Maud Adeline Cloudesley Brereton (1872 – 1946), formerly Horobin, née Ford, was a British feminist and sanitary reformer who worked first in education and then as a promotional writer for the gas industry.

Personal life and education

Maud Adeline Ford was born on 19 May 1872 in

Marylebone Marylebone (usually , also ) is an area in London, England, and is located in the City of Westminster. It is in Central London and part of the West End. Oxford Street forms its southern boundary. An ancient parish and latterly a metropo ...

in London, the eldest child of Matthew Ford, a butler and house steward, and Ellen Catherine (née MacDonald). She was baptised in July 1872. She trained as a teacher at

Hockerill College Hockerill Anglo-European College (formerly known as Hockerill School) is an international school, international boarding school, state boarding school with Academy (English school), academy status located in Bishop's Stortford, England. Histor ...

Bishop's Stortford Bishop's Stortford is a historic market town and civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district, in the county of Hertfordshire, England. It is in the London metropolitan area, London commuter belt, near the border with Essex, just west of the ...

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

, and worked as headmistress of St Andrews Girls School in

Willesden Willesden () is an area of north-west London, situated 5 miles (8 km) north-west of Charing Cross. It is historically a parish in the county of Middlesex that was incorporated as the Municipal Borough of Willesden in 1933; it has formed ...

in 1893, then from 1894 as headmistress of Baroness Burdett-Coutts School in

Highgate Highgate is a suburban area of N postcode area, north London in the London Borough of Camden, London Boroughs of Camden, London Borough of Islington, Islington and London Borough of Haringey, Haringey. The area is at the north-eastern corner ...

, both girls' secondary schools. In 1897 she became resident tutor at

Homerton College, Cambridge Homerton College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Its first premises were acquired in Homerton, London in 1768, by an informal gathering of Protestant dissenters with origins in the seventeenth century. In 1894, the col ...

, marrying the principal, John Horobin, shortly thereafter. By the time of Horobin's early death in 1902, they had two daughters and a son. One of their daughters, Norah Horobin, went on to become a teacher and ended her career as headmistress of

Roedean School Roedean () is a private boarding school governed by royal charter on the outskirts of Brighton, United Kingdom. It was founded in 1885 by three sisters to educate wealthy daughters and heiresses of aristocracy and industrial elites of the 19t ...

. Their son,

Ian Ian or Iain is a name of Scottish Gaelic origin, which is derived from the Hebrew given name ( Yohanan, ') and corresponds to the English name John. The spelling Ian is an Anglicization of the Scottish Gaelic forename ''Iain''. This name is a po ...

, became a Conservative Member of Parliament. Maud briefly served as acting principal at Homerton College until 1904, when she married Cloudesley Brereton, with whom she had two sons.Anne Clendinning, ''Demons of Domesticity: Women and the English Gas Industry, 1889–1939'' (Routledge, 2017), electronic edition (unpaginated)
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She was supportive of the women's suffrage cause.

Career

It was as "Mrs M. A. Cloudesley Brereton" that she became known as a social and sanitary reformer, and the author of ''The Mother’s Companion'' (1909), a book of advice for modern wives which promoted equality within marriage. When the British Commercial Gas Association was founded in 1911, she became editor of their ''Gas Journal'' (1912–1932). Much of her work was based on the concept of using gas and its technology to alleviate drudgery in the home as a way to improve the health of women and children. She became a leading figure in the campaign for gas, rather than electricity, to be the main source of domestic power. Brereton pushed the gas company managers to use and listen to the feedback from their lady demonstrators, as she believed that this would improve two-way communication between the consumers and producers of gas, and ensure that the domestic difficulties of customers could be factored into provision. She also advised the gas companies to consult with "well-educated lady advisors". In 1907 she was decorated as an Officier d'Academie by the French government for "services to International Public Health". She was Chairman of the Association for Education in Industry and Commerce in 1923-4 and latterly President of the organisation. She also became a member of the

Royal Institute of Public Health Royal Institute of Public Health merged in 2008 with the Royal Society for Health to form Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH). History The institute was the amalgamation of a few societies. The Metropolitan Association of Medical Officers o ...

and in 1926 became the first female Honorary Fellow of the Institution of Sanitary Engineers, as well as being a member of the

Institute of Journalists The Chartered Institute of Journalists is a professional association for journalists and is the senior such body in the UK and the oldest in the world. History The ''Chartered Institute of Journalists'' was proposed during a meeting in Manchest ...

, vice president of the

Society of Women Journalists Society of Women Writers & Journalists (SWWJ) is a British learned society for professional women writers. The society's aims include the "encouragement of literary achievement, the upholding of professional standards, and social contact with f ...

. She was an early member of the

Women's Engineering Society The Women's Engineering Society is a United Kingdom professional learned society and networking body for women engineers, scientists and technologists. It was the first professional body set up for women working in all areas of engineering, pred ...

and contributed articles and information to the journal ''The Woman Engineer'' in the 1920s. She was a member of the Efficiency Club and served as its president in 1931-2. She was also a member of the

Soroptimists Soroptimist International (SI) , founded in 1921, is a global volunteer service for women with almost 66,000 members in 118 countries worldwide. Soroptimist International also offers Associate Membership and E-Clubs. Soroptimist International h ...

. She retired in 1932 and died in Norfolk on 16 April 1946.

Books

* ''The Mother's Companion'' (1909) * ''The Future of Our Disabled Sailors and Soldiers'' (1917) * ''Cooking by Gas'' (1930) * ''Unemployed or Reserve?'' (1930)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brereton, M. A. 20th-century British non-fiction writers 20th-century British journalists British feminists 1872 births 1946 deaths Women's Engineering Society People from Marylebone Principals of Homerton College, Cambridge