Caroline Chisholm

Caroline Chisholm
Born	Caroline Chisholm 30 May 1808(1808-05-30) Wootton, Northamptonshire[1]
Died	25 March 1877(1877-03-25) (aged 68) Highgate[1]
Known for	Humanitarian work, immigration reform
Religion	Anglicanism, Catholicism
Spouse	Archibald Chisholm[1]
Children	8 children[1]

Caroline Chisholm (30 May 1808 – 25 March 1877^[1]) was a progressive 19th-century English humanitarian known mostly for her involvement with female immigrant welfare in Australia. She is commemorated on 16 May in the Calendar of saints of the Church of England. There are proposals for the Catholic Church to also recognise her as a saint.^[2]

Early life

She was born Caroline Jones in Wootton, close to Northampton.^[1] Her well-to-do father, William Jones, was a land owner and pig farmer.^[3][4] She was the youngest of a large family and was educated by a governess, excelling in mathematics and French.^[4] When still a child, her father took into his house a poor maimed soldier. Her father pointed out the children's obligations to the man who had fought for them. There is little doubt this led to was the developed the sense of responsibility that was the basis of Mrs Chisholm's life work.^[5] At the age of 22, Caroline married Captain Archibald Chisholm, of the East India Company, thirteen years her senior.^[3] The Chisholms were married in the Church of England,^[4] but Caroline converted to her husband's religion, Roman Catholicism, at about this time.^[3]

Madras, India

In 1832, Captain Chisholm was posted to Madras in India, and Caroline Chisholm joined him there a year later.^[1] Chisholm observed that the wives and daughters of British soldiers were living in poverty and involved in crime and prostitution, and so she appealed to the Governor of Madras for assistance in establishing a school.^[6] In 1834 Chisholm founded the Female School of Industry for the Daughters of European Soldiers^[1][3] which provided a practical education for the girls and young women.^[4] They were given instruction in reading, writing and religion, cooking, housekeeping and nursing. The school was taken over by the government when the Chisholms left.^[5]

Sydney, New South Wales

In 1838, Captain Chisholm was granted leave, and the Chisholm family moved to Sydney in the colony of New South Wales (now part of Australia).^[3] The family settled at Windsor, and Chisholm and the children remained there when her husband was recalled to active service in 1840. At this stage Sydney had a large population of unemployed immigrants, particularly young women, and Chisholm began assisting these people by helping them to find work and sheltering them in her home.^[3]

In 1841 Chisholm approached the Governor, Sir George Gipps, with a plan for a house for immigrant women.^[3] Her first approach was turned down, but she went back several times to argue her case.^[5] Eventually Governor Gipps presented her with part of the empty Immigration Barracks, which was rat-infested.^[5] Chisholm established the Female Immigrants Home that provided shelter for ninety-six women and a free employment registry.^[3]

Chisholm arranged employment for young single women in the country areas surrounding Sydney, and personally accompanied parties of women travelling to take up their new positions.^[4] Chisholm established employment agencies in rural centres,^[3] and in 1842 was able to close the Female Immigrants Home because of her success in finding work for unemployed immigrants.^[1][3] Chisholm later extended her work to include families as well as single women, and between 1841 and 1844 assisted 14,000 people to settle in New South Wales.

Migration reforms and the Family Colonization Loan Society

In 1846 Chisholm returned to England, with her husband, to encourage migration to Australia and to promote migration reform. Before leaving the colony, Chisholm had collected over six hundred statements from settlers around New South Wales, and she published many of these in England to support her arguments for greater migration. Chisholm gave evidence before two committees in the House of Lords and gained support for some of her initiatives, including free passage to Australia for the wives and children of former convicts, but there was little official support for family migration.

In 1849, with the support of wealthy London merchants, such as Wyndham Harding F.R.S..^{[citation needed]}, Chisholm established the Family Colonization Loan Society. The Society lent migrant families the money they needed to travel to Australia, with agents in Australia finding employment for new arrivals and collecting the loan repayments. The Society also chartered its own ships to transport the new colonists. With the discovery of gold in Australia interest in migration rose sharply, and by 1854 the Society had assisted more than 3000 people to travel to Australia. Chisholm continued to agitate for reform, and the Passenger Act of 1852 was passed to ensure better shipboard conditions for migrants.^[3] Captain Archibald Chisholm left for Australia in March 1851 as colonial agent, leaving Caroline with increased duties.^[3] Caroline toured Britain, Germany, France and Italy, where she visited Pope Pius IX. Her comments on shipboard conditions ensured the passing of the Passenger Act of 1852.^[3]

