An early 20th-century socialite who left a lasting impression right around the world has barely rated a mention in history.
Eglantyne Jebb moved in the same circles as economist John Maynard Keynes and George Bernard Shaw, she founded the Save the Children Fund and drafted what was to become the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
She is now the subject of a play being staged at the Hannah Playhouse (formerly Downstage).
Playwright and comic actress Anne Chamberlain was working for the Save the Children Fund, researching its history when she became fascinated by the contrast between Jebb’s influence and the level of recognition she had received.
”I got totally drawn in,” Chamberlain said. ”I had a 2am epiphany. I thought when this contract finishes I’m going to write this play.”
The settings traverse Jebb’s Shropshire home, Scotland, Geneva and the Balkans, where she was working in 1914 when World War I was ignited there.
Jebb had studied at Cambridge and worked briefly as a teacher before the war, a time when the English class system was very strong.
The educated circles she moved in were well-aware of their privileged position.
