A D E G H J K L M P R S Z
Al An Au

Alexandra Issa-el-Khoury

Mrs. Alexandra Issa-el-Khoury served as the Vice-Chairwoman of the Standing Commission from November 1973 until October 1977. Previously, she had been a Member of the Central Committee of the Lebanese Red Cross since 1951 until she succeeded her mother as President of her National Society. During her tenure as President, her National Society was able to regain and maintain a truly unique position of impartiality and humanitarian spirit, which was respected by all parties to the tragic conflict in Lebanon. Mrs. Issa-el-Khoury has been an active member of the Movement on an international level too, having attended many international conferences and meetings. She received the Henry Dunant medal in 1981 and a road in Beirut, Lebanon has been named after her. She had a degree in Philosophy and was born in Beirut, Lebanon in 1926 where she died in 1997.[1][2]

[1] Standing Commission

[2] http://www.rdl.com.lb/1997/1926/khoury.htm

Alice Favre

1851-1929, Présidente de la Croix-Rouge genevoise

[The following is taken from “100 Elles” a website dedicated to remembering a number of important women. After that text, other material is appended, before the sources etc. given by 100 Elles are placed at the very end of the entry]

Alice Favre

“Née le 3 mars 1851 à Genève et décédée le 2 février 1929 au même endroit, Alice Favre est la fille d’Edmond Favre, colonel et écrivain militaire, et d’Henriette Sarasin, de profession inconnue. Alice Favre est une philanthrope impliquée dans la Croix-Rouge genevoise à la fin du 19ème siècle et jusqu’à l’entre-deux-guerres. Elle en est la présidente de 1914 à 1919.

Malgré les origines d’Alice Favre, qui grandit dans la haute bourgeoisie genevoise, très peu d’informations sont disponibles sur sa vie et les historiens et historiennes ne se sont encore que peu intéressés à son parcours.

Elle aurait passé ses jeunes années dans la villa La Grange, la maison familiale qui se trouve encore aujourd’hui au milieu du parc de la Grange. C’est dans cette maison qu’en 1864 un gala est organisé en l’honneur des diplomates chargés de la signature de la convention de Genève qui inaugure les bases du droit humanitaire en temps de guerre.

À cette époque, Alice Favre a 13 ans, et cet évènement fut peut-être sa première expérience avec l’organisation qui allait devenir sa vocation.

Dès 1889, Alice Favre s’investit au sein de la Société des dames de la Croix-Rouge genevoise et, en 1899, elle en devient la présidente. Grâce à son engagement humanitaire, elle voyage beaucoup, Saint-Pétersbourg en 1904 ou Washington en 1912, et s’exprime publiquement lors de différents congrès internationaux de la Croix-Rouge.

À l’époque, le comité de la Croix-Rouge genevoise est divisé en deux sociétés distinctes, l’une féminine et l’autre masculine. Dans ce cadre, les femmes s’occupent principalement de l’aide pratique, notamment en récoltant du matériel pour les blessés, comme des pansements ou du linge. Elles créent également un établissement d’infirmières qui travaillent avec les médecins. Les hommes sont plutôt chargés de la récolte de financement et de subventions.

En 1914, les deux sociétés fusionnent pour devenir la Section genevoise de la Croix-Rouge suisse. L’organisation est alors composée d’une grande majorité de femmes, avec 960 membres féminines et 186 membres masculins. C’est Alice Favre qui en devient la présidente.

D’après le journal Le mouvement féministe, elle est, en 1929, « la seule femme, sauf erreur, qui ait occupé un poste de cet ordre en Suisse ». Ce journal précise aussi qu’Alice Favre représente la Croix-Rouge suisse durant les assemblées générales de l’Alliance nationale des sociétés féminines suisses et qu’elle prend part à la première campagne suffragiste à Genève en 1914.

Pendant la guerre, Alice Favre et la Croix-Rouge genevoise organisent l’accueil des réfugiés et soldats à Genève. Elle met également en place des paquets de Noël pour les soldats suisses en poste à la frontière.

Et quand la guerre se termine, en 1919, son engagement ne s’arrête pas pour autant. Elle rejoint le Comité central de la Croix-Rouge suisse et dirige un nouveau programme d’activités qui comprend notamment la création d’un dispensaire d’hygiène sociale à Genève, réinventant ainsi le rôle de la Section genevoise en tant de paix qui prend une direction sociale et locale.

