Elizabeth Anne Finn
Encyclopedia
Elizabeth Finn was a writer and "the strong-willed and intelligent" wife of James Finn
, British
Consul
in Jerusalem, in Ottoman
Palestine
between 1846 and 1863.
She was born on 14 March 1825 to missionary parents in the Zamoyski Palace, Warsaw
, Poland
and died at home in Brook Green, Hammersmith
, London on 18 January 1921 at the age of 95.
At the age of 72, Elizabeth Finn and her daughter Constance founded the Distressed Gentlefolk's Aid Association or D.G.A.A., the predecessor of Elizabeth Finn Care
on May 5 1897 ‘in the hope of alleviating some of the distress which has overtaken ladies and gentlemen who have seen better days.’
whom Elizabeth Finn describes in her Reminiscences as having 'devoted his life to what he considered to be the highest good for the Jewish people, and through them of the whole world.'
From an early age Elizabeth Finn combined a passion for knowledge with a love of housework and persuaded her mother to let her learn all the skills necessary for a housewife of the era.
Being the eldest child and her own mother’s health being weak she was in her own words ‘a sort of little mother to her brothers and sisters’ whom she taught, learning in the evening what she was to teach the next day. All other intervals were taken up with the sewing and mending needful for the family, skills that would be fully called upon in many circumstances in her role as a Diplomat's wife.
Without the benefit of any formal education in the sense of having a governess at home or attending formal school, but encouraged by her own immediate environment and her family's dedication to study, Elizabeth gained command of many foreign languages, becoming polyglot
from an early age.
She was tutored in Hebrew from an early age by a converted Jewish Rabbi Rav Avrohom. When deemed capable of reading for herself at the age of 4 she received her own Bible in English and received a German Bible for her next birthday, by which time she was equally fluent in Yiddish
. She first read and discovered Shakespeare
in a German translation soon afterwards.
At the age of twelve, she would rise at 3.30 each morning to translate for publication Lavater
's Maxims from the German original. She received 2 guineas
for her labours, enough to purchase a dozen pairs of new stockings that spared her from ceaseless darning. Queen Adelaide
purchased a larger number of copies of this book for a bazaar on the condition that Elizabeth herself would benefit.
As a diplomat's wife in Jerusalem, she added fluent command of Arabic
to her array of languages by asking her Dragoman
for ten Arabic words each day, putting one on the fingers of each hand. Having thus acquired Arabic, she was in later life asked to translate the correspondence in Arabic dialect between the Mahdi
Muhammed Ahmed and the late General Gordon
‘of Khartoum.’
The Reverend Mr McCaul's mission saw him return to England in 1831 where he continued to make the condition of the Jewish people known to the people in England. The family lived in Palestine Place on the Cambridge Road in Bethnal Green an area leased to the London Society for Promoting Christianity Amongst the Jews (a Jewish Christian missionary society now known as the Church's Ministry Among Jewish People
or CMJ). McCaul was appointed Warburton Lecturer of Lincoln's Inn in 1837, having received a degree of D.D. from the University of Dublin on account of his Hebrew Learning and in 1843 the Bishop of London offered him the vicarage of St James, Dukes Place a parish with 800 Jewish inhabitants and only 100 Christian. Elizabeth herself was an eyewitness to the Houses of Parliament
burning down in 1834 and the coronation procession of Queen Victoria
in 1837.
During this time, Elizabeth continued in her self-appointed role as school mistress to her brothers and sisters and housekeeper to her mother, making all pastry, cakes, jams and pickles herself in addition to nearly all the family needlework.
who had been gazetted as Consul for Jerusalem by Lord Aberdeen
the previous November. The next month the newly married couple began the arduous journey to their posting.
James Finn
had made the personal acquaintance of the Reverend Alexander McCaul in 1841 after publication of his work on the history of the Sephardi Jews
and an account of the Jewish community in China
. As such he was included amongst a select circle of influential people who included Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury
and Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston
with a keen interest in the region. The British Consuls were instructed to befriend in every possible way the Jews in Jerusalem and Palestine, who had no kind of European protection.
