Caroline Chisholm
Caroline Chisholm (born May 30, 1808 in Northampton- Wootton, England , † March 25, 1877 in London - Highgate ) was a British philanthropist and social reformer who was known for her work in Australia .
Life
Caroline Jones was the youngest daughter of the wealthy family of landowner and pig farmer William Jones. At the age of 22 she married Captain Archibald Chisholm, 13 years her senior, of the East India Company . He was a Catholic, which is why she converted to his faith. The wedding took place according to Anglican ritual.
Captain Chisholm was first stationed in India in 1832. Caroline also moved to Madras in 1833 , where she founded a school in 1834 for the wives and daughters of British soldiers who had previously been forced to live in poverty or in prostitution. The women's school taught reading, writing, cooking, housekeeping, childcare and religion.
Arrival in Australia
In 1838 the family decided to vacation in Australia. The British-Indian government handed over the school at Madras and the Chisholms moved to Sydney . Caroline Chisholm settled in Windsor , New South Wales with her three children ; her husband returned to his post in 1840, while Caroline opted for Australia.
In the port of Sydney, she noticed the misery among unemployed immigrants and released prisoners. First she accommodated young women in her property and brokered them, then from 1841 Chisholm founded the first girls' home in town with the approval of the governor. Other homes, schools and obstetrics stations followed. In 1842 she was able to close the main sanctuary in Sydney again, as her efforts were successful and the stranded had fully integrated. Further plans for a land lease program to immigrant families initially failed several times due to opposition and the influence of local landowners.
Work on a private colonization program
Archibald Chisholm resigned in 1845 and returned to Australia. Caroline Chisholm had meanwhile undertaken extensive journeys through New South Wales, collecting arguments for the colonization program she was promoting, which was less based on the large landowners than the existing one. In 1846 the couple returned to London, where Caroline Chisholm reported to the House of Lords. The emigration of entire families was not supported by the legislature; but their suggestion that the families of the exiled prisoners should follow suit was accepted.
Caroline Chisholm, whose nature was described as unyielding, now worked doggedly and with radical zeal to overcome the structures that she did not accept. Thanks to wealthy private supporters as Wyndham Harding (social reformer, 1817-1855) or Charles Dickens could 1849, the Family Colonization Loan Society : (about Credit Society of Family colonization reasons). This gave loans to those willing to emigrate, which were supposed to finance the trip to Australia and the settlement there. Gold discoveries in Australia sparked interest. Archibald Chisholm returned to Australia as the company's agent in 1851 while Caroline promoted the project in Great Britain, Germany, France and Italy. She also visited Pope Pius IX. At her instigation, the Passenger Act (for better crossing conditions) was passed in 1852.
End of life
She returned to Australia in 1854 and continued to promote her privately organized social reforms, which were beginning to take effect. In 1866 the Chisholms returned to England, where they received a small pension. Caroline died in 1877; her husband Archibald died a year later.
Honors
Numerous educational institutions in England and Australia are named after Chisholm, as is a suburb of Canberra . Australian postage stamps and banknotes showed a portrait of Chisholm. Dickens is said to have based his fictional character Mrs. Jellyby in his novel Bleak House on Chisholm.
The first biography of Chisholm appeared in Melbourne in 1857; others followed until 1914.
Caroline Chisholm is remembered in the Anglican Church's calendar of saints . There are efforts to canonize them also in the Catholic Church.
literature
- Judith Iltis, Chisholm, Caroline (1808–1877) , Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 1, Melbourne University Press, 1966, pp. 221-223
- Antonius Lux (ed.): Great women of world history. A thousand biographies in words and pictures . Sebastian Lux Verlag , Munich 1963, p. 107.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Chisholm, Caroline |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Jones, Caroline |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British philanthropist and social reformer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 30, 1808 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Northampton- Wootton |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 25, 1877 |
| Place of death | London - Highgate |