Alice Stanley Armitage (24 February 1869 – 30 August 1949) was a campaigner for the blind and principal founder of the

National Council for the Blind of Ireland The National Council for the Blind of Ireland (NCBI), in Drumcondra, Dublin, is a charitable organisation which provides support and services to people experiencing sight loss in Republic of Ireland, Ireland Established in 1931 by Alice Stanley ...

Family

Alice Stanley Armitage was born in

County Tipperary County Tipperary () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary (tow ...

, the daughter of

Thomas Rhodes Armitage Thomas Rhodes Armitage (2 April 1824 – 23 October 1890) was a British physician, and founder of the Royal National Institute of Blind People. He was born at Tilgate in Sussex into a family of wealthy Yorkshire industrialists, the son of Ja ...

and Harriet Black. Her mother was the heiress of the Noan estate,

. Her father, a physician who became blind in adulthood, founded the

Royal National Institute for the Blind RNIB (formally, the Royal National Institute of Blind People and previously the Royal National Institute for the Blind) is a British charity, founded in 1868, that serves people living with visual impairments. It is regarded as a leader in th ...

in England. She was the niece of painter

Edward Armitage Edward Armitage (20 May 1817 – 24 May 1896) was an English Victorian-era painter whose work focused on historical, classical and biblical subjects. Family background Armitage was born in London to a family of wealthy Yorkshire industrialist ...

, who painted her portrait in 1891, and the first cousin of politician Robert Armitage.

Career in philanthropy

Armitage was a member of the executive council of the Royal National Institute for the Blind, and established a school for the blind in Zeitoun, Egypt, in 1901, fulfilling her late father's wishes. During and after

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, she focused on the needs of newly-blind veterans. She was the principal founder and first president of the National Council for the Blind of Ireland when it was established in 1931, under the original name of the National Council for the Welfare of the Blind of Ireland. Her small but lavish acts of generosity, involving chocolates, strawberries, theatre tickets, or other treats, were fondly recalled.

Death and legacy

Armitage was deaf in her later years, and lived sparely, devoting all her available resources to her causes; she died on 30 August 1949 in

Chertsey Chertsey is a town in the Borough of Runnymede, Surrey, England, southwest of central London. It grew up around Chertsey Abbey, founded in AD 666 by Earconwald, St Erkenwald, and gained a municipal charter, market charter from Henry I of Engla ...

, Surrey, at the age of 80. The Armitage Memorial Fund, benefiting blind causes in Ireland, was established in her memory. Armitage House, the expanded headquarters of the National Council for the Blind of Ireland, opened in the late 1960s. A plaque was unveiled to a number of the Armitage family members involved in advocacy for the blind and partially sighted at Magorban Church,

Cashel Cashel (an Anglicised form of the Irish language word ''Caiseal'', meaning "stone fort") may refer to: Places in Ireland *Cashel, County Tipperary **The Rock of Cashel, an ancient, hilltop fortress complex for which Cashel is named ** Archbishop ...

in 2006. Edward Armitage's portrait of Alice Stanley Armitage is in the collection of the

University of Limerick University of Limerick (UL) () is a Public university, public research university institution in Limerick, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Founded in 1972, as the National Institute for Higher Education, Limerick, it became a university in Septemb ...

. Her niece Doris Mary Rhodes Armitage (1900–1979) was later president of the National Council for the Blind of Ireland.

References

External links

Letter from Helen Keller to M. C. Migel
discussing a visit to Alice S. Armitage, dated 30 June 1934, in the Helen Keller Archive {{DEFAULTSORT:Armitage, Alice Stanley 1869 births 1949 deaths Founders of charities 20th-century philanthropists