Hilda Chamberlain

Caroline "Hilda" Chamberlain (16 May 1872 – 28 December 1967) was a British political organiser and activist.

Hilda Chamberlain
Born16 May 1872
Edgbaston
Died28 December 1967 (1967-12-29) (aged 95)
Odiham
NationalityUnited Kingdom

Life

Chamberlain was born in 1872 in Edgbaston. Her parents were Florence (born Kenrick) and Joseph Chamberlain. Her father was a leading statesman and he had been married before. Her mother died in childbirth in 1875 and her elder half sister Beatrice became her de facto parent.[1]

She was educated at Marie Souvestre's Allenswood Boarding Academy together with her sisters, Ida and Ethel.[2]

In 1914 her father died after being paralysed from a stroke for seven years. She and Ida had given up their own aspirations and social life to care for him. This may have been the reason they did not marry.[3]

He left £20,000 to each of his daughters and she decided to buy a house with her sister Ida. They bought the "Bury House"[1] (now Grade two listed[4]) in Odiham which dated from the 1600s and had good transport links to London. At the new house at Christmas 1914 they began to plan new works. Hilda was to get involved with creating parcels to go to prisoners of war.[1]

At the end of the war some women were given the vote. Hilda became involved with Women's Institutes where women could gather and discuss issues of importance. She used her W.I. influence to help a woman (her sister Ida) to get elected to Hampshire County Council.[5] In 1935 she became the organisations national treasurer.[1]

She and her sister were well informed. Their brothers Austen and Neville Chamberlain held all the major positions in the British government and both of them would send regular and informative letters. At one time they were both in the cabinet.[3] She and Ida were concerned about the military threat posed by Hitler's rise to power in Germany and they tried to influence Neville as Prime Minister. In 1939 war broke out and Neville soon resigned.[2]

Her sister and housemate died at "The Bury" in Odiham in 1943. She survived her and died in her nineties, also at home in Odiham, in 1967.[1]

Further reading
  • The Chamberlain Litany: Letters Within a Governing Family from Empire to Appeasement (2010) by Peter Marsh[3]

References
  1. "Chamberlain, (Caroline) Hilda (1872–1967)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/105116. Retrieved 2020-08-28.
  2. "Chamberlain Family Guide" (PDF). University of Birmingham - Cadbury. last in 2016. Retrieved 26 August 2020. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. "The Chamberlain Litany: Letters Within a Governing Family from Empire to Appeasement | Reviews in History". reviews.history.ac.uk. Retrieved 2020-08-28.
  4. "Savills | Bury House, The Bury, Odiham, Hampshire, RG29 1LZ | Properties for sale". search.savills.com. Retrieved 2020-08-28.
  5. "Chamberlain, (Florence) Ida (1870–1943)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/105115. Retrieved 2020-08-29.
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