Jerusalem and Palestine were at that time a recently restored part of the Turkish Ottoman Empire
, the European powers having driven Mehmet Ali
and his son Ibrahim Pasha
out of Syria in 1840. As such the religious, diplomatic and economic pressures rendered Jerusalem a potential flashpoint between Turkish, Russian British and wider European power interests. The Turks had to pay for the help from the European powers with extended concessions, including giving each European consul the right to judge, and even imprison lawbreakers of his own nationality.
Elizabeth took to her role as the outspoken and fearless diplomat’s wife, assuming responsibility for protecting the interests of all people generally, whether British subjects or not, for 17 years between 1846 and 1863.
In the midst of much diplomatic, political and social turmoil, between endless official duties and the care of single-handedly raising and supporting her own family of three children, Elizabeth took actions to alleviate the sufferings and serve the needs of Christians, Jews and Muslims alike.
Three surviving children were born during the Finns' diplomatic mission. Their eldest child Alexander 'Guy Fawkes' Finn, who, like his father would pursue a diplomatic career, retiring as Consul General for Chile, was born on November 5 1847. In October 1851 Elizabeth's daughter Constance was born inside a tent pitched on a field north west of Jerusalem. Elizabeth Finn gave birth to Constance having spent the entirety of the previous day personally entertaining the wife of the Turkish Pasha and her numerous escort of friends, servants and slaves. A second son, Arthur Henry, was born in 1854 and in later life as a Hebrew scholar wrote "The Unity of the Pentateuch".
Elizabeth Finn also helped establish in November 1849 the Jerusalem Literary Society to explore the natural and ancient history of the region objectively and free from religious controversy. The Finns who had formed a library of a thousand volumes and a small museum, would take advantage of the Saturday, on which no Jewish business could be carried out, to ride out into the countryside in search of antiquities and there make valuable discoveries.
Many eminent travellers attended meetings of the Jerusalem Literary Society, news of which began attracting the favourable notice of amongst others Albert, Prince Consort, George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen
and the Archbishop of Canterbury. Ultimately these efforts would later evolve and flourish in the eventual formation and subsequent history of the Palestine Exploration Fund
.
During these years Elizabeth Finn became one of the first modern Europeans to be given permission to visit the Temple Mount
and Dome of the Rock
.
Elizabeth Finn contributed as a pioneer of photography
helping bring the newly invented art to the region and, also supporting indigenous photographers such as Mendel John Diness. The landscape of Palestine and Jerusalem was of keen interest to Elizabeth Finn as is evinced by the meticulous depictions made in both word-paintings and pen and pencil sketches of various Biblical and historical landscapes. Her work is marked with a painstaking level of attention as to how the landscape is charged and altered by the effects of light at different times of day.
William Holman Hunt
who visited the region in 1854 halfway through the Finns' time in Jerusalem to research and sketch for The Scapegoat (painting)
provided an introductory letter to Mrs Finn's eventual published collection of sketches validating her work as "very excellent topographical studies of the localities and in colour by no means overcharged for the original effects which the mountains, sky and plains of Syria glory in."
She was also able to entertain, despite scant resources both Prince Alfred
(second son of Queen Victoria) and latterly his elder brother the Prince of Wales
(later Edward VII
) in charming royal style, so forming the connections with Royal patronage that would later provide crucial early support for the Distressed Gentlefolk's Aid Association.
Examples of actions practical relief undertaken by Elizabeth Finn during this time in Jerusalem include: -
The Finns made plans to return to England in 1863, eventually leaving on 14 July with Jewish bodies sending several petitions to the Queen not to remove their benefactor (James Finn) but the Queen being in seclusion, mourning the death of her late husband, the petitions had no effect.
They spent the next three years visiting friends and relations, finally settling in an old fashioned, delightful house at Hammersmith
in what was then little more than a rural and sequestered spot. Here they enjoyed a quiet, restful life, filled up by parochial and literary work. But Mr Finn's health, broken by his strenuous and anxious Consular life was much impaired and in 1872 aged 66 he died and was buried at Wimbledon
.