Return to Australia and Later Life

Caroline Chisholm returned to Australia aboard the Ballarat in 1854 and toured the Victorian goldfields. Chisholm proposed the construction of shelters for people travelling to the goldfields, a project which received support from the government. Chisholm also campaigned for land to be made available so that migrant families could establish small farms, a move Chisholm saw as providing able to provide greater stability in the colonies.^[3]

The Chisholm family moved to Sydney in 1857, and back to England in 1866. Caroline Chisholm died in 1877.^[3]

Commemoration

A number of educational facilities in Australia and England have been named after Caroline Chisholm,^{[7][8][9][10][11][12]} as well as a suburb of Canberra^[13] and a federal electoral division.^[14] Chisholm has also appeared on Australian stamps^[15] and banknotes.^[16] The character of Mrs Jellyby in Dickens' novel Bleak House is said to be based on Caroline Chisholm.^{[citation needed]}

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i} "TIME-LINE — CAROLINE AND ARCHIBALD CHISHOLM". mrschisholm.com. April 2009. http://mrschisholm.com/pdf/Time-line.pdf. Retrieved 24 August 2009. 
2. ^ The Age: Chisholm's supporters push for sainthood 24 October 2007 Retrieved on 2008-05-28
3. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o} Judith Iltis, 'Chisholm, Caroline (1808–1877)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 1, Melbourne University Press, 1966, pp. 221–223.
4. ^ ^{a b c d e} "Caroline Chisholm Society: Pregnancy Counselling, Post Natal Depression, Melbourne, Victoria". http://www.carolinechisholmsociety.com.au/caroline-chisholm-history.htm. Retrieved 24 August 2009. 
5. ^ ^{a b c d} Serle, Percival (1949). "Chisholm, Caroline". Dictionary of Australian Biography. Sydney: Angus and Robertson. http://gutenberg.net.au/dictbiog/0-dict-biogCa-Ch.html#chisholm1. Retrieved 2010-09-09. 
6. ^ "BBC – Northamptonshire – A Sense Of Place – Northhamptonshire People: Caroline Chisholm". BBC. January 2004. http://www.bbc.co.uk/northamptonshire/asop/people/caroline_chisholm.shtml. Retrieved 24 August 2009. 
7. ^ Chisholm Catholic College. Chisholm.wa.edu.au. Retrieved on 2011-09-22.
8. ^ Caroline Chisholm College. Carolinechisholm.nsw.edu.au (2011-08-23). Retrieved on 2011-09-22.
9. ^ Caroline Chisholm School. Ccs.northants.sch.uk. Retrieved on 2011-09-22.
10. ^ Chisholm College – La Trobe University. Latrobe.edu.au. Retrieved on 2011-09-22.
11. ^ Chisholm Institute of TAFE. Chisholm.vic.edu.au. Retrieved on 2011-09-22.
12. ^ Caroline Chisholm Education Foundation. Carolinechisholm.org.au (2011-08-03). Retrieved on 2011-09-22.
13. ^ Place name search. actpla.act.gov.au
14. ^ 2007 Election:Profile of the Electoral division of Chisholm. Aec.gov.au (2010-10-07). Retrieved on 2011-09-22.
15. ^ Australian Stamp Bulletin No 277, Oct–Dec 2004, p. 21. Retrieved on 2011-09-22.
16. ^ Museum of Australian Currency Notes: Australia's First Decimal Currency Notes. Rba.gov.au (1966-02-14). Retrieved on 2011-09-22.

Further reading

• De Vries, Susanna. Strength of spirit: pioneering women of achievement from First Fleet to Federation, Millennium Books, 1995. ISBN 0-7022-1346-2
• Lake, M./ McGrath, A. et al. (1994), "Creating a Nation", Viking: Ringwood
• Caroline Chisholm: Friend or Foe?, a subsection from the Gold! website on Australia's 19th century gold rushes
• Hoban, Mary. Fifty One Pieces Of Wedding Cake. A Biography Of Caroline Chisholm. Lowden, Kilmore Victoria, 1973
• Caroline Chisholm at The Australian Women's Register
• Caroline Chisolm at the Australian Dictionary of Biography online edition
• Culture Victoria – Caroline Chisholm’s Scrapbook
• Mennell, Philip (1892). " Chisholm, Caroline". The Dictionary of Australasian Biography. London: Hutchinson & Co. Wikisource 

Persondata
Name	Chisholm, Caroline
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	30 May 1808
Place of birth	Wootton, Northamptonshire
Date of death	25 March 1877
Place of death	Highgate