Caroline Southwood Hill

Caroline Southwood Hill (née Smith; 21 March 1809 – 31 December 1902) was an English educationalist and writer. In 1837 she established and ran a Pestalozzian infant school in Wisbech, the building now survives as part of the Angles Theatre. [1] She was involved in many co-operative ventures, and moved in a radical circle of other reformers. She wrote three children's books and contributed works to a range of publications such as The Nineteenth Century and Charles Dickens's Household Words.[2]

Caroline Southwood Hill

She was the daughter of Thomas Southwood Smith (1788–1861), a physician and sanitary reformer. In 1832 she became governess to the six surviving children of James Hill, and after the death of his second wife Eliza (1802-1832) they married on 21st July 1835. She was the mother of Gertrude (born 1837) who married Charles Lee Lewes, stepson of George Eliot,[3] Octavia Hill (1838–1912) and Miranda Hill (1836–1910), both activists and social reformers; and Emily (born 1840) who married the son of Christian Socialist F. D. Maurice; and Florence (born 1843).[2]

The Octavia Hill Birthplace House on the South Brink, Wisbech operated by the Octavia Hill Society contains many items belonging to the Hill family and there is a blue plaque to James and Caroline Hill on the former school building they built in 1837.[4]