In 1875 Elizabeth Finn was asked by the Archbishop of Canterbury
to support and act as translator for the Patriarch of the Ancient Syrian Church whilst he pursued a mission to England to support the claims of his parishioners on the coast of Malabar. A two week visit extended to an embassy lasting seven months that indulged the appetites of senior churchmen, politicians including William Ewart Gladstone
, Lord Salisbury and Queen Victoria for religious enquiry and disputation. Elizabeth Finn would repeat this task in 1908 and 1909 for the Bishop of Syria who had succeeded as Patriarch having himself accompanied the mission in 1875.
Elizabeth Finn continued to lecture on Biblical subjects in the Assyrian Room of the British Museum
and retold her experiences in Jerusalem in support of the Survey for Exploration of Palestine at fundraising meetings to build on the legacy of the Jerusalem Literary Society she herself had established.
In 1882 Elizabeth Finn, then 57, launched the Society for Relief of Distressed Jews’ to provide support for Russian Jews facing severe persecution during violent pogrom
s.
Sir John Simon, a leading member of England's Jewish community was moved to testify to 'Mrs Finn's extraordinary knowledge of his people and astonishment that a Christian should take such an interest in his afflicted people'.
Late Victorian England was a time of great economic uncertainty and vulnerable members of society lacking the protection of state provision in pensions, healthcare and benefits had recourse only to the provisions of the Poor Law Board
and feared the workhouse
.
The Finns deliberately restricted the focus of the D.G.A.A. to assisting those drawn from their immediate environment, persons from hitherto comfortable backgrounds, whom on account of illness or want were at severe risk of neglect.
D.G.A.A. either bestowed grants for the immediate relief of the elderly and infirm or empowered individuals capable of working to get back onto their feet and find employment through targeted support and micro-loans.
Although ending her ‘formal’ participation with D.G.A.A. in 1901, Elizabeth Finn continued to closely monitor and assist the society for the rest of her life – attending her final committee meeting on 5 November 1920 two months before her death on 18 January 1921. She is buried next to her husband James in Wimbledon
.
This legacy endures within Elizabeth Finn Care to this day and continues in the lives of the thousands of people whose quality of daily life is supported and improved by the UK’s largest independent grant-giving charity dedicated to alleviating poverty.
http://www.elizabethfinncare.org.uk
James Finn
James Finn was a British Consul in Jerusalem, in the then Ottoman Empire . He arrived in 1845 with his wife Elizabeth Anne Finn. Finn was a devout Christian, who belonged to the London Society for Promoting Christianity Amongst the Jews, but who did not engage in missionary work during his years in...
, British
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....
Consul
Consul (representative)
The political title Consul is used for the official representatives of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, and to facilitate trade and friendship between the peoples of the two countries...
in Jerusalem, in Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
between 1846 and 1863.
She was born on 14 March 1825 to missionary parents in the Zamoyski Palace, Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
and died at home in Brook Green, Hammersmith
Hammersmith
Hammersmith is an urban centre in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in west London, England, in the United Kingdom, approximately five miles west of Charing Cross on the north bank of the River Thames...
, London on 18 January 1921 at the age of 95.
At the age of 72, Elizabeth Finn and her daughter Constance founded the Distressed Gentlefolk's Aid Association or D.G.A.A., the predecessor of Elizabeth Finn Care
Elizabeth Finn Care
Elizabeth Finn Care, established by Elizabeth Anne Finn in 1897 as the Distressed Gentlefolk's Aid Association, is a British charity providing help and assistance to relieve the problems of old age, illness, social isolation and disability.-Origins:...
on May 5 1897 ‘in the hope of alleviating some of the distress which has overtaken ladies and gentlemen who have seen better days.’
Early life
Her father, the Reverend Alexander McCaul was a prodigious and noted scholar of HebrewHebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
whom Elizabeth Finn describes in her Reminiscences as having 'devoted his life to what he considered to be the highest good for the Jewish people, and through them of the whole world.'
From an early age Elizabeth Finn combined a passion for knowledge with a love of housework and persuaded her mother to let her learn all the skills necessary for a housewife of the era.
