Octavia Hill was an English social reformer, whose main concern was the welfare of the inhabitants of cities, especially London, in the second half of the nineteenth century. Born into a family with a strong commitment to alleviating poverty, she herself grew up in straitened circumstances owing to the financial failure of her father. With no formal schooling, she worked from the age of 14 for the welfare of working people.

Key Facts about Octavia Hill

Born 1838, died 1912

Fought for improvements in urban living standards for the poor

Created a widely-adopted model of urban development

Championed the creation of open spaces for cities and helped found the National Trust

Encouraged women to enter professional work

A Short Biography of Octavia Hill

The Industrial Revolution is generally seen as major step forward in history, but for those caught up in it there were many negatives. For those who migrated from rural life to the cities to provide the huge labour forces needed for the early factories, both working conditions and living conditions were often appalling. From the modern perspective of unions, social housing and welfare systems it can often be hard to imagine what life was like in the urban slums and also to appreciate the work that was done by social reformers in their attempts to alleviate these problems. A key figure in the development of both social housing and support for the poor was Octavia Hill.

Octavia Hill was born on December 3rd, 1838. Her father was a quite prosperous corn merchant and banker who had been widowed twice and had married Caroline Southwood Smith in 1835. Caroline was no ordinary mother. Her father, Thomas Southwood Smith was a social reformer and a pioneer in public health. Caroline had written on education and it was her writing that had attracted James Hill to hire her as a governess for his children, an appointment that led to their eventual marriage.

Life for Octavia and her eight siblings did not continue for very long in a comfortable way, however. Her father got into financial difficulties, suffered a mental collapse and in 1840 became bankrupt. Caroline’s father stepped in to support his daughter and the children both financially and as a surrogate father. The family moved to a small cottage in what was then the village of Finchley outside London. Octavia was educated at home and was greatly influenced by the activism of her mother and grandfather, who both worked on social issues of the time such as child labour in mining, housing for the poor, education and public health.

As a child Octavia was already carrying out secretarial duties for women’s classes at the Working Men’s College in Bloomsbury and making toys for the Ragged School Movement. These were schools, often established by churches, which provided free education for children of the slums who otherwise would have had no education at all. The conditions in these schools were often very poor and they attracted the attention of social reformers, including Charles Dickens, who wrote A Christmas Carol in response to the plight of these children. These schools ultimately provided the impetus for the state education system.

At the age of 13 Octavia found employment at a co-operative established to provide income for what at that time were referred to as “distressed gentlewomen”, that is to say, members of the middle-class who lacked the normal support structure of their class and background. When the co-operative started a workshop so that children from Ragged Schools could come and make their own toys, Octavia, now just 14, was placed in charge of the workshop. She developed strong views on the need to foster self-reliance rather than charity and joined the Charity Organization Society which had a reputation for taking a strong stance on the poor who simply took hand-outs.

Although Parliament had begun to tackle the problems of urban housing, the poorest – unskilled labourers – were still neglected and Octavia found the behaviour of landlords who rented to the poor so exploitive and indifferent that she decided that the only solution was to become a landlord herself. She was by this time known to John Ruskin, someone famous for his work in promoting artists like Turner and the Pre-Raphaelites but who was also a philanthropist for social issues. In 1865 he paid £750 to buy three run-down cottages in Paradise Place, Marylebone which he placed under Octavia’s management, telling her she needed to demonstrate a 5% annual return on the investment to make the concept attractive to other investors. The following year he purchased a further five houses nearby.

By strict management Octavia not only generated the required 5% return, but had an excess to re-invest in improving the properties. Her success attracted further investors and by 1874 she had 15 such schemes with a total of 3,000 tenants. She believed in direct contact between landlords and tenants will both sides sharing in the upkeep. She also believed in the importance of open spaces and developed small parks adjacent to her properties whenever possible. In addition she used other women, first as volunteers and then as paid professionals, to manage her properties, thus creating opportunities for women to enter the workforce in non-traditional roles.

Octavia Hill was a passionate speaker, short in stature, with little regard for her appearance and so outspoken in her demands for action by the wealthy, that the Bishop of London said that after listening to her speak for half-an-hour he had ‘never had such a beating’ in his life. She also developed a concept of ‘cultural philanthropy’ believing that exposure to art and beauty could improve the life of the poor. She founded the Kyrle Society in 1875 as a society ‘for the diffusion of beauty’ and was strongly supported by William Morris. The Society planted trees and flowers in urban areas and promoted aesthetics in the architecture and decoration of houses.

Because of her belief in the value of open spaces, she campaigned for the preservation of parks close to the centre of London, arguing that it was very difficult for poor working people going to more remote places, such as the Epping Forest, which had recently been preserved. Largely because of her efforts Hampstead Heath and Parliament Hill Fields were preserved from development and in fact she was the first person to use the term Green Belt. She also worked with Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley and John Ruskin to create the National Trust.

As she became older her work was largely taken over by the growth of state-funded housing – which she opposed. She also opposed the vote for women, welfare payments and old-age pensions and she became increasingly isolated because of her unpopular views. She died in her home in Marylebone on August 13th, 1912.

Her Legacy

Her concept of Housing Trusts became a model for many others and her original trust still exists as Octavia Housing. The concept of social housing flowed directly from her work. Her pioneering work in housing integrating different income levels became the Settlement Movement. Her ideas on urban housing were adopted across Europe and influenced the development of North American cities too.

The women she employed eventually became the Chartered Institute of Housing, the professional body in the UK for workers in the housing field.

Her Charity Organization Society became a model for the profession of social work and still exists today as the charity Family Action.

The National Trust became the key player in the preservation of homes, gardens and countryside in the UK.

Sites to Visit

The house in which Octavia was born, at 7 South Brink, Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, is now a listed building and a museum to her work.

There is a large stone seat erected in 1915 as a monument to Octavia Hill on Hydon Ball, a hill in Surrey owned by the National Trust.

There is an English Heritage Blue Plaque at Garbutt Place (previously Paradise Place), Marylebone, London, Octavia’s first cottages.

Other Octavia Hill housing can be seen at St Christopher’s Place, W1.

Her style of low-rise cottages can also be seen at Ranston Street, NW1 and her concept of urban planning in the Red Cross Cottages, hall and gardens at Redcross Way, Southwark.

Further Research

Her work in her own words can be read in Homes of the London Poor (1875) and in the Life of Octavia Hill: As Told in her Letters edited by C. Edmund Maurice (2010)

Biographies include: Octavia Hill, by Gillian Darley (1990) and Octavia Hill: a Biography by E.Moberley Bell (1986)