SATURDAY FOCUS: REMARKABLE WOMEN (4) The Research Process

Clare on Mount Saleve,
where Eglantyne … drafted her
pioneering statement of children's human rights …

Today I interview Clare Mulley, author of The Woman Who Saved the Children: a biography of Eglantyne Jebb, founder of Save the Children.

Welcome Clare! In the previous three weeks we've already uncovered a great deal about Eglantyne's journey. Today, I am particularly interested in hearing more about the research that went into the writing of the book.

Thank you Mabel! I feel quite excited about being taken back to review the process. It's something I've not though about for in quite a while.  

M: You have indicated that ‘The Woman Who Saved the Children’ was a long time (7 years) in the making. Can you remember/explain the germ idea/s that set this story in motion. Did it start with a general topic, a specific idea or with the character whose story you wanted to explore?

C: I was working at Save the Children as a rather struggling fundraiser when I came across a line she wrote some 80 years before; ‘the world is not ungenerous, but unimaginative and very busy’. It was still so true and it intrigued me that her voice sounded so immediate and relevant. When I went on maternity leave, thereby showing far less commitment to the charity than Eglantyne who never had children and devoted her life to the cause she had founded, I took an afternoon to poke around their archives. Down the side of a plastic crate I found a crumpled leaflet Eglantyne had printed, showing a terrible photo of a starving Austrian child, with the word ‘suppressed!’ pencilled in Eglantyne’s scratchy handwriting in the top corner, the exclamation mark showing her indignation at the Liberal government’s policy to continue the economic blockade of Europe after the armistice as a way of pushing through harsh peace terms. Eglantyne was arrested for distributing these leaflets in Trafalgar Square in May 1919, and secured the first donation to her new ‘Save the Children Fund’ from the prosecutor at her court case. I knew then I was on to a good story, but not how good it would turn out to be!

M: At what point did you decide the main focus would be the life of Eglantyne rather than the story of the Save the Children Fund - where did you go from there?

C: There was never any thought that it might be a history of the charity. Eglantyne was a brilliant, courageous, controversial woman whose vision, passion and humanity are still utterly compelling and relevant today. A woman who did not like children, and once called them ‘the little wretches’, she nevertheless devoted her life to promoting their welfare, and more controversially pioneering her revolutionary statement of children’s human rights that has now evolved in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the most universally accepted human rights instrument in history. I never had any doubt that it as Eglantyne’s story, and her force of character, that captures the imagination – then as now!

M: One of the challenges in researching the life of someone born in the 19th century lies in the sparsity of written records and the inability to interview colleagues and competitors, immediate friends and family. To what extent was this an issue in your research? What were the main sources of information?

C: Eglantyne died in 1928, and not liking kids much never had any of her own, so there were no direct descendents or anyone alive now who knew her that I could trace. However she left plenty of letters, photos, diaries, half-written romantic social novels, transcripts of her spiritual conversations with dead friends, medical records, political fliers, and funny, scratchy sketches… in all of which her personality came blasting through. And she made such an impact wherever she went that there are plenty of accounts of her conducting her own defence at court, chasing the Pope round the Vatican or impressing the trade unions. Sometimes the trail went cold – for example when the man she loved proposed to another, and any letters mentioning the romance were evidently destroyed, but by chance (or was she pulling at my elbow?) I ended up having dinner with the grandson of her sweetheart and getting the story from the other side…

M: What were the main areas of your research?

C: Cradle to grave, warts and all, but some of the things that interested me most were the irony that she was not maternal, her two great love affairs (one unrequited, the other illicit), her spiritualism, and the development of her visionary political and humanitarian ideas… But above all I wanted to capture the person not just the achievements, the little things, her being - as well as her doing.

M: Which areas were most research intensive?

C: Her charmed childhood was easiest, the canvas getting more involved as she grew up of course, the First World War tore the world apart, and she faced some fairly conflicting priorities and duties, and a passionate personal life.

M: Did the research involve you in particular adventures along the way? (Funny, scary, exciting, sad?)

C: There were many modest adventures, from sleeping in Eglantyne’s childhood nursery, to eating from her plates and once even holding a curl of her still bright red baby hair. I was invited into her former houses and offices by numerous strangers, came across secret inscriptions in second hand books once owned by the family, and a secret bar in the garden of her friends Margaret and John Maynard Keynes. I shed tears buying flowers for her grave outside Geneva and laughed out loud at her letters in public archives all round the country. It was great.

M: Tell me about the research process. Where does research begin for you? In your head? Talking with friends? Reading books on allied themes? Library and/or internet search?

