Elfrida Rathbone

Elfrida Rathbone (1871–1940) was an

, who was an MP and campaigned for children's rights.

Career

She was born in Liverpool in July 1871 and was one of 11 children. Her brothers and sisters were also involved into charity during their lives.

In 1916 she began to teach in a special school in the King's Cross area of London, for children who were not thought to be capable of learning. She worked with another cousin, Lillian Gregg, who had set up a special kindergarten for young children considered to be "uneducated" and "mentally defective". She wanted to demonstrate that these children could learn and progress if they received an appropriate teaching.

In the 1900s Lillian Gregg had been challenged to the damaging effect of judgmental attitudes implicit in "labelling" people. She adopted a young child with a learning difficulty whom she taught to read and write and function normally. Later she and the child died in the influenza epidemic in 1918.

Elfrida continued their work and established an "Occupation Centre" in

. In 1930 she developed a befriending scheme for children with learning difficulties who were confined to Public Assistance Homes.

The organisation she founded now exists as The Elfrida Society, a charity in Islington, London, supporting adults and young people with learning difficulties.^[1]

Her work informed the formation of the Rathbone Society in 1969, now incorporated into the

References

Sources

• Rathbone Charity history
• The Elfrida Society
• Who Was Elfrida?
• Who is Elfrida Rathbone?