Emily Hobhouse


Emily Hobhouse – a campaigner for human rights back when such a concept barely existed. Hobhouse was born in Cornwall in England in 1860 and found herself in South Africa during the second Boer War fought between Great Britain and two breakaway republics in South Africa. The conditions of the locals during this war were atrocious, both in the concentration camps set up throughout South Africa by the British and in the general populace of the Boer (Dutch-speaking) people. Hobhouse's efforts to publicise these conditions and to bring aid to the victims brought her fame and respect. She was also a vigourous campaigner against World War I.