Henrietta Barnett

Infobox Person
name = Dame Henrietta Octavia Rowland Barnett
birth_date = Birth date|1851|5|4|df=y
birth_place = Clapham, England
death_date = Death date and age|1936|6|10|1851|5|4|df=y
death_place = Hampstead Garden Suburb
spouse = Samuel Augustus Barnett
occupation = Humanitarian, Author
nationality = English

Dame Henrietta Barnett, DBE (4 May 1851 – 1936) was a notable English social reformer and author. She and her husband, Samuel Augustus Barnett, founded the first 'University Settlement' at Toynbee Hall (in the East End of London) in 1884.

Personal life

Born Henrietta Octavia Rowland, daughter of Alexander Rowland, a wealthy businessman. She was born in Clapham, where she developed an enjoyment of country pursuits. She worked with Octavia Hill who was instrumental in introducing her to the curate of St Mary's, Bryanston Square, London. She subsequently married Samuel Barnett in 1873 and later that year the Barnetts moved to the impoverished Whitechapel parish of St Jude’s intent on improving social conditions.

A strong believer in the power of education to effect social change, she helped establish the Children's Country Holiday Fund (1884) and annual loan exhibitions of fine art at the Whitechapel gallery. The current Whitechapel Gallery was built in 1897 at the behest of the Barnetts, in the Arts and crafts style.

She was also strongly associated with the Hampstead area of north-west London, conceiving the idea of the model housing development of Hampstead Garden Suburb in 1904 (working with architects Raymond Unwin and Sir Edwin Lutyens) and helping protect part of Hampstead Heath from development by Eton College. Ironically, given that this was intended to provide affordable housing, this area contains some of the most expensive real-estate per unit area in London.

Henrietta Barnett also founded the Henrietta Barnett School in Hampstead Garden Suburb in 1911.

Barnett wrote several books, alone and with her husband. These include "Practicable Socialism", which sets out their Christian Socialist beliefs.

For her work as a social reformer, Barnett was awarded the CBE in 1917 and was created a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1924. She lived at Heath End House in Spaniards Road, Hampstead (today marked by a blue plaque) until her death, twelve years later, in 1936. She is buried with her husband in the churchyard of St Helen's Church, Hangleton, East Sussex.cite book |last=Dale |first=Antony |title=Brighton Churches |origyear=1989 |location=London EC4 |isbn=0-415-00863-8 |pages=p227 ]

Published works

* cite book
last = Barnett
first = Henrietta Rowland
title = Canon Barnett: His Life, Work, and Friends
origyear = 1919
url = http://books.google.com/books?id=FVE3AAAAMAAJ
format = pdf
accessdate = 2008-03-31
date = 1919
publisher = Houghton Mifflin

* cite book
last = Barnett
first = Samuel Augustus
coauthors = Henrietta Barnett
title = Practicable Socialism: Essays on Social Reform
origyear = 1888
url =
format =
date = 1972
location = Freeport, N.Y.
publisher = Books for Libraries Press

* cite book
last = Barnett
first = Samuel Augustus
coauthors = Henrietta Barnett
title = Towards Social Reform
origyear = 1909
date = 1909
location = New York
publisher = Macmillan Co.
* cite book
last = Barnett
first = Henrietta Rowland
title = Matters that Matter
origyear = 1930
publisher = J. Murray

References

* cite book
last = Group
first = Taylor & Francis
coauthors = Cathy Hartley, Susan Lecky
title = "'A Historical Dictionary of British Women
date = 2003
location = London and New York
publisher = Routledge
url = http://books.google.com/books?id=pDtEe4FKolUC
id = ISBN 1857432282

* cite encyclopedia
last = Smith
first = M. K.
encyclopedia = The Encyclopaedia of Informal Education
title = Henrietta Barnett, social reform and community building
date = 2007
publisher =
url = http://www.infed.org/thinkers/henrietta_barnett.htm

External links

*worldcat id|lccn-nr00-3203
*NRA|P1602

Biography: Alison Creedon, Only a Woman: Henrietta Barnett, Social Reformer and Founder of Hampstead Garden Suburb (Chichester: Phillimore,2006)