Lettice Fisher

Lettice Fisher ( Ilbert; 14 June 1875 – 14 February 1956) was the founder of the National Council for the Unmarried Mother and her Child, now known as Gingerbread. She was also an economist and a historian. Background and education Lettice Ilbert was born on 14 June 1875 in Kensington, London to Sir Courtenay Peregrine Ilbert and his wife, Jessie. She was educated at Francis Holland School, London and Somerville College, Oxford, where she was awarded a first in modern history in 1897. She worked as a researcher at the London School of Economics from 1897 to 1898. From 1902 to 1913, she taught history at St Hugh's College, Oxford, and she also taught economics for the Association for the Higher Education of Women in Oxford. Whilst at Oxford, Fisher was also involved in voluntary work in housing, public health and child welfare. She was an active suffragist, chairing the national executive of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) from 1916 to 1918. She ran to become President of the NUWSS in 1919, following Millicent Fawcett‘s post-war resignation, but was defeated by Eleanor Rathbone.