Alice Favre écrit aussi beaucoup, et quelques années avant sa mort, en 1924, elle publie Pensées sur la vie, un livre qui est le résultat de ses réflexions et qui reprend des lettres qu’elle adressait au Journal de Genève pour partager ses opinions.

À l’occasion de sa mort en 1929, Alice Favre reçoit les honneurs de plusieurs personnalités et journaux qui lui consacrent des notices nécrologiques fournies. L’une d’elles dit même : « [i]l restera […] maintes traces de l’activité qu’Alice Favre a déployé [sic] dans divers domaines et pendant tant d’années ».

Mais aujourd’hui, Alice Favre est une personnalité dont l’histoire reste encore à écrire, et pour qui les informations retrouvées sont très lacunaires. À l’occasion des 130 ans de la Société des dames, la Croix-Rouge genevoise rendra hommage à Alice Favre au travers d’un évènement le 14 novembre 2019.

– – – – – –

Alice Catherine Favre was, as noted above, born in Geneva Monday 3 March 1851[i]. Her parents were Guillaume Favredéputé du Conseil représentatif de Genève (1770-1851) (Lieutenant-colonel, érudit et historien) and Catherine Marguerite Bertrand (1782-1842). The two had been married in Geneva Monday 14 November 1842. Alice had two brothers, both older than herself: Camille Alphonse Favrecolonel de l’Armée suisse (1845-1914) Marié le 16 mai 1876 (mardi), Genève, Genève, Suisse, avec Louise Pauline Félicie de Seigneux (1854-1919) ; and William Victor Favre (1843-1918).

In 1902, in her capacity of chair of the Ladies’ Red Cross Society in Geneva, proposed to create a single Red Cross organization in the city and canton. According to the ICRC’s Review[ii]:

« UNION DES SOCIETES GENEVOISES DE LA CROIX-ROUGE

A la suite de l’assemblée générale de la Société genevoise des Dames de la Croix-Rouge, sur la proposition de la présidente, Mlle Alice Favre, et sur une base élaborée par M. le Dr Braun, les trois sociétés existant à Genève et poursuivant un but analogue ont décidé’ de créer entre elles une Union dirigée par un comité spécial. Ces trois sociétés sont : la Société genevoise des Dames de la Croix-Rouge, qui n’etait point rattachée jusqu’alors à la Société centrale suisse de la Croix-Rouge ; la Société des Samaritains, qui est une section de cette dernière ; enfin la section de Messieurs de la Croix-Rouge suisse, qui en fait également partie comme indique son titre.

Cette organisation nouvelle, qui se rattachera a la transformation salutaire que subira la Croix-Rouge suisse, si elle obtient des Chambres fédérales l’allocation annuelle qu’elle a demandée, laissera aux sociétés existantes leur activité et leur autonomie propres ; mais elles constitueront une Société cantonale genevoise de la Croix-Rouge suisse, ayant à sa tête un comité spécial. Celui-ci a déjà été désigné et charge de poursuivre dans cette voie la coordination et l’alliance des sociétés existantes. Son bureau est composé de M. le Dr Wartmann-Perrot, président ; Mlle Alice Favre, vice-présidente ; M. le Dr Braun, vice-président; M. Maurice Dunant, secrétaire; M. Ch. Ackermann, trésorier.

« Mademoiselle Alice Favre, Présidente de la Société des Dames Génevoises de la Croix- Rouge » participated in the VIIIth International Conference, which took place in London in 1907. A highlight, perhaps, was a banquet given by the Council of the British Red Cross in the evening of Friday 14 June with dinner “servi a huit heures dans la Grande Salle de l’Hôtel Cecil, somptueusement décoré[iii]

Alice Favre Chairs Ladies’ Committee in 1912

Alice Favre also participated in the Xth International Conference which was organized in Geneva in 1921, the first after the World War. She was there in her capacity of “présidente d ’honneur de la Section genevoise de la Croix-Rouge Suisse » and member of the Swiss Red Cross delegation.

One of the subjects debated at this Conference was the relationship between National Societies, and the extent to which one National Society should have the right to act in another country where another National Society had been created. This debate would lead to the so-called “1921 Rules”, which has underpinned international work of National Societies in the nearly one century that has passed, and which were also a key element in the eventual resolution of the “Emblem Question” in 2005/2006.