C: Research began in the Save the Children archive, and then in a load of boxes stacked in the wonderful drawing room of The Lyth, Eglantyne’s childhood home where the Jebb family still live. Lots and lots of reading, and then it slowly began to filter down into a story, or a series of stories, told at first as anecdotes to patient friends.

M:  How did you deal with conflicting reports or evidence?

C: Funnily enough there was not much of this, but I did quite quickly begin to disagree with the usual presentation of Eglantyne as a saint like woman, who sacrificed her life to her cause. Eglantyne was passionate and opinionated, with a mischievous dry wit and brilliant ability to make her case, and although she died young partly exhausted by her struggle, it belittles her to write her off as a female martyr. She was never a sweet old lady, but she was never particularly sweet anyway.

M: Did you consider presenting your manuscript in a format other than the one in which it is told? (For example, as a journal or an oral history) What made you choose a basically chronological narrative approach?

C: Once I saw how funny and engaging Eglantyne was, on top of her huge achievements, I knew she deserved a biography. I think most readers of the genre expect and want a chronological story, and I wanted to respect that. But I have also tried to make each chapter hang on a theme, such as maternal love, romantic love, faith, politics, war etc, so that each effectively tells a story on its own as well.

M:  Research can be such an addictive process. How did you know when it was time to stop? Did you have difficulty sorting what to omit/what to include? If so, what was the hardest to let go?

C: You are right; research is addictive! The first chapter I wrote was chapter 6, because I could see the whole story of that moment. I did revise it later but it was clear what dates and theme were bound together, and that did not fundamentally change. Then I went back to the start, but basically I kept researching while I was writing up the chapters that were emerging from the piles of notes and lists I kept on the go all the time. This may not be the best way to do it, but it worked for me!

Of course I could not put everything in. Some I was glad to let go – there are no summaries of charity meeting agendas etc, but I have files of extra bits that failed to make it either because they were not telling enough, or they simply, and infuriatingly, would not fit in to the chapter structures.

M: What did you learn about the research process? (e.g. the excitement of unexpected finds; persistence in not taking ‘no’ for an answer; the need for imagination - to think laterally/divergent thinking).

C: All of those things are true and/or important. I also learned how kind and generous people are, giving up their time and opening up their houses to me.

M: And now it is time for me to thank you, Clare, not only for giving me so much of your time over the past weeks and opening up yourself in the name of Save the Children; but for devoting so much time and energy over a number of years to writing this biography solely to benefit the children of the world.

C:  Thank you Mabel. I really appreciate the blog time you've given to spread the word.

The Woman Who Saved the Children:

a biography of Eglantine Jebb

founder of Save the Children

by Clare Mulley

First published by Oneworld Publications, Oxford, England 2009.

Released in Australia as a Paperback in 2010

Available’through all good bookstores and can also be ordered online at http://www.boomerang/ books.com.auIf you'd like to find out more about Clare, her website is http://www.claremulley.com

For further reading, visit some of my friends’ blogs...
http://deescribewriting.wordpress.com/2010/07/12/the-woman-who-saved-the-children-meet-the-author/
http://letshavewords.blogspot.com/2010/07/welcome-clare.html
http://catrionahoy.blogspot.com/2010/07/23/a woman who cares

SATURDAY FOCUS: REMARKABLE WOMEN (3) Book Review

The Woman Who Saved the Children: a biography of Eglantine Jebb, founder of Save the Children
by Clare Mulley
First published by Oneworld Publications, Oxford, England 2009.
Released in Australia as a Paperback in 2010

A slab of marble in St Georges Cemetery two miles south of the city of Geneva in full view of Mount Salève, and on the end of a sparsely populated row by a gravel path, marks the last resting place of the body of Eglantine Jebb. A simple brass cross is inset into the marble slab. Underneath are the dates and locations of her birth and death; an acknowledgement in French of her role in the foundation of the International Save the Children Union; and a quote in English from Matthew 25:40

Eglantyne's grave Geneva Switzerland December 1928

As for Eglantyne, I imagine her today back on her mountain from where she looked down over the city and scribbled the notes that were to become the basis for ‘Declaration for the Rights of the Child’, still agonising over the plight of children across the globe … still dreaming,

Who is this woman?
I had not heard of Eglantyne Jebb, before author Clare Mulley introduced her and led me back in time to late nineteenth century rural England and Eglantyne’s family — part of the Shropshire gentry.

Eglantyne Jebb c1920

... In the 1990s, when working as a fundraiser for the Save the Children UK, Clare Mulley came upon Eglantyne in a photo — a woman sitting poised at her desk looking down at her work —hung over her supervisor’s desk. Intrigued, Clare set about uncovering the person behind the ‘woman who saved the children’. Her research revealed a close-knit family, instilled with their parents’ social conscience and keen love of literature, and who, throughout their lives, supported each other’s work.

