Today is when the Church of England remembers Eglantyne Jebb, the founder of Save the Children who (having been born on 25 August 1876) died on this date in 1928.
Eglantyne – whose nickname was 'white heat' because of her passion for justice – was a British humanitarian with a strong social conscience who was raised into a large, wealthy family before training to be a teacher.
However, after just a year of teaching Eglantyne moved to Cambridge to look after her sick mother. Some time during her twenties, Eglantyne had a vision of Jesus which acted as the formative experience of her life, after which she would always, when faced with a challenge ask: 'What would Christ do?'
After various pieces of charity work and a book – Cambridge, a Study in Social Questions – Eglantyne became aware of the situation facing children in Germany and Austria-Hungary towards the end of World War I which spelled defeat for their side. Eglantyne campaigned for the British government to end an economic blockade there and to help the children of these enemy countries.
On April 15, 1919, the Save The Children Fund was founded by Eglantyne and her sister Dorothy to help these children. Surprisingly, its official launch at the Royal Albert Hall in London on May 19, 1919 saw large sums of money raised for the fund.
As peace returned to Europe, Eglantyne focused this now internationally growing movement on a declaration of rights for children. In 1925, the first International Child Welfare congress was held in Geneva, and the declaration was widely discussed and supported by organisations and governments. An extended 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.
After many months of suffering from a thyroid problem, Eglantyne died at a nursing home in Geneva. She is remembered there at St. George's cemetery.