Being the eldest child and her own mother’s health being weak she was in her own words ‘a sort of little mother to her brothers and sisters’ whom she taught, learning in the evening what she was to teach the next day. All other intervals were taken up with the sewing and mending needful for the family, skills that would be fully called upon in many circumstances in her role as a Diplomat's wife.
Without the benefit of any formal education in the sense of having a governess at home or attending formal school, but encouraged by her own immediate environment and her family's dedication to study, Elizabeth gained command of many foreign languages, becoming polyglot
Multilingualism
Multilingualism is the act of using, or promoting the use of, multiple languages, either by an individual speaker or by a community of speakers. Multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. Multilingualism is becoming a social phenomenon governed by the needs of...
from an early age.
She was tutored in Hebrew from an early age by a converted Jewish Rabbi Rav Avrohom. When deemed capable of reading for herself at the age of 4 she received her own Bible in English and received a German Bible for her next birthday, by which time she was equally fluent in Yiddish
Yiddish language
Yiddish is a High German language of Ashkenazi Jewish origin, spoken throughout the world. It developed as a fusion of German dialects with Hebrew, Aramaic, Slavic languages and traces of Romance languages...
. She first read and discovered Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
in a German translation soon afterwards.
At the age of twelve, she would rise at 3.30 each morning to translate for publication Lavater
Johann Kaspar Lavater
Johann Kaspar Lavater was a Swiss poet and physiognomist.-Early life:Lavater was born at Zürich, and educated at the Gymnasium there, where J. J. Bodmer and J. J...
's Maxims from the German original. She received 2 guineas
Guinea (British coin)
The guinea is a coin that was minted in the Kingdom of England and later in the Kingdom of Great Britain and the United Kingdom between 1663 and 1813...
for her labours, enough to purchase a dozen pairs of new stockings that spared her from ceaseless darning. Queen Adelaide
Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen
Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen was the queen consort of the United Kingdom and of Hanover as spouse of William IV of the United Kingdom. Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia, is named after her.-Early life:Adelaide was born on 13 August 1792 at Meiningen, Thuringia, Germany...
purchased a larger number of copies of this book for a bazaar on the condition that Elizabeth herself would benefit.
As a diplomat's wife in Jerusalem, she added fluent command of Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
to her array of languages by asking her Dragoman
Dragoman
A dragoman was an interpreter, translator and official guide between Turkish, Arabic, and Persian-speaking countries and polities of the Middle East and European embassies, consulates, vice-consulates and trading posts...
for ten Arabic words each day, putting one on the fingers of each hand. Having thus acquired Arabic, she was in later life asked to translate the correspondence in Arabic dialect between the Mahdi
Mahdi
In Islamic eschatology, the Mahdi is the prophesied redeemer of Islam who will stay on Earth for seven, nine or nineteen years- before the Day of Judgment and, alongside Jesus, will rid the world of wrongdoing, injustice and tyranny.In Shia Islam, the belief in the Mahdi is a "central religious...
Muhammed Ahmed and the late General Gordon
Charles George Gordon
Major-General Charles George Gordon, CB , known as "Chinese" Gordon, Gordon Pasha, and Gordon of Khartoum, was a British army officer and administrator....
‘of Khartoum.’
The Reverend Mr McCaul's mission saw him return to England in 1831 where he continued to make the condition of the Jewish people known to the people in England. The family lived in Palestine Place on the Cambridge Road in Bethnal Green an area leased to the London Society for Promoting Christianity Amongst the Jews (a Jewish Christian missionary society now known as the Church's Ministry Among Jewish People
Church's Ministry Among Jewish People
Church's Ministry Among Jewish People is an Anglican missionary society founded in 1809.-History:...
or CMJ). McCaul was appointed Warburton Lecturer of Lincoln's Inn in 1837, having received a degree of D.D. from the University of Dublin on account of his Hebrew Learning and in 1843 the Bishop of London offered him the vicarage of St James, Dukes Place a parish with 800 Jewish inhabitants and only 100 Christian. Elizabeth herself was an eyewitness to the Houses of Parliament
Palace of Westminster
The Palace of Westminster, also known as the Houses of Parliament or Westminster Palace, is the meeting place of the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom—the House of Lords and the House of Commons...
burning down in 1834 and the coronation procession of Queen Victoria
Victoria of the United Kingdom
Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....
in 1837.