During this Conference[iv], and on the subject of « Sections étrangères de Croix-Rouge sur territoire national », Alice Favre took the floor when the following paragraph of the proposed decision was debate:

« M. le PRÉSIDENT. — Le paragraphe 2   est ainsi conçu : « Les Comités centraux sont invités à accorder cet agrément dans la plus large mesure lorsqu’il sera avéré que la section étrangère travaille exclusivement auprès de ses nationaux.  En cas de désaccord, les Comités centraux pourront en référer à l’autorité suprême de la Croix-Rouge internationale. » La parole est à Mlle Favre.

Mlle FAVRE (Suisse).   —  Je désire avoir une explication sur les mots : « La section étrangère travaille exclusivement auprès de ses nationaux. »  Cela signifie-t-il que la section étrangère s’occupera exclusivement   de   ses   nationaux, ou   qu’elle   accomplira   sa   mission   exclusivement   avec   ses  propres ressources ?  Si ces sections étrangères font appel aux ressources des pays dans lesquels elles travaillent, elles peuvent drainer à leur profit des subventions et des sources de revenus, et épuiser les ressources des Croix-Rouges nationales. Je   demande qu’il soit ajouté au texte les mots : « avec ses propres ressources. »

M le PRÉSIDENT. — La proposition reviendrait à dire que les sections étrangères n ’auraient pas le droit de faire des collectes sur le territoire de la nation où elles sont installées.

M VINCI (Italie). —  Il ne faudrait pas qu’il y ait confusion. Mlle Favre veut que les sections étrangères   travaillent seulement pour leurs propres nationaux. Sur ce point nous sommes d’accord. Mais le secours qu’elles porteront ne profitera-t-il qu’aux ressortissants étrangers ?  Nous ne pouvons pas l’admettre. Notre travail à l’étranger est un travail complémentaire.

J’estime que nous avons le droit et le devoir de compléter nos ressources au moyen de subventions locales dans les pays étrangers où nos sections sont établies.   Mais nous estimons que nos nationaux à l’étranger rendant des services au pays qui a recours à eux, la Croix-Rouge locale doit aussi les secourir.  C’est le principe qui   a toujours régi toutes les œuvres de bienfaisance. Notre pensée a été que chaque Croix-Rouge nationale doit prendre   la protection   de ses propres nationaux et si une organisation étrangère veut s ’en occuper également, elle a le devoir de demander l’autorisation de la Croix-Rouge nationale.  C’est pourquoi nous avons dit que les sections étrangères travailleront exclusivement en faveur de leurs propres nationaux.  Il me semble que ce texte est clair.

Mlle FAVRE (Suisse).  —   S’il y a cinq, six ou sept Croix-Rouges étrangères qui viennent s’établir dans une ville, elles drainent tout l’argent et il n’en reste plus pour la Croix-Rouge nationale.

M le PRÉSIDENT. — Je mets aux voix l’amendement de Mlle Favre tendant à ajouter dans le deuxième paragraphe, après les mots « travaille exclusivement auprès de ses nationaux » ceux-ci : « avec ses propres ressources ».

(L’amendement, mis aux voix, n ’est pas adopté.)

M le PRÉSIDENT. — Je mets aux voix le deuxième paragraphe.

(Le deuxième paragraphe, mis aux voix, est adopté.) »

Alice did not participate in the following International Conference, the XIth which took place in Geneva, but in 1925, when the XIIth International Conference took place, also in Geneva, in 1925, « Mlle Alice Favre, de la section genevoise de la Croix-Rouge suisse » was present as a guest[v].

Alice Favre died, 77 years of age, in Geneva on Saturday 2 Februar 1929.

In 2019, 90 years after she passed away, the Geneva Red Cross caused a plaque to be placed in Avenue Pictet-de-Rochemont:

– – – – – –

[Again, from 100 Elles].

Œuvre

  • Pensées sur la vie, Genève, Sonor, 1924.

