Elsbeth Dimsdale

Dimsdale in 1923

Elsbeth Dimsdale (c. 1872 – October 1949), born Elsbeth Phillips, was a British health campaigner.

Dimsdale was the daughter of James Erasmus Phillips, Prebendary of Salisbury Cathedral;[1][2] her older brother, John, later became a Member of Parliament and was made a viscount. She studied at the University of Oxford, where she received a first-class honours degree, and subsequently became the first woman to receive a college fellowship at the University of Cambridge.[1][3] While at Cambridge, she founded the Women's University Club.[1]

In 1902, Elsbeth married Marcus Dimsdale, and she began working for the Ministry of Health, while also undertaking voluntary work for Cambridgeshire County Council relating to public health. She gave birth in 1912, but her baby died of tuberculosis, and she thereafter focused her attention on the disease, founding the Papworth Tuberculosis Colony, and also campaigning to ensure TB was not present in milk for human consumption. For this work, she was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire.[1]

Dimsdale served as a Liberal Party member of Cambridgeshire County Council for some years. At the 1923 UK general election, Dimsdale she stood for the Cambridgeshire constituency, taking 24.6% of the vote but only third place.[2][4]

During World War II, Dimsdale hoped to organise the evacuation of some British children to Canada.[5]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Clare Mulley, The Woman Who Saved the Children
  2. 1 2 "Woman candidate: Cambridge Liberals choose Fellow of Newnham", Manchester Guardian, 15 October 1923
  3. ↑ Victoria County History, A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely: Volume 3, the City and University of Cambridge, pp.493-495
  4. ↑ F. W. S. Craig (1983), British Parliamentary Election Results, 1918–1949. Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services.
  5. ↑ Mark Kristmanson, Plateaus of Freedom: Nationality, Culture, and State Security in Canada, p.12
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