Barnett, Henrietta (1851–1936)
Barnett, Henrietta (1851–1936)
English philanthropist and social-welfare activist. Name variations: Dame Henrietta Octavia Weston Barnett. Born Henrietta Octavia Weston Rowland, 1851, in Clapham, London, England; died 1936 in England; m. Samuel Augustus Barnett (Anglican curate of St Mary's, Bryanston Square; canon of St Jude's Whitechapel; co-founder of Toynbee Hall), 1873.
Worked with social-activist Octavia Hill at St. Mary's, Bryanston Square; moved with husband to parish of St. Jude's Whitechapel, supporting him in an arduous 33-year ministry; participated in founding and running Toynbee Hall, part of the settlement-house movement which called for university-educated young people to settle in areas of poverty to promote social welfare; helped open evening schools for adults, Saturday schools for children, vocational training and construction model dwellings for poor, and Henrietta Barnett School for girls (1911); advocated Christian Socialism, as expounded in husband's Practicable Socialism (1885); developed independent interests which included welfare of servants and children, Children's Country Holiday Fund, London Pupil Teachers' Association, and preservation of Hampstead Heath. Named Dame Commander of British Empire (DBE, 1924).