Sources

  • Société Genevoise des Dames de la Croix-Rouge, Rapport pour l’année 1898 présenté par Mlle Alice Favre, 17 février 1899, in Société genevoise des dames de la Croix-Rouge 1890-1913.
  • Section genevoise de la Croix-Rouge suisse, Rapport pour l’année 1914 présenté par Mlle Alice Favre, 14 avril 1914, in Section genevoise de la Croix-Rouge suisse, rapport 1914-1919, Mlle. A. Favre, présidente.
  • S.A, « Celles qui disparaissent : une ancienne présidente de la Croix-Rouge genevoise Mlle Alice Favre », Journal de Genève, 5 février 1929.
  • Dr. M., « Mademoiselle Alice Favre », Revue mensuelle de la Croix-Rouge suisse, 1er mars 1929.
  • E. GD, « In memoriam : Mlle Alice Favre », Le mouvement féministe, vol. 17, 1929.

Bibliographie

 

 

– – – – – –

[i] Geneanet ; https://gw.geneanet.org/rossellat?lang=fr&p=alice+catherine&n=favre&oc=1

[ii] https://international-review.icrc.org/sites/default/files/S1816968600007994a.pdf

[iii] HUITIÈME C o n f é r e n c e In t e r n a t i o n a l e DE LA CROIX-ROUGE TEN U E À LONDRES du 10 au 15 J U I N 1907. COMPTE – RENDU; p 502; https://library.icrc.org/library/docs/DIGITAL/CI_1907_RAPPORT.pdf

[iv] Dixième Conférence Internationale de la Croix-Rouge tenue a Genève du 30 Mars au 7 Avril 1921 ; PP 141-142 ; https://library.icrc.org/library/docs/DIGITAL/CI_1921_RAPPORT.pdf

[v] DOUZIÈME CONFÉRENCE INTERNATIONALE DE LA CROIX-ROUGE TENUE A GENÈVE du 7 au 10 octobre 1925, Compte Rendue ; p 21, https://library.icrc.org/library/docs/DIGITAL/CI_1925_RAPPORT.pdf

Alice Masarykova

Alice Masarykova was born on May 3 1879, the first child of the future founder and first president of Czechoslovakia, Tomas Garrigue Masaryk and his American wife Charlotte[1].

Josef Svejnoha is a leading figure in the Czech Red Cross, an organisation with which Alice Masarykova was closely associated. He filled me in on the details of her life at the Czech Red Cross’s office on Prague’s Thunovska street, just below Prague Castle – by the way, the building was once Alice Masarykova’s home.

Alice Masarykova

“Alice Masarykova was born in Vienna. They moved to Prague when she was three. She spoke Czech because her father was Czech of course but she was also in a German environment in Vienna and learned German. She spoke English too because her mother was American.” 

T.G. Masaryk was a strict father and he and his wife Charlotte brought their children up according to humanist prinicples. As well as Alice, they had two sons Jan – the future Czechoslovak foreign minister and Herbert – who went on to become an artist – and another daughter, Olga.

Alice Masarykova went to school in Prague, first to an all-girls primary school on Vodickova street and then to the Minerva grammar school, which was also for girls only. It was unusual for girls to go to university in those days, but then Alice came from an unusual family. Josef Svejnoha again.

“She started studying medicine because she’d wanted to be a doctor from the age of eight. She was accepted by the medicine faculty where she was the only girl in a class of fifty boys. She was a bit handicapped by the fact she was short-sighted and wouldn’t wear glasses. She then switched to the arts faculty where she graduated as a doctor of history in 1903. After that she worked as a teacher.” 

Alice Masarykova began her teaching career after completing a post-graduate course in social care in the United States – she taught at secondary schools in Ceske Budejovice and Prague. At the same time, she began her involvement in the Red Cross movement. That involvement was to intensify with the onset of World War I, but not before Alice Masarykova – at the age of 35 – spent a period behind bars.

“During World War I – in 1914 – when her father Tomas Garrigue Masaryk emigrated, he left a message, for the police too, for his papers to be hidden and his family not to know where they were. However, during a search they did of Masaryk’s flat they arrested Alice Masarkyova and she was imprisoned in Vienna for nine months. She was first sentenced to death, then twelve years in prison. Then under pressure from the American government and people, who organised huge petitions, she was released from prison.” 

During the war, Alice Masarykova’s work in the Red Cross had a very hands-on nature – she tended to sick and injured soldiers and civilians. Josef Svejnoha has more.

