New artwork commissioned to commemorate Ellesmere's famous sisters
A new artwork has been commissioned to commemorate two famous sisters from the Ellesmere area.
Ellesmere Sculpture Initiative have commissioned lettering artist John Neilson to begin work shortly on carving a 5ft stone pillar featuring some of social reformer Eglantyne Jebb's most memorable words.
And while Eglantyne is famed for her ground-breaking Declaration of the Rights of the Child in 1922, her sister, Dorothy, was also a co-founder of he international aid charity Save the Children in 1919.
As children in Germany and Austria they suffered starvation at the end of the First World War.
The stone pillar will complete a four-year community art project to commemorate the Jebb sisters, who were born at the Lyth country house on the outskirts of the north Shropshire town.
It will be sited close to two other sculptures erected two years ago to mark the centenary of the founding of Save the Children.
The Declaration of the Rights of the Child, paved the way for an international treaty signed by nearly 200 countries.
Sculpture group chairman Len Graham said: “Eglantyne is rightly hailed as a true innovator and passionate champion for children, though ironically, as a former school-teacher, she never really showed great fondness for them and once described them as ‘little wretches’.
“Although best-known for setting up the Save the Children Fund, she also campaigned relentlessly for the rights and welfare of children to be something for which everyone should take responsibility. This led to her drafting her the Rights of the Child, which became another lasting legacy and an international benchmark for the treatment of children”.
Soon after launching the charity in the UK, Eglantyne opened an office in Geneva to co-ordinate the distribution of food and medical supplies across Europe and beyond, through the newly-formed International Save the Children Union.
It was there, in the summer of 1922, while hiking high on Mont Saleve, overlooking the Swiss city, that she reputedly drafted her five-point children’s charter. She presented it to officials of the League of Nations, which had just established its headquarters in the lakeside resort.
It took another two years of arguments and amendments before the document was finally adopted by the League - a forerunner of the United Nations – and dubbed the Declaration of Geneva.
More than 60 years later - long after her death - Eglantyne’s charter provided the basis for the UN Convention on Children’s Rights, a legally-binding international agreement signed by most countries around the world, covering the health, welfare and education of children and protection from violence, abuse and exploitation.”
Trudi Graham, the sculpture group’s artistic co-ordinator, said: "In this centenary year, it’s fitting that we remember this remarkable achievement which has helped to change the lives of so many children.”
The project has been partly-funded by grants from the Heritage Lottery Fund and Arts Council England, with support from Shropshire Council, Ellesmere Town Council, local schools, businesses, voluntary organisations and individuals.
The project site has been developed as the Jebb Memorial Garden at the main entrance to the Cremorne Gardens beauty spot, one of Shropshire’s most popular visitor attractions.
