Eglantyne Jebb was born in 1876 in Ellesmere, Shropshire, and grew up on her family's estate. The Jebbs had a strong social conscience and commitment to public service; her mother, Eglantyne Louisa Jebb, had founded the Home Arts and Industries Association, to promote Arts and Crafts among young people in rural areas, her sister Louisa would help found the Land Army in the first world war, and her sister Dorothy Buxton, who married the Labour Party MP Charles Roden Buxton, campaigned against the demonisation of the German people after the war. 1876 is a leap year starting on Saturday. ... Shropshire (abbreviated Salop or Shrops) is a traditional, ceremonial and administrative county in the West Midlands region of England. ... Eglantyne Louisa Jebb (1845-1925). ... The Home Arts and Industries Association was an organisation that functioned as a precursor to the Art Workers Guild in the development of the Arts and Crafts Movement in Britain. ... The Womens Land Army was an organisation created in World War II in the UK to work in agriculture. ... Ypres, 1917, in the vicinity of the Battle of Passchendaele. ...

Having studied history in Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, Eglantyne trained to become a primary school teacher, but a year's experience in a primary school in Marlborough convinced her that this was not her vocation. She moved to Cambridge to look after her sick mother. There she became involved in the Charity Organisation Society, which aimed to bring a modern scientific approach to charity work. This led her to carry out an extensive research project into conditions in the city, and in 1906 she published a book, Cambridge, a Study in Social Questions based on her research. Lady Margaret Hall is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. ... Oxford is a city and local government district in Oxfordshire, England, with a population of 134,248 (2001 census). ... Map of the Cambridgeshire area (1904) The city of Cambridge is an old English university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire. ... Founded in 1869, in Great Britain, the Charity Organisation Society (COS) played a major role in making social work a profession. ... 1906 (MCMVI) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ...

Not much came of this work, and for several years she lived quietly, until in 1913 she was asked to undertake a journey to Macedonia on behalf of the Macedonian Relief Fund. She returned shortly before the First World War broke out, and soon was drawn into a project organised by Dorothy, who had begun importing European newspapers - including ones from Germany and Austria-Hungary for which a special licence had to be obtained from the government - and publishing extracts in English in the Cambridge Magazine, which revealed that everday life in the enemy countries was far worse than government propaganda suggested. 1913 (MCMXIII) is a common year starting on Wednesday. ... Austria-Hungary, also known as the Dual monarchy (or: the k. ...

As the war was coming to an end, and the German and Austro-Hungarian economies came near to collapse, it was clear to Dorothy and Eglantyne that the children of these countries were suffering appallingly from the effects of the war and the Allied blockade, which continued even when an armistice was signed. A pressure group, the Fight the Famine Council, was set up in 1919 to persuade the British government to end the blockade.

Soon, however, the focus shifted to organising relief. On April 15, 1919, the Council set up a fund to raise money for the German and Austrian children - the Save the Children Fund. Unexpectedly, this organisation - launched at the Royal Albert Hall, London on May 19, 1919, quickly raised a large sum of money from the British public, and officials were dispatched to organise relief work. Save the Children is an international non-profit organization dedicated to providing humanitarian aid. ... Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall of Arts and Sciences is an arts venue dedicated to Queen Victorias husband and consort, Prince Albert. ...

The success of the Fund led Eglantyne and Dorothy to attempt to set up an international movement for children. The International Save the Children Union (Union International de Secours a l'Enfant) was founded in Geneva in 1920, with the British Save the Children Fund and the Swedish Rädda Barnen as leading members. The International Save the Children Union (French: L’Union Internationale de Secours aux Enfants) was a Geneva-based international organisation of childrens charities founded in 1920 by Eglantyne Jebb, who had earlier founded Save the Children in the UK with her sister, Dorothy Buxton. ... Geneva (French: Genève, German: Genf, Italian: Ginevra) is the second most populous city in Switzerland, situated where Lake Geneva (French Lac Léman) flows into the Rhône River. ... 1920 (MCMXX) is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar) // Events January January 7 - Forces of Russian White admiral Kolchak surrender in Krasnoyarsk. ... Save the Children is an international non-profit organization dedicated to providing humanitarian aid. ...

In London, it was now Eglantyne who was in charge, and she ensured that the Fund adopted the professional approach she had learnt in the Charity Organisation Society. A manager, Lewis Golden, was recruited to put the organisation on a businesslike foundation. He adopted the innovative - and controversial - approach of taking full-page advertisements in national newspapers; it was highly effective, and raised very substantial amounts of income for the Fund's work.

As the problems in central Europe receded, there was a new focus of the Fund's attention - a refugee crisis in Greece and the surrounding areas, a consequence of the continuing conflict in the area. Then in 1921, just as this situation was coming under control, there was a new and bigger emergency. Partly as a consequence of the devastation of war, revolution and civil war, and partly due to the disatrous economic policies of the Bolshevik government, the people of Soviet Russia faced a famine as crops failed. A new fundraising effort brought a surge of donations, and a Save the Children team was despatched to the city of Saratov, one of the main famine centres. 1921 (MCMXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... Leaders of the Bolshevik Party and the Communist International, a painting by Malcolm McAllister on the Pathfinder Mural in New York City and on the cover of the book Lenin’s Final Fight published by Pathfinder. ... The Russian famine of 1921, which began in the early spring of that year, and lasted through 1922, was a true famine: hunger so severe that it was doubtful that seed-grain would be sown rather than eaten. ... Saratov flag Saratov (Сара́тов) is a major city in southern European Russia. ...

In all the work the Fund did, a major element in Eglantyne's thinking was the importance of a planned, research-based approach. In 1923, when the Russian relief effort was coming to an end, and the Fund's income was sharply reducing, she turned to another issue - that of children's rights. She headed to Geneva, to a meeting of the International Union, with a plan for a Children's Charter. The result was a short and clear document - drafted by Eglantyne - which asserted the rights of children and the duty of the international community to put children's rights in the forefront of planning. The Declaration of the Rights of the Child, or the Declaration of Geneva as it came to be known, was adopted a year later by the League of Nations. 1923 (MCMXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Declaration of the Rights of the Child, drafted by Eglantyne Jebb and adopted by the International Save the Children Union, Geneva, 23 February 1923 and endorsed by the League of Nations General Assembly on 26 November 1924: By the present declaration of the Rights of the Child, commonly known... The League of Nations was an international organization founded after the Paris Peace Conference of 1919. ...

With peace returning to Europe, and relief efforts in decline, the focus of the Save the Children movement shifted to promoting the Declaration. In 1925, the first International Child Welfare congress was held in Geneva. The Declaration was widely discussed and supported by organisations and governments. An expanded version would be adopted by the United Nations in 1959, and it was one of the main inspirations behind the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. 1925 (MCMXXV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ... Main article: League of Nations The term United Nations was coined by Franklin D. Roosevelt during World War II, to refer to the Allies. ... 1959 (MCMLIX) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Bold textThe United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is an international convention setting out the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of children. ...

For many years, Eglantyne had been suffering from ill-health and in 1928, following three operations for goitre, she died in a nursing home in Geneva, and is buried there in St George's cemetery. She is remembered today as the inspirational founder of the Save the Children organisation, which in its day was innovative not just in marketing methods, but also in its internationalist, non-sectarian and professional approach. 1928 (MCMXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ...

References

Rebel Daughter of a Country House by Francesca Wilson, London 1967.

Eglantyne Jebb, article in the Dictionary of National Biography.