During this time, Elizabeth continued in her self-appointed role as school mistress to her brothers and sisters and housekeeper to her mother, making all pastry, cakes, jams and pickles herself in addition to nearly all the family needlework.
Diplomatic life
Before even reaching her twenty first birthday, on 2 January 1846 Elizabeth married James FinnJames Finn
James Finn was a British Consul in Jerusalem, in the then Ottoman Empire . He arrived in 1845 with his wife Elizabeth Anne Finn. Finn was a devout Christian, who belonged to the London Society for Promoting Christianity Amongst the Jews, but who did not engage in missionary work during his years in...
who had been gazetted as Consul for Jerusalem by Lord Aberdeen
Marquess of Aberdeen and Temair
Marquess of Aberdeen and Temair, in the County of Aberdeen, in the County of Meath and in the County of Argyll, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 4 January 1916 for John Hamilton-Gordon, 7th Earl of Aberdeen. The Gordon family descends from John Gordon, who fought...
the previous November. The next month the newly married couple began the arduous journey to their posting.
James Finn
James Finn
James Finn was a British Consul in Jerusalem, in the then Ottoman Empire . He arrived in 1845 with his wife Elizabeth Anne Finn. Finn was a devout Christian, who belonged to the London Society for Promoting Christianity Amongst the Jews, but who did not engage in missionary work during his years in...
had made the personal acquaintance of the Reverend Alexander McCaul in 1841 after publication of his work on the history of the Sephardi Jews
Sephardi Jews
Sephardi Jews is a general term referring to the descendants of the Jews who lived in the Iberian Peninsula before their expulsion in the Spanish Inquisition. It can also refer to those who use a Sephardic style of liturgy or would otherwise define themselves in terms of the Jewish customs and...
and an account of the Jewish community in China
History of the Jews in China
Jews and Judaism in China have had a long history. Jewish settlers are documented in China as early as the 7th or 8th century CE, but may have arrived during the mid Han Dynasty, or even as early as 231 BCE. Relatively isolated communities developed through the Tang and Song Dynasties Jews and...
. As such he was included amongst a select circle of influential people who included Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury
Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury
Anthony Ashley Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury KG , styled Lord Ashley from 1811 to 1851, was an English politician and philanthropist, one of the best-known of the Victorian era and one of the main proponents of Christian Zionism.-Youth:He was born in London and known informally as Lord Ashley...
and Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston
Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston
Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, KG, GCB, PC , known popularly as Lord Palmerston, was a British statesman who served twice as Prime Minister in the mid-19th century...
with a keen interest in the region. The British Consuls were instructed to befriend in every possible way the Jews in Jerusalem and Palestine, who had no kind of European protection.
Jerusalem and Palestine were at that time a recently restored part of the Turkish Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
, the European powers having driven Mehmet Ali
Muhammad Ali of Egypt
Muhammad Ali Pasha al-Mas'ud ibn Agha was a commander in the Ottoman army, who became Wāli, and self-declared Khedive of Egypt and Sudan...
and his son Ibrahim Pasha
Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt
Ibrahim Pasha was the eldest son of Muhammad Ali, the Wāli and unrecognised Khedive of Egypt and Sudan. He served as a general in the Egyptian army that his father established during his reign, taking his first command of Egyptian forces was when he was merely a teenager...
out of Syria in 1840. As such the religious, diplomatic and economic pressures rendered Jerusalem a potential flashpoint between Turkish, Russian British and wider European power interests. The Turks had to pay for the help from the European powers with extended concessions, including giving each European consul the right to judge, and even imprison lawbreakers of his own nationality.
Elizabeth took to her role as the outspoken and fearless diplomat’s wife, assuming responsibility for protecting the interests of all people generally, whether British subjects or not, for 17 years between 1846 and 1863.
