Practitioner Experience Notes (PENs)

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Biography of Eglantyne Jebb

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Attribution: SCUK Alumni
PEN Type: Book / Article Review
Main country: —
Other countries: —
Project Themes: Humanitarian history, Women in leadership, The Rights of the Child, Save the Children Fund, Save the Children
Role: Reader
Mission brief: Sets out Eglantyne's role both as co-founder of Save the CHildren and her broader driving The Rights of the Child.
Audience: Practitioners & Alumni, General Public, Academia / Researchers, Students / Early Career
Geographic applicability: Global / broad applicability
Dates: 1876 → 1928
Advice Summary: An unconventional biography of an unconventional woman. Eglantyne Jebb, not particularly fond of children herself, nevertheless dedicated her life to establishing Save the Children and promoting her revolutionary concept of human rights. In this award-winning book, Clare Mulley brings to life this brilliant, charismatic, and passionate woman, whose work took her between drawing rooms and war zones, defying convention and breaking the law. Eglantyne Jebb not only helped save millions of lives, she also permanently changed the way the world treats children.
Key words/phrases: Eglantyne Jebb, Eglantyne, Save the Children, Save the Children Fund, The Rights of the Child, Humanitarian, History, Leadership, Women

The Save the Children alumna’s Clare Mulley’s first book, The Woman Who Saved the Children, tells the inspirational story of Eglantyne Jebb. It is widely regarded as her definitive biography.

Unconventional to her core, Eglantyne defied every Edwardian social expectation. Tearing up the rule-book wherever she went, she found she did not much care for individual children, ‘the little wretches’ as she once called them, and never wanted any of her own, but dedicated her life to promoting children’s welfare and rights. She fell in love with both a man and then a woman, took trains across Europe to work in a war zone, then returned to London only to be arrested in Trafalgar Square in 1919. Snatching victory from the jaws of defeat, she secured the first donation to her new Save the Children fund from the crown prosecutor in her court case. And that was just the start…

Republished in 2019 to mark Save the Children’s centenary, all author royalties from this book are donated to Save the Children.

The Woman Who Saved the Children won the Daily Mail Biographers’ Club Prize, and is now under option for film.

available on Amazon and all good bookshops https://www.amazon.co.uk//dp/1786076470