... Named after her mother, Tye, Eglantyne quickly established her special place among her five siblings as the family storyteller and scribbler. Her imagination and daydreams often found substance in stories and poems. … characteristics she never lost. Home schooled and strongly influenced by her Aunt Bun who lived with the family, Eglantyne went on to make a series of decisions that broke social convention. With the encouragement and financial backing of Bun following the death of her father in December 1894,
Eglantyne became the first daughter to undertake a degree course — almost unheard of in that time.

... Each of Eglantyne’s life experiences contributed toward and prepared her for what was to be her greatest challenge —to make the international community respond to the needs of children irrespective of race or creed.
... Her writing begun in childhood, her University education and teaching in working-class schools proved an invaluable apprenticeship for things to come. Through her frequent travels abroad with family and friends she became familiar with cultures outside her own. Fundraising for the Cambridge Women’s Memorial for Queen Victoria and her direct involvement in relief work in the Balkans in 1913 sowed the seeds of her vision for countries around the world to acknowledge the place children’s welfare and human rights.
... At the age of forty-four she found the task for which her life to date had prepared her. The year was 1919. Eglantyne, outraged that despite the armistice following the World War of 1914-18, the British government of the period continued the economic blockade of Europe in order to push through harsh peace terms with the defeated countries, embarked on the fight of her life. Children and the elderly, particularly in Austria and Germany, were starving to death in huge numbers. She could not stand idly by and watch while this humanitarian crisis unfold. Against all odds she secured the active support of the churches and through them the sympathy of many of the British people formerly sceptical of aiding the children of their enemies. The Save the Children Foundation UK was born.
... Eglantyne became the soul of a movement that transformed a one-off British ‘relief’ fund to a permanent international organization prepared to focus not just on emergencies but on economic reconstruction, education, health and nutrition, and housing.
... Legend has it, writes Clare Mulley, that one cloudless summer Sunday in 1922, Eglantyne Jebb climbed to the summit of Mount Salève, the great rocky plateau on the edge of Geneva. From the top she had a fine view of the city sprawling out from around the curve of the lake, and, on the far bank, the League of Nations’ offices. Here she settled down on the crisp turf, her hair flying in the breeze and, in the silence and calm above it all, she took out pencil and paper and drafted a five-point ‘Charter for Children’. It was the first major statement of children’s universal human rights — the precursor to one of the world’s most influential pieces of international legislation: the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. After some modification 17 May 1923 ‘The Declaration of the Rights of the Child’ was adopted by the International Union.

The personal cost
From an early age, Eglantyne was driven by powerful imagination and bursts of boundless energy often followed by severe bouts of exhaustion. Her almost fanatical sense of personal social responsibility and keen sense of justice brought with them lengthy periods of ill-health. She was torn between her need for society and solitude; work and withdrawal; her private life conflicted with unrequited, impossible love affairs and personal tragedy. Within a sixteen month period, as Eglantyne was planning and embarking on her university studies, both her father and younger brother, Gamul, died. Grief left its indelible mark upon her as she struggled to find a new way to express her Christian faith and became attracted to mysticism.
... In keeping with her sense of mission, and upon completion of her studies, Eglantyne taught in two under-funded schools for working class girls. At times she doubted her ability to teach or even like children. Despite her own assessment of her abilities in this role, she proved more adept and creative than she recognised. However, the personal cost was great. Worn out by class sizes that no teacher of today would be expected to manage, and with the meagre resources available, Eglantyne’s health failed. Despite these setbacks, part of her legacy lies in her enduring interest in education.

A brief comment
The Express.co.uk 19 March, 2010 somewhat harshly headlines an article by author, Clare Mulley: THE WOMAN WHO HATED CHILDREN...AND SAVED THEM. It seems a little unfortunate that publicists and promoters felt justified in latching onto the author’s discussion of Eglantyne’s maternal instincts (a small part of her overall story) and use it as a headline-grabbing selling point.There are two sides to every story. Did Eglantyne, who once called children 'the little wretches', really dislike children? Or could these words be cast in a more sympathetic context? Some historical evidence provided in this book hints at an alternative view. In the end it is left up to the reader to decide.
....That aside, meticulous research is the real hallmark of Clare Mulley’s book. Not only is each chapter convincingly written and compelling reading, but the supporting information provided by (1) the foreward by Anne, Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal; (2) the Family Trees; (3) the Cast of Characters; and, (4) the detailed Endnotes, add an impressive dimension to the book. The fourteen pages holding twenty-nine black and white photo plates provide a poignantly visual timeline of the life and work of Eglantyne Jebb.■




All author royalties are being donated to Save the Children. http://www.claremulley.com/

