CAROLINE CHISHOLM

'Caroline Chisholm' (1808 - March 25, 1877) was a progressive 19th-century English humanitarian known mostly for her involvement with female immigrant welfare in Australia. She is commemorated in the Calendar of saints of the Church of England.

Contents

Early life

Life in Madras, India

Life in New South Wales, Australia

Attributions

References

Further Reading

Early life

At the age of 22, Caroline married Captain Archibald Chisholm, of the East India company, thirteen years her senior. Like her, Archibald came from a relatively privileged background, descended from Scottish land-owning highlanders whose fortune had dwindled over the years. Unusual among many of her contemporaries, Caroline agreed to marry Archibald under the condition that he treat her as an equal and support her in her philanthropic activities. She did, however, convert from Protestantism to her husband's religion, Roman Catholicism.

Life in Madras, India

In 1832, Captain Chisholm was stationed in Madras, India. As an officer's wife, Chisholm enjoyed a lifestyle of comfort and luxury, which only highlighted the stark privation and squalor she observed on the streets of Madras. The dire poverty of children begging for food and sleeping in doorways particularly affected her.
When she discovered that some of the destitute street urchins she saw regularly were actually the children of enlisted British soldiers Chisholm decided to take action. She established the Female School of Industry for the Daughters of European Soldiers. By removing these children from the streets and educating them, Chisholm hoped to eventually secure paid employment and better opportunities for them.

Life in New South Wales, Australia

In 1838, she and her family moved to Sydney in the colony of New South Wales in Australia because her husband was on sick leave.
Caroline met immigrant ships and in particular assisted young women who arrived in the colony alone. She approached the Governor, George Gipps, with a plan for a house for immigrant women. Her first approach was turned down, but she went back twice to argue her case. Eventually Governor Gipps presented her with part of an empty immigration barracks.
The immigration barracks when Chisholm first visited them were terribly filthy, plagued with rats and vermin. She worked hard to clean the barracks and, when they were finished, girls flooded in to escape from life on the streets. Chisholm taught them how to cook and clean, speak correctly, a little bit of numeracy, and more.
When the girls were trained, the next part of Chisholm's mission arrived. Now that they were properly qualified for the job, the girls had to find a place of work. Caroline saw potential in the bush farms of the colony, so she organised drays to deliver the girls to the farms to become paid farm maids.
Chisholm continued to help the women of the colony for many years. After a while she felt her job was done. She and Archibald returned to England in 1848 where she worked with the British government to improve the conditions on ships destined for New South Wales.

Attributions

★ Caroline Chisholm School, an all-through 4-18 primary and secondary school, located in Northampton, England that opened in September 2004, is named after her.^[1]

★ The character of Mrs Jellyby in Dickens' novel, ''Bleak House'', was based on her.^[2]

References

1. "Caroline Chisholm 1808 - 1877", BBC, January 2004
2. "Caroline Chisholm - The Emigrants' Friend", BBC, 2 December 2005

Further Reading

★ Australian Dictionary of Biography entry

★ De Vries, Susanna. ''Strength of spirit: pioneering women of achievement from First Fleet to Federation'', Millennium Books, 1995. ISBN 0-7022-1346-2

★ Lake, M./ McGrath, A. et al. (1994), "Creating a Nation", Viking: Ringwood

★ Northamptonshire people: Caroline Chisholm from the BBC website

★ ''Caroline Chisholm: Friend or Foe?'', a subsection from the ''Gold!'' website on Australia's 19th century gold rushes

★ Hoban, Mary. ''Fifty One Pieces Of Wedding Cake. A Biography Of Caroline Chisholm. ''Lowden, Kilmore Victoria, 1973