In the midst of much diplomatic, political and social turmoil, between endless official duties and the care of single-handedly raising and supporting her own family of three children, Elizabeth took actions to alleviate the sufferings and serve the needs of Christians, Jews and Muslims alike.
Three surviving children were born during the Finns' diplomatic mission. Their eldest child Alexander 'Guy Fawkes' Finn, who, like his father would pursue a diplomatic career, retiring as Consul General for Chile, was born on November 5 1847. In October 1851 Elizabeth's daughter Constance was born inside a tent pitched on a field north west of Jerusalem. Elizabeth Finn gave birth to Constance having spent the entirety of the previous day personally entertaining the wife of the Turkish Pasha and her numerous escort of friends, servants and slaves. A second son, Arthur Henry, was born in 1854 and in later life as a Hebrew scholar wrote "The Unity of the Pentateuch".
Elizabeth Finn also helped establish in November 1849 the Jerusalem Literary Society to explore the natural and ancient history of the region objectively and free from religious controversy. The Finns who had formed a library of a thousand volumes and a small museum, would take advantage of the Saturday, on which no Jewish business could be carried out, to ride out into the countryside in search of antiquities and there make valuable discoveries.
Many eminent travellers attended meetings of the Jerusalem Literary Society, news of which began attracting the favourable notice of amongst others Albert, Prince Consort, George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen
George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen
George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen KG, KT, FRS, PC , styled Lord Haddo from 1791 to 1801, was a Scottish politician, successively a Tory, Conservative and Peelite, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1852 until 1855.-Early life:Born in Edinburgh on 28 January 1784, he...
and the Archbishop of Canterbury. Ultimately these efforts would later evolve and flourish in the eventual formation and subsequent history of the Palestine Exploration Fund
Palestine Exploration Fund
The Palestine Exploration Fund is a British society often simply known as the PEF. It was founded in 1865 and is still functioning today. Its initial object was to carry out surveys of the topography and ethnography of Ottoman Palestine with a remit that fell somewhere between an expeditionary...
.
During these years Elizabeth Finn became one of the first modern Europeans to be given permission to visit the Temple Mount
Temple Mount
The Temple Mount, known in Hebrew as , and in Arabic as the Haram Ash-Sharif , is one of the most important religious sites in the Old City of Jerusalem. It has been used as a religious site for thousands of years...
and Dome of the Rock
Dome of the Rock
The Dome of the Rock is a shrine located on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem. The structure has been refurbished many times since its initial completion in 691 CE at the order of Umayyad Caliph Abd al-Malik...
.
Elizabeth Finn contributed as a pioneer of photography
Photography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
helping bring the newly invented art to the region and, also supporting indigenous photographers such as Mendel John Diness. The landscape of Palestine and Jerusalem was of keen interest to Elizabeth Finn as is evinced by the meticulous depictions made in both word-paintings and pen and pencil sketches of various Biblical and historical landscapes. Her work is marked with a painstaking level of attention as to how the landscape is charged and altered by the effects of light at different times of day.
William Holman Hunt
William Holman Hunt
William Holman Hunt OM was an English painter, and one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.-Biography:...
who visited the region in 1854 halfway through the Finns' time in Jerusalem to research and sketch for The Scapegoat (painting)
The Scapegoat (painting)
The Scapegoat is a painting by William Holman Hunt which depicts the "scapegoat" described in the Book of Leviticus. He started painting on the shore of the Dead Sea, and continued in his studio in London...
provided an introductory letter to Mrs Finn's eventual published collection of sketches validating her work as "very excellent topographical studies of the localities and in colour by no means overcharged for the original effects which the mountains, sky and plains of Syria glory in."
Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was the third Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and reigned from 1893 to 1900. He was also a member of the British Royal Family, the second son and fourth child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha...
(second son of Queen Victoria) and latterly his elder brother the Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales is a title traditionally granted to the heir apparent to the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the 15 other independent Commonwealth realms...
(later Edward VII
Edward VII of the United Kingdom
Edward VII was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910...
) in charming royal style, so forming the connections with Royal patronage that would later provide crucial early support for the Distressed Gentlefolk's Aid Association.
