大象传媒

Branded 鈥渢hat bloody woman鈥� by some 鈥� is Emily Hobhouse a forgotten Cornish heroine? The daughter of a St Ive rector, the human rights campaigner; Emily Hobhouse was considered a threat to the establishment. But to her friend Mahatma Gandhi, one of a tiny minority who admired her pacifist campaigns through two wars, she was "one of the noblest and bravest of women".

An Associate Professor at Exeter University Sharon Lowenna came across Emily鈥檚 story on a trip to South Africa where Emily had tirelessly campaigned for the rights of women and children in the prisoner of war camps of the Boer War.

鈥淪he鈥檇 seen what women and children suffered in wartime in South Africa and did not want that to happen again.鈥� (Sharon Lowenna, University of Exeter)

But there was no stopping it; war was declared in August 1914.

Hobhouse鈥檚 Open Christmas Letter was written in 1914 and published in a journal in 1915. The Open Christmas Letter was a public message for peace addressed "To the Women of Germany and Austria".

The letter sparked a series of letters between the women of the warring nations.

鈥淭here was in the early part of the war, 1914, of course a great deal of patriotism. It was all going to be over by Christmas. The Christmas Letter wasn鈥檛 really necessary. Now we know different. Those that were lobbying for peace and certainly many socialists were tracked by secret services they were monitored. If they were rather too militant of course they were interned so it was quite a divisive time, right across Europe, certainly in Britain,鈥� explains Sharon Lowenna.

Sharon Lowenna says that in 1916 Emily managed to cross from Switzerland into Germany persuading the German foreign minister in Berlin to let her inspect prisoner of war and civilian camps in both Germany and Belgium.

Crossing back in to Switzerland, Emily was detained by the authorities who confiscated her passport and sent her straight back to Britain to be questioned by the foreign office.

Emily鈥檚 ability to make things happen is not lost on those who have researched her story, particularly her great niece.

鈥淎s someone said when they wanted to send milk and stuff to babies in Petrograd after the war they said: 鈥榳ell you can move mountains you can get the necessary permission for us to do this鈥�. And that鈥檚 what she was able to do. She went into Germany she wanted to get a better attitude with the people and she achieved that. Though she was very sick and ill she managed to do these things,鈥� says Jenny Balme, great niece of Emily Hobhouse.

Emily died in 1926, her ashes are held at the National Women鈥檚 Monument at Bloemfontein in South Africa, the one country where she was held in such high esteem.
There is a town named after her and even a submarine the SAS 鈥楨mily Hobhouse鈥� was one of the South African Navy鈥檚 Daphne Class submarines.

Location: St Ive, Liskeard, Cornwall PL14 3LX
Image: Emily Hobhouse in her home garden in St Ives, courtesy of Jennifer Balme

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