Margaret Sewell

Margaret Sewell (1852–1937) was an English educator who was Warden of the Women's University Settlement. She was a pioneer advocate of social work. Early life and background She was the daughter of the civil engineer and banker Philip Edward Sewell (1822–1906), son of Isaac Sewell and his wife Mary Wright Sewell; the author Anna Sewell was her aunt. She was born in Brighton on 10 November 1852. Margaret Sewell was tutored privately, and entered Newnham College, Cambridge in 1884. She left Cambridge in 1887 with a second class in the Natural Science Tripos Part I. At the time women could not take Cambridge degrees: she was awarded an M.A. in 1928. John Wright of Dudwick In 1853, the Buxton Reformatory for Boys, which would play a large part in Margaret Sewell's life, was founded near Buxton, Norfolk by a group including her uncle John Wright and Edward North Buxton, John Henry Gurney and George Kett. John Wright (1794–1871) of Dudwick House was a Quaker and pioneer in the reformatory movement that sought to reduce the harshness of punishments for adolescent offenders. From 1850 he gave jobs to discharged young offenders on his farms. He called a meeting in 1852 with the result that a settlement was founded in the Buxton area for 40 offenders under the age of 20. It was located at Marsham and became a certified reformatory in 1855.