Dear Year 6 Form Masters, 

 

Do you like sexism? Do you think that women shouldn’t go to school and that they shouldn’t be able to make a living from anything other than sewing.? Because if that sounds like a splendid way to live for you then you're going to hate Caroline Chislom. She spent her entire life devoted to making life better for women and their families. 

 

Caroline was born on the 30th May 1808  Wootton, England. Her parents were both farmers with her father doing most the actual farming work, her mother would like to sit with Caroline and mend the clothes. Caroline was not a fan of this she hated sewing and thought it would bring women down only being able to sew so she looked for other interests that her parents would allow and she finally found one, well half of it. She wanted to go to school she was hooked on it Caroline loved and treasured the idea of being educated. She would beg to go to school but was allowed never allowed. Having to stay home and work on the farm. Her parents were somewhat stick in the muds as you could say they were extremely closed minded and had no place to grow.  Caroline hated this of her parents and they hated that of her. 

 

But this didn’t last long for when she was 22 she married to Captain Archibold Chislom (Captain Archibold was born in Scotland his parents John and Jane Chislom his parents educated him in Greek and Latin) he was a navy captain for East Indian Coast. Captain Archiblald and Caroline could never decide where to live, (it got to a point where their nosy neighbour didn’t even listen in). So they eventually decided where to live which was a mix between India and England. Now there life was going perfectly fine when in England Captain Archibald would look after the children which they had along the way (they had 7 children) Whilst Caroline took care of her shelter for women with dead European Soldiers as late husbands. And when in India Caroline would take care of the kids whilst Captain Archibald worked. 

 

 When Captain Archibald was on leave they decided to go on a vacation (which later became a moving trip) to Australia they booked boat tickets and quickly packed bags for they were living the next day to booking them. They had 1st class and Caroline and the kids loved it (it wasn’t out of the ordinary for Captain Archibald to be riding 1st class) when Caroline walked onto the ships onto the ship she was in awe everything was spectacular the wood finishes the exquisite food the spectacular varieties of books and games. (Caroline always liked a bit of a wonder such was her curious attitude) But when she went down stairs and saw the convicts in tiny cages with no food. It touched her heart and her project for the next 4 years was to improve condition of convicts.  

 

The convicts at the time had barely enough food to keep the breath in their body. The floor boards were rotting and broke constantly. And if they weren't lucky enough to get a solo cell they would be piled onto of each other and hundreds died on the way to their inevitable doom their life wasn’t good but know it had hope, for the charity that Caroline was soon to set up helped reunite them with their families. 

 

When she had left the boat she started a charity to help the convicts, she would knock on doors and ask for donations and signatures but if she saw that they weren't well off or even well she would give them some money thus dragging out the proposal but if Caroline saw someone in need she would help them. When she had collected enough money and gained enough signatures she sent a proposal the English Royalty. When they quickly agreed I say quickly I more mean immediately thanks to Carolines persuasiveness. The plan was simple with the money they made and some of Carolines personal money they  bought the materials and hired help, to make other boats this meant more room for convicts. This charity worked extremely well so well infact the males and females were faking crimes to get sent to Australia then getting the charity to reunite their family with them. When Caroline found out about this she quickly set up a new charity for bringing families to Australia, how the charity worked was a simple thing the charity paid for half the cost for the travel to Australia then after 2 years the family needs to pay back what the charity paid. A simple and effective charity.          

 

After finishing that she quickly moved onto her next project but to do that she needed to convince her husband to stay so she took him around Sydney, showing him people that needed help the abandoned children to the homeless seniors. Convincing them to stay in Australia when they bought their house (which was well big enough for the 9 of them) in Wellington Caroline made a school for women and girls that weren't good at sewing and knitting so they couldn’t have a husband and have to live with their parents forever whilst Caroline wasn’t a fan of the concept it needed to be done.  

 

When that was going on with The gold rush began and her husband had to go on a mission to India she moved to England to see what was going to help families move with the men. But when she got there she knew she could never go back. She dropped everything and almost started crying when she saw all the Females and Kids sitting around trying to find shade. She immediately spent most her fortune making schools around the area for kids most importantly the young girls but boys were allowed. But when the Wifes and girl weren't going she would hire them to go to school whilst she paid other women to do the sewing for them.  

 

Then after doing work there expanded the help to others she made more schools around the country and shelters to help females with husbands deployed, dead or that ran away even if they wanted more like her as a kid. The shelters that she made were amazing they helped thousands  of people. Ranging from young kids to senior seniors. She was remarkable. She even set up a foundation that is working to this day. She has helped so many people and to me is the iconic notable person. If I could pick only 1 it would be her. 

 

When she inevitable died in 1877 she was very poor she had given away almost all her money to people who needed it the most but as smart as she was she was not smart enough in the slightest to see that sh herself needed the money. She was an iconic and truly a remarkable person and she should be treasured in people's minds forever, rather you remember her making one of her many shelters or her schools which she spent most her time. On which was quite a few hours more than most people would spend on anything. 

 

Yours Sincerely, 

Hugh Gavagna 

6CH