A fascinating woman and contemporary of George Eliiot, Octavia Hill provided the author with the model for Dorothea in “Middlemarch”. Well-known as one of the founders of the National Trust, she is recognised as a pioneer of social work and her famous book “Housing London’s Poor” has never been out of print.

The presentation covers the influences in her life from her maternal grandfather Robert Southwood Smith, a contemporary and friend of Jeremy Bentham, to her mother’s enlightened views on eduation and her father’s utopian socialism. Her ability as an artist was recognised by John Ruskin who employed her as a copyist and provided the money for her first housing project. Her life touched millions of the poor and disadvantaged in a pitiless age, and her network of followers reads like a “Who’s Who” of the Victorian and early Edwardian period.

A report of the meeting by Clive Barrett is available to download.

Speaker biography

Richard Walker was born in Derbyshire and grew up in Sheffield, Leeds and the West Midlands, graduating from Hull University in 1968. His claim to fame is that he lived round the corner from Phillip Larkin! Richard taught in Birmingham for a couple of years, and then joined the Police service in 1970. Whilst serving as a Police Officer he studied for the Ministry of the Church of England and was ordained in Bristol in 1995. He served as a non-stipendiary priest in Bristol and then as Prison Chaplain in Leicester and Usk.

In 2005 Richard began a series of voluntary jobs including being a Parish Priest in South Gloucestershire and working as an advisor with The Citizens Advice Bureau. After moving to Powys in 2007 he worked in the bureau in Abergavenny. He is currently chairman of a small charity in Brecon providing advocacy services for adults with learning difficulties.

Richard is a community governor at his local school and is secretary to Brecon U3A. He strongly believes in the ethic embodied in the U3A movement of life-long learning. He is a member of three Interest Groups in Brecon: Theology, Literature and Philosphy. He also enjoys singing in a community choir and helps out in a number of Churches and Chapels in and around Brecon.

More Meetings ...