Rosa Hobhouse | |
|---|---|
| Born | Rosa Waugh 22 June 1882 Sydney House, 33 The Green, Southgate, London, England |
| Died | 15 January 1971 Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, England |
| Alma mater | Slade School of Art, London |
| Occupation(s) | social worker, writer, teacher |
| Spouse | Stephen Hobhouse |
| Parent(s) | Benjamin Waugh, Sarah Boothroyd |
Rosa Waugh Hobhouse (1882–1971) was a British social worker and pacifist, who vigorously campaigned for a negotiated end to World War I. She was also a poet, a prolific author and teacher. Described by Sylvia Pankhurst as a ‘Quaker with a mystic temperament’.[1] she spent much of her early adult life living and working among the poor of London’s East End. She wanted a society based on egalitarian principles which had no divisions on the basis of gender, race, class or nation. Towards this goal, Rosa Hobhouse, along with the social activist Mary Hughes and the social reformer Muriel Lester, entered into voluntary poverty as an example of how society could be modelled freed from the constraints and inequalities of class.