“Just after the foundation of Czechoslovakia she was elected as a deputy in the National Assembly. In February 1919 she was a founder of the Czechoslovak Red Cross and for the next twenty years she was the chairwoman of the organisation. She was very active in the International Red Cross. After around six years she became the chair of the organising committee of the world-wide conference of social workers.” 

In 1921 she represented her National Society at the International Conference of the Red Cross[2]. She was elected to the function of secretary – the only woman of the 11 who filled that role. She participated in the work of “Commission N° V: Organisation Internationale Des Croix Rouges” – essentially an attempt to sort out relations between ICRC and the League.

After her mother’s death in 1923 Alice Masarykova became the woman of the Masaryk house, so to speak and dedicated herself to looking after her father, who was by that time of course the president of Czechoslovakia. But she still found time to do charity work, and not just with the Red Cross – she was also active in the temperance movement of the time.

“She was heavily involved in the abstinence union, against alcohol. She looked at it more from the point of view of the social consequences of excessive drinking – the broken homes, children being brought up badly, unemployment. She saw the issue from the social point of view more than the health point of view.” 

Alice Masarykova was instrumental in establishing another institution in Czechoslovakia – Mother’s Day. It was thanks to her that the tradition began in this country; the year was 1926. She also started the Red Cross Easter Silence, a two-minute silence which was observed around the country. In 1948 the tradition was radically transformed into International Red Cross day, and was moved from Easter to May 8 to remove religious connotations.

Around this time she was also a member – the only female one – of the Executive Council of the League of Red Cross. (IFRC Archives, RESUME DE  LA  REUNION DU COMITE EXECUTIF Mardi, 15   mars 1927″

Her good works also involved working with the Yugoslav architect Jozo Plecnik on the redesign of Prague Castle’s buildings and gardens.

Josef Svejnoha of the Czech Red Cross says that between her charity works and looking after her father, Alice Masarykova perhaps neglected her own personal life.

“She was never married – she was what they call an old maid. You could say she sacrificed herself for others and she did a lot of work for charity. There was no time left for any kind of private life.” 

Tomas Garrigue Masaryk died in 1937. Two years later the Germans invaded Bohemia and Moravia – two weeks after the occupation began Alice Masarykova left the country, eventually joining her brother Jan in London.

“When he was ambassador to Great Britain she emigrated there too in 1939 and she lived with him in London. They both moved back to Czechoslovakia in 1945 and she spent the three years till the death of Jan Masaryk living opposite the Foreign Ministry. They met each other often and their relationship was very good.” 

Jan Masaryk – by then foreign minister and an enemy of the Communist Party – died in mysterious circumstances not long after the Communists came to power. He was found dead under the window of his office at the Foreign Ministry – we shall never know whether he was, as many believe, pushed. Alice Masarykova spent a few months in Prague after the death of her beloved brother before leaving Czechoslovakia in December 1948.

She first went to Switzerland where she stayed with her sister Olga, who had married there. From there she went to Britain before eventually settling in the United States, where she lived in Florida. Alice Masarykova was never to see her home again. How did she feel about her exile? Josef Svejnoha again.

“Was she bitter about it? Well, she was sad about having to leave Czechoslovakia of course. In the 1950s Radio Free Europe very often broadcast her Christmas, New Year and Easter messages. In America she moved in Czech and Slovak circles a lot.” 

Alice Masarykova had always been short-sighted and in 1959, when she was 80 years old, she went completely blind following a stroke. In 1966 her health was deteriorating and she went to live in a Czech old folks home in Chicago. She died in November of that year, at the age of 87. Her ashes were interred in the Masaryk Mausoleum in Chicago. But that was not the end of her story.

“In the 1990s the Czech Red Cross and several other organisations got together and had her urn brought from America to the Czech Republic. A service was held and her urn was placed in the Masaryk family tomb in Lany where Tomas Garrigue Masaryk is, along with his wife Charlotte and their son Jan, her brother. So she lays there too now.” 

 

[1] https://www.radio.cz/en/section/czechs/alice-masarykova

[2] International Conference, Geneva, 1921, https://library.icrc.org/library/docs/DIGITAL/CI_1921_RAPPORT.pdf

Angela Countess of Limerick

Angela Countess of Limerick

Angela Countess of Limerick served as Chairwoman of the Standing Commission from October 1965 until November 1973, when she retired after having been re-elected as Chairwomen in September 1969. The Countess of Limerick first joined the Movement in 1915 as a Nurse working for the British Red Cross and her outstanding Red Cross career would ultimately span 61 years.