Examples of actions practical relief undertaken by Elizabeth Finn during this time in Jerusalem include: -
- giving local men and women instruction and employment in various capacities, including carpentry, as farm labourers and needlework as a way to earn money to feed their families;
- raising money from abroad to battle malnutrition, providing bread and meat to the poorest.
- raising funds to purchase Abraham's Vineyard or Kerem AvrahamKerem AvrahamKerem Avraham is a neighbourhood near Geula in central Jerusalem, Israel, founded in 1855. It is bounded by Malchei Yisrael St, Yechezkel St, Tsefanya St and the Schneller Compound.-History:...
for use as an industrial farm one mile's distance from Jerusalem; - overseeing excavation of extensive cisterns at Abraham's Vineyard to alleviate Jerusalem's inadequate water supply and combat severe thirst amongst poorest inhabitants;
- founding in January 1854 a ‘Sarah Society’ which made home visits to women suffering from dire want, made needs’ assessments and gave relief in the form of rice, sugar and coffee;
Later life
James Finn had suffered considerable physical distress caused by the many strains and exertions he had subjected his mind and body to in working for the protection of all people in the region generally, whether British subjects or not. This involved at times hectic travel on missions of life or death for particular individuals and managing the machinations of successive Turkish Pashas determined to undermine the position of the British Consul.The Finns made plans to return to England in 1863, eventually leaving on 14 July with Jewish bodies sending several petitions to the Queen not to remove their benefactor (James Finn) but the Queen being in seclusion, mourning the death of her late husband, the petitions had no effect.
They spent the next three years visiting friends and relations, finally settling in an old fashioned, delightful house at Hammersmith
Hammersmith
Hammersmith is an urban centre in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in west London, England, in the United Kingdom, approximately five miles west of Charing Cross on the north bank of the River Thames...
in what was then little more than a rural and sequestered spot. Here they enjoyed a quiet, restful life, filled up by parochial and literary work. But Mr Finn's health, broken by his strenuous and anxious Consular life was much impaired and in 1872 aged 66 he died and was buried at Wimbledon
Wimbledon, London
Wimbledon is a district in the south west area of London, England, located south of Wandsworth, and east of Kingston upon Thames. It is situated within Greater London. It is home to the Wimbledon Tennis Championships and New Wimbledon Theatre, and contains Wimbledon Common, one of the largest areas...
.
In 1875 Elizabeth Finn was asked by the Archbishop of Canterbury
Archibald Campbell Tait
Archibald Campbell Tait was a priest in the Church of England and an Archbishop of Canterbury.-Life:Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, Tait was educated at the Royal High School and at the Edinburgh Academy, where he was twice elected dux. His parents were Presbyterian but he early turned towards the...
to support and act as translator for the Patriarch of the Ancient Syrian Church whilst he pursued a mission to England to support the claims of his parishioners on the coast of Malabar. A two week visit extended to an embassy lasting seven months that indulged the appetites of senior churchmen, politicians including William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone FRS FSS was a British Liberal statesman. In a career lasting over sixty years, he served as Prime Minister four separate times , more than any other person. Gladstone was also Britain's oldest Prime Minister, 84 years old when he resigned for the last time...
, Lord Salisbury and Queen Victoria for religious enquiry and disputation. Elizabeth Finn would repeat this task in 1908 and 1909 for the Bishop of Syria who had succeeded as Patriarch having himself accompanied the mission in 1875.
Elizabeth Finn continued to lecture on Biblical subjects in the Assyrian Room of the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
and retold her experiences in Jerusalem in support of the Survey for Exploration of Palestine at fundraising meetings to build on the legacy of the Jerusalem Literary Society she herself had established.
In 1882 Elizabeth Finn, then 57, launched the Society for Relief of Distressed Jews’ to provide support for Russian Jews facing severe persecution during violent pogrom
Pogrom
A pogrom is a form of violent riot, a mob attack directed against a minority group, and characterized by killings and destruction of their homes and properties, businesses, and religious centres...
s.
