate and Parliament Hill Fields were added...
amelioration. One of his first actions was to support the housing work of OctaviaHill (originally one of his art pupils): he bought property in Marylebone...
independent National Trust for Scotland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by OctaviaHill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the permanent preservation...
Value, £105.* Patron, Mrs. W. St. John Mildmay. The church is good. OctaviaHill, a social reformer, philanthropist, artist, writer and co-founder of...
"Hill, Octavia (1838–1912)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 1 November 2010 Mann, Peter H., "Octavia...
commemorate OctaviaHill, one of the Trust's founders. In his 1933 memoir Down and Out in Paris and London George Orwell reports that Ide Hill was notorious...
interest. OctaviaHill Birthplace House opened with the purpose of housing items linked to the various philanthropic activities of OctaviaHill and her...
introduced him to OctaviaHill, the pioneer of social housing, and Rawnsley added to his workload the role of rent-collector for Hill's colleague Emma Cons...
terrace was donated in 1898 by OctaviaHill, one of the founders of the National Trust, who lived at nearby Crockham Hill, and it was one of the National...
schools, literary institutes and working-class clubs. In 1876 her sister OctaviaHill became treasurer. There were numerous branches around the country, generally...
He was involved in social work in London slums from 1889 to 1899 with OctaviaHill and her Cadet Battalion, in a model social housing scheme in Red Cross...
Boyd, Three Victorian Women Who Changed their World: Josephine Butler, OctaviaHill, Florence Nightingale, London: MacMillan (1982). Strachey, Lytton (1918)...
initially promised that the families would not have to leave by the OHA (OctaviaHill Association), they were later evicted and it was determined that it would...
of OctaviaHill's birth which was visited at her request by Queen Mary. Lupton collected the material for Moberly Bell's biography of OctaviaHill. The...
interest. She maintained active correspondence with the social reformer OctaviaHill. However, in these years, relations with her husband deteriorated. In...
1889 renowned social reformer Miss OctaviaHill formed the first independent Cadet Battalion in Southwark. OctaviaHill considered strongly that the military...
1843). The OctaviaHill Birthplace House on the South Brink, Wisbech operated by the OctaviaHill Society contains many items belonging to the Hill family...
Reform Influences". OctaviaHill's Birthplace House. Archived from the original on 11 May 2009. Retrieved 28 April 2009. "The OctaviaHill Society" (PDF)....
giving votes to women, although he did suggest that the social reformer OctaviaHill serve on the Commission for Working Class Housing. He was also opposed...
Trust decided to acquire the building another founder of the Trust, OctaviaHill, contacted the Society for advice. In her letter she said that they "will...
former Bank House (now OctaviaHill Birthplace House), this once belonged to James Hill, a merchant and banker, father of OctaviaHill a founder of the National...
Robert Hunter, solicitor for the society, worked with Hardwicke Rawnsley, OctaviaHill, and John Ruskin to lead a successful campaign to prevent the construction...
Industrial Revolution of the 19th century; many social commentators (such as OctaviaHill) reported on the squalor, sickness and immorality that arose. Some industrialists...
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