Schedule

Saturday 28 August, 2010: Clare Mulley introduces Eglantyne Jebb
Saturday 4 September, 2010: Book Review by Mabel Kaplan
Saturday 11 September, 2010: The Research Process – An Interview with Clare Mulley

This book is available through all good bookstores and online at http://www.boomerangbooks.com.au/

SATURDAY FOCUS: REMARKABLE WOMEN (2) Clare Mulley introduces Eglantyne Jebb

Mabel Kaplan

Isn't serendipity wonderful?
...I visited my local library yesterday, and the first thing I noticed was the poster by the 'in' desk: UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in Child Friendly Language. I looked at the credits and found the poster to be a collaborative Childrens Week Project between the Community Development Office for Children and Youth, Meerilinga Young Children's Foundation Inc and the United Nations Association WA Branch with acknowledgement to UNICEF for permitting the reproduction of their original text and poster design.
...It opened a lovely conversation between me and the librarians on duty. I thought Eglantyne and Clare would be pleased!

Hello Clare!

I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to getting to know more about Eglantyne Jebb and the journey it's taken for you to uncover her story. Welcome!

Clare Mulley

Thank you, Mabel! I am delighted to be invited to talk about my new book, The Woman Who Saved the Children: A Biography of Eglantyne Jebb, Founder of Save the Children on your site, just as it is published in paperback in Australia.

Eglantyne's is a wonderful story. She set up Save the Children in 1919, at the end of the First World War, to bring relief to the starving children of Austria and Germany - a courageous and controversial aim at that time, and she was arrested in London’s Trafalgar Square for leafleting and chalking up the pavements, among other adventures, in an effort to get her message across. Later she wrote the pioneering statement of children's human rights that has since evolved into the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child; the most universally accepted human rights instrument in history.


One of the things I loved about her is that although she dedicated her life to promoting children's welfare and rights, she was not fond of children herself, once calling them 'the little wretches' and in 1919 claiming that 'I suppose it is a judgment on me for not caring about children that I am made to talk, all day long, about the universal love of humanity towards them'. Eglantyne was not an overtly sentimental or maternal woman, but she was inspired by a burning humanitarian compassion that helped to bring many back to reason after the horror of the war, saving the lives of many thousands of children immediately and many millions around the world since, and permanently changing the way the world regards and treats children.


Full of humour and tragedy, passion and pain, Eglantyne’s story takes her from illicit romance in Cambridge to espionage in Serbia, from private spiritualism to public arrest, and from chasing the Pope round the Vatican and being feted by the royals of Europe, and winning the support of both the fledgling League of Nations and Bolshevik government. And yet it is a story that has not been told for more than forty years.


I was working at Save the Children when I stumbled across some of her private letters in the Fund’s London archive, stuffed down a plastic crate, and could not believe how funny and controversial she sounded even today. It has been a fantastic experience getting to know this woman, and discovering that her story still holds huge resonance in today's world, as a powerful testament to the humanitarian spirit in recognizing the complexity and humanity of all people.

Clare Mulley’s award winning biography The Woman Who Saved the Children: A Biography of Eglantyne Jebb is published in paperback by Oneworld Publications, 2010.

All author royalties are being donated to Save the Children. www.claremulley.com

Coming

Saturday 4 September, 2010: Book Review by Mabel Kaplan

Saturday 11 September, 2010: The Research Process – An Interview with Clare Mulley

SATURDAY FOCUS: REMARKABLE WOMEN (1) Introduction

Mabel Kaplan

When Clare Mulley and I were introduced over cyberspace by Catriona Hoy recently, little did I realise how that the meeting would take me on a new kind of blog journey - a journey into the worlds of three remarkable women whose lives and accomplishments are relatively unknown. Yet each of these lives touch on children caught up in the horror of civil conflict and war, poverty and disease.

Who are these women?

Eglantine Jebb (1876-1928),

Joice Nankivell Loch (1887-1982)

Pamela Ateka (1976-)

Clare Mulley

Over the next three Saturdays I will be exploring with author Clare Mulley, the life and times of Eglantyne Jebb. I have chosen Saturday because Eglantyne, born on Saturday, 26 August 1876 and (in accord with the old rhyme) true to the day her birth day, she 'worked hard for a living'.

Schedule
Saturday 28 August, 2010: Clare Mulley introduces Eglantyne Jebb
Saturday 4 September, 2010: Book Review by Mabel Kaplan
Saturday 11 September, 2010: The Research Process – An Interview with Clare Mulley

Monday's child is fair of face,

Tuesday's child is full of grace,

Wednesday's child is full of woe,

Thursday's child has far to go,

Friday's child is loving and giving,

Saturday's child works hard for a living,

But the child who is born on the Sabbath Day

Is bonny and blithe and good and gay