Hill, Octavia (1838-1912)

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Mentioned in (9)
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The Subtle Problems of Charity, February 1899

Mary Ellen Richmond to Jane Addams, 1902

Neighborhood Improvement, June 22, 1904

Address on Neighborhood Improvement, June 25, 1904 (Extract)

Report on Exhibits on Housing of the Working Class, Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission, February 8, 1906

Jane Addams's Own Story of Her Work: The First Five Years at Hull-House (Second of Three Installments), April 1906

Modern Philanthropy and the Child, May 22, 1906

Review of Henrietta Octavia Rowland Barnett's Canon Barnett: His Life, Work, and Friends, April 9, 1920

A Pioneer Settlement, June 10, 1920

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Birth Date

1838-12-03

Death Date

1912-08-13

Birthplace

Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, England

Biographical Text

Octavia Hill took an interest in helping those living in poverty in urban areas at an early age and began to help by making toys for Ragged school children. She worked as secretary of women's classes at the Working Men's College. At the age of fourteen years, Hill was put in charge of the workroom for a guild that made toys for Ragged school children, and she became involved with the Charity Organization Society. Hill later became a landlord in order to offer her workers better housing, developing a new housing management system. Hill also believed that urban workers should have access to open spaces, so she campaigned against building on suburban woodland. She helped save Hampstead Heath and Parliament Hill Fields from development and was the first to use the term Green Belt. In 1876 she served as the treasurer for the Kyrle Society, which was founded by her older sister Miranda, and worked to bring art, books, music and open spaces to the urban poor. As time went on, Hill managed more and more houses in London, and her management style spread throughout Europe and the United States.

Hill died of cancer in 1912.