Lettice Fisher

Lettice Fisher
Born	Lettice Ilbert (1875-06-14)14 June 1875 London, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
Died	14 February 1956(1956-02-14) (aged 80) Thursley, United Kingdom
Alma mater	Somerville College, Oxford
Occupation(s)	Educator, economist, and suffragette
Known for	Founder of the National Council for the Unmarried Mother and her Child
Spouse	H. A. L. Fisher ​ ​ (m. 1899; died 1940)​

Lettice Fisher (née Ilbert; 14 June 1875 – 14 February 1956) was the founder of the National Council for the Unmarried Mother and her Child, now known as Gingerbread. She was also an economist and a historian.^[1][2]

Background and education

Lettice Ilbert was born on 14 June 1875 in Kensington, London to Sir Courtenay Peregrine Ilbert and his wife, Jessie.^[3]

She was educated at Francis Holland School, London and Somerville College, Oxford, where she was awarded a first in modern history in 1897. She worked as a researcher at the London School of Economics from 1897 to 1898. From 1902 to 1913, she taught history at St Hugh's College, Oxford, and she also taught economics for the Association for the Higher Education of Women in Oxford.^[4]

Whilst at Oxford, Fisher was also involved in voluntary work in housing, public health and child welfare.^[5] She was an active suffragist, chairing the national executive of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) from 1916 to 1918.^[3] She ran to become President of the NUWSS in 1919, following Millicent Fawcett‘s post-war resignation, but was defeated by Eleanor Rathbone.^[6]

The National Council for the Unmarried Mother and her Child

During

Lettice Fisher was the first chair of the Council (from 1918 to 1950), with Sybil Neville-Rolfe acting as the deputy chair.^[5]

Family life

In July 1899, she married Herbert Albert Laurens Fisher, a tutor at New College, Oxford, who had taught her as an undergraduate. He sat as Liberal Member of Parliament in Sheffield Hallam in 1916-18 and became Warden of New College in 1925.

In 1913, they had one daughter,

An undergraduate of New College, Michael Crum, was also interviewed about Fisher in November 1974. He recalled her termly teas for undergraduates, work for unmarried mothers and membership of the university orchestra, playing the violin.

After her husband's death in 1940, she moved to Thursley in Surrey. She died there on 14 February 1956 after suffering a stroke. After cremation her ashes were interred at New College, Oxford.^[3]

References