30 May 2012
Westminster Abbey is to dedicate a memorial to Octavia Hill, the 19th century social reformer and one of the founders of the National Trust. This year marks the centenary of her death.
Octavia Hill (1838-1912) was one of the pioneers of social housing. Working with the artist and philanthropist John Ruskin she established a network of 15 housing schemes and by 1874 had nearly 3000 tenants in London settled into comfortable, clean accommodation.
She also campaigned for the protection of open spaces and against building development which encroached into suburban green spaces. Places like Parliament Hill fields and Vauxhall Park owe their survival to her.
In 1895 she and two other like-minded campaigners, Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley and Sir Robert Hunter, founded the National Trust. The first property they acquired was Dinas Oleu near Barmouth in Wales, the first built property was Alfriston Clergy House in Sussex and the Trust’s first nature reserve was Wicken Fen near Cambridge.
The National Trust has today reached four million members, and still holds fast to its core purpose of ‘looking after special places for ever, for everyone.’
The Dean of Westminster, the Very Reverend Dr John Hall, said: ‘The National Trust is a highly respected institution of wide influence that contributes substantially and extensively to the preservation of the history and environment of this country. Octavia Hill’s memorial in Westminster Abbey will honour her great foundation and innovative genius alongside that of other 19th century men and women whose influence will still be felt long into the future. I hope it will encourage people to see how every individual can make a difference for good.’
The memorial will be dedicated at a service in the Abbey on Monday 22nd October 2012.