Read Part One HERE
In this blog I will focus on a woman named Sophia Sturge. She lived from 1849 -1936. Sophia was born in Edgbaston, Birmingham, England. Her parents were Quaker abolitionists Joseph Sturge and his second wife Hannah Sturge Dickinson. After an education at home, Sophia devoted her life to philantrophy and to attempts at reform.
Sophia was a president of the Young British Women's Temperance Association and a member of the Women's Liberal Social Council. She was a strong supporter of suffragism.
As a supporter of the Irish Home Rule Movement and appalled by the poverty in Ireland, Sophia moved to Connemara in 1888, where, with financial assistant from some Quakers, she set up a basket-making industry in the village of Letterfrack, which had already become a place of residence for several other Quakers.
Sophia taught the young girls the art of basket-making leading to a self-sustaining enterprise that sold many of its products in Britain. She lived there for seven years but then returned to England for health reasons.
By 1900, pacifism had become the main focus of Sophie's activities and she attended several international peace conferences. She was involved in the setting up of the "Friends Emergency Committee" during the First World War. After the war Sophie went to the Netherlands where she helped German children affected by the war. She also spoke at many British schools.
Sophia died in 1936.
Read Part Eleven HERE