Person    | Female  Born 4/5/1851  Died 10/6/1936

Dame Henrietta Barnett, D.B.E.

Categories: Social Welfare

Founder of Henrietta Barnett School for Girls and Hampstead Garden Suburb. The picture shows Henrietta with her husband Samuel Barnett.
Born Henrietta Octavia Rowland. With her vicar husband she came to believe in "environmental determinism" - that the poor are brutalised by their squalid environment and so began a lifetime of philanthropic social work in the East End where they built Toynbee Hall (still fulfilling its original function in 2007) and promoted respectable work in household service as an alternative to prostitution. Her campaign to close the brothels was criticised for making the girls more vulnerable to attack by Jack the Ripper (at this point it is definitely worth following the link to her husband, Samuel). With her bulldozing personality she was nicknamed "the Vicaress". While living and working in some of the worst slums in Europe in the East End they bought St Jude's Cottage at Spaniard's Inn on Hampstead Heath as a week-end retreat. Seeing that the extension of the Northern Line out to Golders Green was about to provoke a flurry of unplanned development she formed a philanthropic trust, bought the land and oversaw the development of Hampstead Garden Suburb.
Made a Dame in 1924. Died at her home in South Square. Buried St. Helen's Churchyard near Hove, beside her husband.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Dame Henrietta Barnett, D.B.E.

Commemorated ati

First house tree

October 2nd 1907. This tree was planted by Mrs Barnett on the occasion of th...

Read More

Henrietta Barnett monument

Unveiled 17 July 1937.

Read More

Henrietta Barnett plaque

Prior to the death of her husband in 1913, Dame Henrietta Barnett had been li...

Read More

Henrietta & Samuel Barnett

While they lived there they called this "St Jude's Cottage". Initially it wa...

Read More

St Mary Matfelon

Our picture comes from Google satellite view and shows, better than can be se...

Read More

Other Subjects

Hospital of St Anthony

Hospital of St Anthony

Henry III granted this site to the brotherhood of St. Anthony of Vienna to set up a hospital, which over time consisted of almshouses for the poor, a church and a school. After the dissolution of t...

Building, Education, Religion, Social Welfare

1 memorial
Morris Leivesley

Morris Leivesley

54 years secretary of the Foundling Hospital.

Person, Social Welfare

1 memorial
Air Raid Precautions (ARP)

Air Raid Precautions (ARP)

In WW2 each local council was responsible for setting up the local ARP to protect civilians from air raids. ARP Wardens were important members, enforcing the blackout, sounding the alarms, etc.

Group, Social Welfare

1 memorial
Shelter

Shelter

A charity that campaigns to end homelessness and bad housing in England and Scotland. Founded by Bruce Kenrick,  it evolved out of the work on behalf of homeless people being carried on at St Marti...

Group, Social Welfare

1 memorial
Shepherds Bush Housing Association

Shepherds Bush Housing Association

Founded in the late 1960’s by members of St Stephen's Church in Shepherds Bush who were becoming increasingly concerned by the appalling conditions some parishioners lived in. Now known as Shepherd...

Group, Property, Social Welfare

1 memorial

Previously viewed

LSHTM - Gorgas

LSHTM - Gorgas

WC1, Gower Street, School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

This listed building was designed by Vernor Rees in 1926, one of the first steel-framed buildings ever erected. The balconies are decorat...

1 subject commemorated
London Tree Forum

London Tree Forum

We cannot find anything about this group. There is a site called the Ancient Tree Forum, but it doesn't refer to this tree. The web address www.forestry.gov.uk on the plaque is that of the Forestry...

Group, Gardens / Agriculture

2 memorials
James Anthony Froude

James Anthony Froude

Historian. novelist and biographer. Born at Dartington Rectory, Devon. He intended to become a clergyman, but his doubts expressed in his novel 'The Nemesis of Faith' changed his mind and he turned...

Person, History, Literature

1 memorial
Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes

Originally named Sheridan Hope, then Sherringford Holmes and finally Sherlock Holmes. Created by Arthur Conan Doyle, the first story was begun in 1886. The Festival of Britain had an exhibition es...

Fiction, Fictional, Seriously Famous

7 memorials