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The visionary achievements of Isabella (Isabel) Caroline Somerset,
like the temperance cause she led, have undeservedly faded into
obscurity. By her contemporaries she was feted for her social
activism, and at the time of her death in 1921, Isabel Somerset's
vigorous reform efforts were internationally recognised and
acclaimed by humanitarian, political and social-reform
organisations and the labour movement. Beginning with local
temperance and philanthropic work, Isabel Somerset progressed to
become president of the British Women's Temperance Association,
which she gradually transformed from a single-issue organisation
into one committed to women's rights and a broad range of social
initiatives; the BWTA became a potent pressure-group force in the
politically influential, late-nineteenth-century temperance
movement. Discouraged by the existing punitive, futile methods used
to combat alcoholism, she founded a farm colony for female
inebriates and employed a pioneering rehabilitation programme based
upon therapeutic treatment and life-style changes. Through her
close co-operation with American temperance icon Frances Willard,
Isabel Somerset strengthened the bonds between the Anglo-American
and international temperance and women's movements. Isabel
Somerset's activism did not go unchallenged. In 1893 she
successfully overcame the BWTA social conservatives' attempts to
unseat her, and thereafter expanded the membership to hitherto
unprecedented levels. In 1897-8 her position on state-regulated
prostitution in India created a controversy which reverberated
beyond the Association to encompass its sister organizations and
proved temporarily detrimental to Somerset's reputation and
credibility. Isabel survived this disputation, retaining her
presidency and succeeding Willard as president of the World's
Woman's Christian Temperance Union following her death in 1898.
Isabel Somerset was a devout Christian, compassionate humanitarian,
temperance activist, committed social reformer and women's rights
campaigner, a charismatic leader and eloquent orator. Her roles of
reformer and women's advocate, as revealed anew in the pages of
this biography, place her in the pantheon of notable Victorian
female reformers.
The visionary achievements of Isabella (Isabel) Caroline Somerset
(Lady Henry Somerset), like the temperance cause she led, have
undeservedly faded into obscurity. By her contemporaries she was
feted for her social activism, and at the time of her death in
1921, Isabel Somerset's vigorous reform efforts were acclaimed by
humanitarian, political and social-reform organizations and the
labour movement. She was internationally recognized for her
contributions to the temperance cause, social reform and women's
rights. The failure of her traumatic marriage to Lord Henry Charles
Somerset after revelation of his homosexual affairs, and the
ensuing child-custody battle and consequent ostracism by Society,
combined with a profound religious experience, effected her
metamorphosis from an aristocratic socialite into a temperance and
social reform activist.Beginning with local temperance and
philanthropic work, Isabel Somerset progressed to become president
of the British Women's Temperance Association, which she gradually
transformed from a single-issue organization into one committed to
women's rights and a broad range of social initiatives; the BWTA
became a potent pressure-group force in the politically
influential, late-nineteenth-century temperance movement.
Discouraged by the existing punitive, futile methods used to combat
alcoholism, she founded a farm colony for female inebriates and
employed a pioneering rehabilitation programme based upon
therapeutic treatment and life-style changes. Through her close
co-operation with American temperance icon Frances Willard, Isabel
Somerset strengthened the bonds between the Anglo-American and
international temperance and women's movements. Isabel Somerset's
activism did not go unchallenged. In 1893 she successfully overcame
the BWTA social conservatives' attempts to unseat her, and
thereafter expanded the membership to hitherto unprecedented
levels. In 1897-8 her position on state-regulated prostitution in
India created a controversy which reverberated beyond the
Association to encompass its sister organizations and proved
temporarily detrimental to Somerset's reputation and credibility.
Isabel survived this disputation, retaining her presidency and
succeeding Willard as president of the World's Woman's Christian
Temperance Union following her death in 1898.Isabel Somerset was a
devout Christian, compassionate humanitarian, temperance activist,
committed social reformer and women's rights campaigner, a
charismatic leader and eloquent orator. Her roles of reformer and
women's advocate, as revealed anew in the pages of this biography,
place her in the pantheon of notable Victorian female reformers.
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