Dame Meriel Lucy Talbot, (16 June 1866 – 15 December 1956) was a British public servant and women's welfare worker. 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 organised the
Women's Land Army
The Women's Land Army (WLA) was a British civilian organisation created in 1917 by the Board of Agriculture during the First World War to bring women into work in agriculture, replacing men called up to the military. Women who worked for the ...
and edited their magazine ''The Landswoman''.
Talbot was born in
Westminster
Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...
, the daughter of the politician
John Gilbert Talbot
John Gilbert Talbot (24 February 1835 – 1 February 1910), was a British Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party politician.
Background
Talbot was the son of the Honourable John Chetwynd-Talbot, the fourth son of Charles Chetwynd-Talbot, ...
and his wife, Meriel Sarah, daughter of
George Lyttelton, 4th Baron Lyttelton
George William Lyttelton, 4th Baron Lyttelton, 4th Baron Westcote, (31 March 1817 – 19 April 1876) was an English aristocrat and Conservative politician from the Lyttelton family. He was chairman of the Canterbury Association, which encoura ...
. She was educated at Kensington High School.
During the 1880s and 1890s Meriel Talbot participated in the settlement movement. She was secretary, jointly with Idina Brassey, of the Bethnal Green Ladies' Committee in 1889, chaired by her mother. In 1891 she combined work at the Women's University Settlement (WUS) for the Children's Country Holiday Fund, the post of secretary to the Ladies' Branch of Oxford House (settlement), Oxford House (again chaired by her mother), and social work training at the WUS relating to the Metropolitan Association for Befriending Young Servants. She also took on some of the house management work that had fallen to Margaret Sewell, the incoming Warden of WUS. In 1897, again with Idina Brassey, she was joint secretary in the newly formed West End Association.
From 1901 to 1916 she served as secretary to the Victoria League, and in this capacity travelled widely throughout the British Empire.
In 1915, she served on the official advisory committee for repatriating enemy aliens. The following year she was appointed the first woman inspector with the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries (United Kingdom), Board of Agriculture and Fisheries and in 1917 she became director of the Women's Branch of the Board, in charge of the recruitment and co-ordination of the Women's Land Army.
[ The Land Army had 23,000 recruits by the end of the war and there was a monthly magazine named ''The Landswoman'' which Talbot edited.]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 ...
and was named adviser on women's employment in 1920.[
She retired in 1921, but continued to perform public work, serving as intelligence officer for the Overseas Settlement Department and on a number of official committees, including the Royal Commission on Police Powers and Procedure in 1929. In the 1930s she became chairman of the BBC Central Appeals Advisory Committee. From 1935 to 1951 she was chairman of the London Council for the Welfare of Women and Girls.]
Footnotes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Talbot, Meriel
1866 births
1956 deaths
Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire
People from Westminster
British social welfare officials
Talbot family, Meriel
Place of death missing
British women in World War I