Janet Penrose Trevelyan, CH (''née'' Ward; 6 November 1879 – 7 September 1956) was a British writer, social campaigner, and fundraiser.

Biography

Trevelyan was born Janet Penrose Ward in Oxford on 6 November 1879. She was the daughter of art critic Humphry Ward and writer

Mary Augusta Ward Mary Augusta Ward (''née'' Arnold; 11 June 1851 – 24 March 1920) was a British literature, British novelist who wrote under her married name as Mrs Humphry Ward. She worked to improve education for the poor, setting up a Mary Ward Centre, ...

, and through her mother was related to

Matthew Arnold Matthew Arnold (24 December 1822 – 15 April 1888) was an English poet and cultural critic. He was the son of Thomas Arnold, the headmaster of Rugby School, and brother to both Tom Arnold (academic), Tom Arnold, literary professor, and Willi ...

and Thomas Arnold. Her brother was the Conservative MP Arnold Ward. Educated at home, and without attending university, Trevelyan translated Adolf Jülicher's ''Introduction to the New Testament'', and Wilhelm Bousset's ''Life of Jesus'' in the early 1900s. She wrote a biography of her mother after her mother died in 1920 Following in her mother's footsteps, Trevelyan became involved in the movement to provide play centres for London children, which were eventually transferred to the

London County Council The London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today ...

in 1941. From 1931 to 1935 she organised the "Save the Foundling Site" appeal to purchase the site of the

Foundling Hospital The Foundling Hospital (formally the Hospital for the Maintenance and Education of Exposed and Deserted Young Children) was a children's home in London, England, founded in 1739 by the philanthropy, philanthropic Captain (nautical), sea captain ...

in Bloomsbury as a playground and welfare centre for children. Today the site is known as Coram's Fields. For her efforts, she was appointed a Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour in 1936. Trevelyan also had a special interest in Italy: she authored several books on the country, and was instrumental in the establishment and survival of the British Institute of Florence, to which she served as Honorary Secretary from 1920 to 1946. On 19 March 1904, she married historian

George Macaulay Trevelyan George Macaulay Trevelyan (16 February 1876 – 21 July 1962) was an English historian and academic. He was a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, from 1898 to 1903. He then spent more than twenty years as a full-time author. He returned to th ...

and they had two sons and a daughter together. She died in the Royal Infirmary at

Newcastle-upon-Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle ( , Received Pronunciation, RP: ), is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is England's northernmost metropolitan borough, located o ...

, as a result of arteriosclerosis on 7 September 1956.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trevelyan, Janet 1879 births 1956 deaths English activists English women activists Members of the Order of the Companions of Honour English biographers Deaths from arteriosclerosis Trevelyan family