Dorothy Frances Buxton (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Jebb; 3 August 1881 – 8 April 1963) was an English humanitarian, social activist and commentator on Germany.

Life

Dorothy Frances Jebb was born 3 August 1881 in

Ellesmere, Shropshire Ellesmere ( ) is a town in the civil parish of Ellesmere Urban, in Shropshire, England; it is located near to the Welsh border, the towns of Oswestry and Whitchurch, Shropshire, Whitchurch, and the Welsh city of Wrexham. It is notable for its ...

, the youngest of three sisters born to Arthur Trevor Jebb (1839–1894) and Eglantyne Louisa Jebb. Her mother's brother was the Cambridge classicist Sir

Richard Claverhouse Jebb Sir Richard Claverhouse Jebb (27 August 1841 – 9 December 1905) was a British classical scholar and Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), MP for Cambridge. Life Jebb was born in Dundee, Scotland, to Robert, a well-known Irish barrister, an ...

, and Dorothy was educated at

Newnham College, Cambridge Newnham College is a women's constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sidgwick and suffragist campaigner Millicen ...

.Dorothy Frances Jebb (I23268) profile
stanford.edu. Accessed 24 January 2023. In 1904, she married

Charles Roden Buxton Charles Roden Buxton (27 November 1875 – 16 December 1942) was an English philanthropist and radical British Liberal Party politician who later joined the Labour Party. He survived an assassination attempt during a mission to the Balkans in ...

, at that time a Liberal politician, and the pair were active in the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

. In 1915, she joined the

Women's International League for Peace and Freedom The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) is a non-profit non-governmental organization working "to bring together women of different political views and philosophical and religious backgrounds determined to study and make kno ...

. In 1917, she and her husband left the Liberal Party for the Labour Party, and joined the

Society of Friends Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

. During the

First World War 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 compiled "Notes from the Foreign Press" for '' Cambridge Magazine''. Her writing inspired the Fight the Famine Council, founded in 1918 as an effort to alleviate starvation of civilians in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

during the Allied blockade of Germany in

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 ...

, which led to the Save the Children Fund, which she and her sister,

Eglantyne Jebb Eglantyne Jebb (25 August 1876 – 17 December 1928) was a British social reformer who founded the Save the Children organisation at the end of World War I to relieve the effects of famine in Austria-Hungary and Germany. She drafted the docu ...

, founded in 1919. In 1935, increasingly concerned at Nazi treatment of Christians in Germany, she visited Germany to see for herself.'Church and Politics: Dorothy Buxton and the German Church Struggle', in ''History, religion, and identity in modern Britain'', Continuum International Publishing Group, 1893, pp. 183-194 She secured an interview with

Hermann Göring Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician, aviator, military leader, and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which gov ...

to raise the issue of treatment of civilians.Clare Mulley
The Woman who Saved the Children
, Oxford: Oneworld, 2009, p. xix-xx. Upon her return, she informed George Bell, Bishop of Chicester, that German Christians whom she had met "seemed oppressed and bound with the apparent necessity of extreme caution".R. C. D. Jasper, ''George Bell, Bishop of Chicester'', p. 205. Cited in Robbins, p. 184 Though her husband campaigned for

appeasement Appeasement, in an International relations, international context, is a diplomacy, diplomatic negotiation policy of making political, material, or territorial concessions to an aggressive power (international relations), power with intention t ...

of Germany, Dorothy Buxton became convinced that war was necessary against the Nazis. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

she campaigned for

refugees A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...

from Nazi Germany, as well as for the welfare of German prisoners of war. She died 8 April 1963 in

Peaslake Peaslake, Hoe, and Colman's Hill are in the centre of the Surrey Hills National Landscape and mid-west of the Greensand Ridge about ESE of Guildford. Surrounded by denser pine and other coniferous forest-clad hills, the three conjoined settl ...

, near

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, England, around south-west of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The nam ...

, aged 81. Papers relating to her and her husband are held at the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

Works

* (with Charles Roden Buxton) ''The world after the war'', London: G. Allen & Unwin Ltd. 920 Translated into German by Rudolf Berger as ''Die Welt nach dem Weltkriege'', 1921. * ''The war for coal and iron', London : The Labour Party, 921 * ''Upper Silesia and the European crisis'', London : Fight the Famine Council, 921 * ''The challenge of bolshevism; a new social ideal'', London: G. Allen & Unwin, 1928. * (ed.) ''Save the child: a posthumous essay'' by

. London : The Weardale Press, 1929. * (with Edward Fuller) ''The white flame: the story of the Save the children fund'', London, New York: Longmans, Green and Co.; London: The Weardale Press, Ltd., 1931. * (as 'An English Protestant') ''The Church Struggle in Germany: A Survey of Four Years, March 1933-July 1937'', London, 1937. * ''The Religious Crisis in Germany'', Kulturkampf Association: London, 938.* (ed. and tr.) ''I Was In Prison: letters from German pastors'', Student Christian Movement Press: London, 1938 * ''The economics of the refugee problem'', ondon Focus Publishing Co., 938 * (with

Norman Angell Sir Ralph Norman Angell (26 December 1872 – 7 October 1967) was an English Nobel Peace Prize winner. He was a lecturer, journalist, author and Member of Parliament for the Labour Party. Angell was one of the principal founders of the Union ...

) ''You and the refugee: the moral and economics of the problem'', Harmondsworth : Penguin Books Ltd., 1939. Translated into Spanish by F. Fernández de la Madroñera as ''El crimen de nuestro tiempo: la raza blanca en peligro'', 1943. * (ed. with a foreword) ''Christendom on trial : documents of the German church struggle, 1938-39'', London: Friends of Europe, 939* (ed. and completed) ''Prophets of heaven & hell: Virgil, Dante, Milton, Goethe'' by

. Cambridge: The University Press, 1945

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Buxton, Dorothy 1881 births 1963 deaths English activists English women activists Liberal Party (UK) politicians Labour Party (UK) people English Quakers Women's International League for Peace and Freedom people People from Ellesmere, Shropshire Alumni of Newnham College, Cambridge

Dorothy Dorothy may refer to: *Dorothy (given name), a list of people with that name. Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Dorothy'' (TV series), 1979 American TV series * Dorothy Mills, a 2008 French movie, sometimes titled simply ''Dorot ...

Life

Works

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References

External links