Janet Lacey

Janet Lacey CBE (25 October 1903 – 11 July 1988) was an English charity director and philanthropist who led the British Council Inter-Church Aid and Refugee Department (later called Christian Aid) from 1952 to 1968. She began working for the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) in Kendal and later Dagenham from 1925 to 1945. After the Second World War, Lacey was YMCA education secretary for demobilising British Army of the Rhine soldiers in Germany and was later appointed field young secretary for the British Council of Churches in 1947. At Christian Aid, she helped the organisation refocus on global poverty and funded development projects in 40 countries. She oversaw the establishment of Christian Aid Week in 1957 and was a founder member of the Voluntary Service Overseas organisation in 1958. Lacey became the first woman to preach at St Paul's Cathedral in 1967 and later at Liverpool Cathedral and St George's Cathedral. She was director of the national Family Welfare Association charity from 1969 to 1973 and wrote the 1970 autobiographical book A Cup of Water.