Sir John Simon, a leading member of England's Jewish community was moved to testify to 'Mrs Finn's extraordinary knowledge of his people and astonishment that a Christian should take such an interest in his afflicted people'.
Foundation of the Distressed Gentlefolk’s Aid Association
At the age of 72 Elizabeth Ann Finn founded the Distressed Gentlefolk's Aid Association based in her home in Brook Green, Hammersmith, to alleviate the suffering of those she saw in her own immediate environment.Late Victorian England was a time of great economic uncertainty and vulnerable members of society lacking the protection of state provision in pensions, healthcare and benefits had recourse only to the provisions of the Poor Law Board
Poor Law Board
The Poor Law Board was established in the United Kingdom in 1847 as a successor body to the Poor Law Commission overseeing the administration of the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act...
and feared the workhouse
Workhouse
In England and Wales a workhouse, colloquially known as a spike, was a place where those unable to support themselves were offered accommodation and employment...
.
The Finns deliberately restricted the focus of the D.G.A.A. to assisting those drawn from their immediate environment, persons from hitherto comfortable backgrounds, whom on account of illness or want were at severe risk of neglect.
D.G.A.A. either bestowed grants for the immediate relief of the elderly and infirm or empowered individuals capable of working to get back onto their feet and find employment through targeted support and micro-loans.
Although ending her ‘formal’ participation with D.G.A.A. in 1901, Elizabeth Finn continued to closely monitor and assist the society for the rest of her life – attending her final committee meeting on 5 November 1920 two months before her death on 18 January 1921. She is buried next to her husband James in Wimbledon
Wimbledon, London
Wimbledon is a district in the south west area of London, England, located south of Wandsworth, and east of Kingston upon Thames. It is situated within Greater London. It is home to the Wimbledon Tennis Championships and New Wimbledon Theatre, and contains Wimbledon Common, one of the largest areas...
.
This legacy endures within Elizabeth Finn Care to this day and continues in the lives of the thousands of people whose quality of daily life is supported and improved by the UK’s largest independent grant-giving charity dedicated to alleviating poverty.
Selected works
- Elizabeth Anne McCaul Finn: A Home in the Holy Land. A tale illustrating customs and incidents in modern Jerusalem London 1866 original.
- Elizabeth Anne McCaul Finn: A Home in the Holy Land. A tale illustrating customs and incidents in modern Jerusalem. Adamant Media, Boston, 2002 reprint of the London 1866 original. ISBN 978-1-4021-1768-8
- Elizabeth Anne McCaul Finn: A Third Year in Jerusalem. A tale illustrating customs and incidents of modern Jerusalem; or, a sequel to "Home in the Holy Land". Adamant Media, Boston, 2002 reprint of the London 1869 original. ISBN 978-1-4021-1053-5
- Reminiscences of Mrs Finn; Marshall, Morgan and Scott, 1929, London
- Finn, Elizabeth Anne: Palestine Peasantry. Note on their clans, warfare, religion and laws Marshall Bros. 1923 95 pp. London, & Edinburgh
- Original Maxims for the Young Translated by the Daughter of a Clergyman [i.e. Elizabeth Anne McCaul, afterwards Finn] 1838, London
- Elizabeth Anne Finn: Sunrise over Jerusalem, with other pen and pencil sketches. John B Day, 1873, London
- Elizabeth Anne Finn: Emmaus Identified – Printed for the Author – 75 Brook Green, London, W (first published in the Quarterly Journal January 1883 of the Palestine Exploration Fund)
See also
- Saint George Interfaith shrine
- MotzaMotzaMotza ת is a neighbourhood in the western edge of Jerusalem, Israel, located 600 metres above sea level. In the Judean Hills, surrounded by forest, it is a relatively isolated place connected to Jerusalem by the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway and the winding mountain road to Har Nof...
- Kerem AvrahamKerem AvrahamKerem Avraham is a neighbourhood near Geula in central Jerusalem, Israel, founded in 1855. It is bounded by Malchei Yisrael St, Yechezkel St, Tsefanya St and the Schneller Compound.-History:...
- Artas (village)
External links
http://www.elizabethfinncare.org.uk