Helen Priscilla Rabagliati,
MBE (; 1851–1934) was a philanthropist and campaigner for improvements in health, women's condition and political change.
Family
Helen Priscilla McLaren was born on 28 October 1851. She was the daughter of
Duncan McLaren
Duncan McLaren (12 January 1800 – 26 April 1886) was a Scottish Liberal Party politician and political writer. He served as a member of the burgh council of Edinburgh, then as Lord Provost, then as a Member of Parliament (MP) for the Edinbu ...
and
Priscilla Bright (sister of
John Bright
John Bright (16 November 1811 – 27 March 1889) was a British Radical and Liberal statesman, one of the greatest orators of his generation and a promoter of free trade policies.
A Quaker, Bright is most famous for battling the Corn La ...
). She was a sister of
Charles McLaren, 1st Baron Aberconway
Charles Benjamin Bright McLaren, 1st Baron Aberconway, (12 May 1850 – 23 January 1934), known as Sir Charles McLaren, 1st Baronet, between 1902 and 1911, was a Scottish jurist and Liberal Party politician. He was a landowner and industrialis ...
and
Walter McLaren
Walter Stowe Bright McLaren (17 April 1853 – 29 June 1912) was a British Liberal Party politician who was Member of Parliament (MP) for the Crewe division of Cheshire for a total of 11 years between 1886 and 1912.
He was the youngest chi ...
and was the cousin of
Helen Bright Clark
Helen Bright Clark (1840–1927) was a British women's rights activist and suffragist. The daughter of a radical Member of Parliament, Clark was a prominent speaker for women's voting rights and at times a political realist who served as a main ...
.
She married physician and author
Andrea Rabagliati on 25 May 1877. They had five children including
Euan Rabagliati
Cuthbert Euan Charles Rabagliati, , (1 January 1892 – 6 January 1978) was a British soldier, pilot, race car driver and intelligence officer. He served in the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) during the First World War and is credited as being the firs ...
, Duncan Silvestro Rabagliati OBE, Catherine Rabagliati MBE (Mayor of Paddington) and Herman Victor Rabagliati. Her grandson was
Alexander Rabagliati.
Activism
Her most significant and enduring contributions to
Bradford
Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...
were education and public health. She founded the early hospice St Catherine's and supported a maternity home for young unsupported women, St. Monica's. After 1900 she was very prominent in
West Riding
The West Riding of Yorkshire was one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the riding was an administrative county named County of York, West Riding. The lieutenancy at that time included the city of York a ...
Conservative women's politics. She increasingly took the opposite political viewpoint of that of her family.
During
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 was president of the Ilkley Ladies' Belgian Hospitality Committee. In recognition of the "kind help and valuable assistance personally given to the Belgian refugees and Belgian soldiers during the war" she was awarded the
Medaille de la Reine Elisabeth by the King of the Belgians.
['']Leeds Mercury
The ''Leeds Mercury'' was a newspaper published in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was published from 1718 to 1755 and again from 1767. Initially it consisted of 12 pages and cost three halfpennies. In 1794 it had a circulation of about 3,00 ...
'', 4 July 1918.
Rabagliati was invested as a Member, Order of the British Empire (
MBE).
Death
Rabagliati died on 3 January 1934, at age 82.
See also
*
References
External links
Bradford Telegraph and Argus: Lecture recalls politician Helen.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rabagliati, Helen
1851 births
1934 deaths
British philanthropists
People from Bradford
Members of the Order of the British Empire