| AdminHistory | Elizabeth Taylor Cadbury became associated with the National Council of Women in 1896. The International Council of Women was formed in 1888 incorporating various National Councils. In July 1914 Taylor Cadbury was appointed Convenor of the International Council's Peace and Arbitration Committee.
In 1936 Lady Aberdeen, a close friend of Taylor Cadbury's and President of the International Council of Women, invited Taylor Cadbury to take her place at the World Congress of the International Council of Women (also referred to as the World Conference of Women) in India. Aged 78, Taylor Cadbury accepted this opportunity and travelled to India in January 1936, accompanied by her daughter Mollie (Marion Janet, born 1894) and her friend Eiluned Lewis, a journalist from the 'Sunday Times'. Taylor Cadbury suffered from ill health during the voyage from Marseilles to Bombay which forced her to miss the welcoming receptions arranged for the Congress. However, she was soon well again and travelled to Central India where she visited Quaker Mission Centres at Itarsi, Hoshangabad and Sohagpur. Whilst in Central India Taylor Cadbury also visited schools, hostels and Girl Guide camps and attended a Memorial Service for King George V who died whilst her party were travelling to India. The central event of Taylor Cadbury's visit was the World Congress of the International Council of Women held in Calcutta which was attended by Indian political representatives and European notaries. Taylor Cadbury delivered a number of addresses during the Congress including an address considering training for social work. She also chaired group discussions on various subjects relating to social reform in India.
Scott suggests Taylor Cadbury recognised that Indian women were faced with similar problems to those living in Britain, confronted by the need for improved housing, education and public health services. In her addresses to Indian women and to the British press following her visit to the country, Taylor Cadbury frequently remarked that work towards social reform united women beyond national barriers. Reflecting her significance in work supporting improved international relations, whilst in India Taylor Cadbury was invited to deliver a broadcast in Calcutta about international friendship, an event which she recalled as being amongst the outstanding moments of her long life in her memoirs written aged ninety in 1948.
Taylor Cadbury visited Agra to see the Taj Mahal and took a short holiday in Rajputana before returning to England. Following her arrival home Taylor Cadbury maintained a keen interest in India, supporting Quaker philanthropic initiatives by providing a travelling dispensary to the hospital established by the Friends' Mission in Itarsi. She also provided a scholarship which would allow female students from the Friends' School in Sohagpur to attend the Central College for Women at Nagpur.
During the Second World War Taylor Cadbury was actively involved in efforts to end political disputes between Britain and India. She publically supported appeals by the Union of Democratic Control, the Women's International League and the Friends Service Council for improved Anglo-Indian relations and the relief of women and children affected by the Partition conflicts. Through her support for these campaigns Taylor Cadbury became involved with a social network of women involved in international philanthropic and political work which included Emmeline Pethick Lawrence, Agatha Harrison, Margaret Backhouse, Edwina Mountbatten, Countess Mountbatten of Burma, and Margaret Corbett-Ashby.
In 1947 Taylor Cadbury was invited to attend celebrations commemorating the passing of the Indian Independence Bill. She was described in Anglo-Indian newspapers as 'one of the few British champions in this country who have struggled so strenuously to enable India to be master in her own house.' |