Angela, née Trotter, spent her early childhood in Romania. During World War I, she worked as a Red Cross Voluntary Aid Detachment nurse in military hospitals in England and France. Between the wars she studied for a diploma in Social Science at the London School of Economics, married the subsequent 5th Earl of Limerick and expanded her Red Cross, local government and social work. From 1934 until 1940, she was President of the London Branch of the British Red Cross. During World War II Angela was in charge of Red Cross services throughout London during the “blitz” and from 1942 was also deputy chairman of the Executive Committee of the War Organization of the British Red Cross Society (BRCS) and the Order of St. John of Jerusalem. In 1944-45 she toured the War Organization’s Commissions in the Middle East and Italy and inspected relief work, visiting 17 countries.[1] Post war, 1946-63 Angela was a Vice-Chairman of the BRCS’s Executive Committee and a leading figure at the 1946 meeting in Oxford of the League of Red Cross Societies. She visited most of the BRCS Overseas Branches in Africa, the Far East and the Caribbean and a large number of National Societies. She was widely respected for her uncompromising support of the integrity of the Movement and its fundamental principles. In 1948, she was elected as the Vice-President of the British Red Cross Society and one of the Governors of the League of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.[2] Angela was a valuable member of the Joint Committee for the Re-Appraisal of the Role of the Red Cross 1972-75, chaired by Donald Tansley. She also chaired the Council of the BRCS from 1974-76 and, on retiring, she was appointed a Vice-President.[3]

Angela was known for her wide vision and gave encouragement and inspiration to many people. The Times of London said in her obituary: “Angela Limerick had a great breadth of vision, an astonishing memory and grasp of detail, and a remarkable ability to establish close and lasting personal relationships after brief acquaintance; above all she had the gift of inspiring and encouraging others and bringing out the best in them.”[4] She received numerous awards, including a G.B.E. and a C.H., and in 1975 she received the Henry Dunant medal. The Countess of Limerick was born in 1897 and died in 1981.[5]

[1] British Red Cross

[2] Standing Commission

[3] British Red Cross

[4] http://www.redcross.int/en/history/not_limerick.asp

[5] Standing Commission

Augusta Stang

Augusta – the full name was Julie Augusta Georgine – was born in Christiania 11 December 1869 and baptized[i] in the Cathedral there – the Church of our Saviour – 28 April 1870. Witnesses at the ceremony were Minister of the Crown, Stang, and his wife Mrs Ministress Stang; Professor Rasch; the Reverend[ii] I. H. Lund; Student N. Berg; Mrs. Fredrikke Berg; and Miss Sophie Pharo.

Her parents were the solicitor[iii], Emil Stang, and his wife Adeleide Pauline, nee Berg. They had married four and a half years before Augusta was born. Their wedding[iv] took place in the Church of the Trinity in Christiania 12 July 1865. Banns were read 25 June, 2 July, and 9 July. Their witnesses were their fathers: Fredrik Stang and Per A. J. Berg.

The same year, in the autumn, Augusta’s paternal grandfather founded[v] the Norwegian Red Cross

The first child of this union was a girl. Marie Henriette came into the world 31 March 1866 and baptized[vi] in the Cathedral in Christiania 3 July the same year. The witnesses were Prime Minister F. Stang; Merchant P. A. J. Berg; Solicitor P. A. Hielm; Mrs. Berg; Ministress E. Berg; and [NN] Augusta Stang.

A year and a half later, 27 December 1867, a boy arrived. He was named for his paternal grandfather, Fredrik when he was baptized[vii] in the Cathedral 4 March 1868. As witnesses the parents chose Minister Stang; Judge[viii] Morgenstierne; Chamberlaine B. Stang; Lieutenant P. O. S. Berg; Ministress Stang; Mrs Laura Lundh; and Miss Olvia Berg.

And so, it was Augusta’s turn – as the third child. The next one was also a girl. Adeleide was born 16 September 1871 and was home baptized[ix] by the doctor 30 of the same month.

The reason the doctor baptized her was, apparently, that she was very ill: she died the same day and was buried[x] 4 October. She lived only two weeks, the little one.

She was followed by another other girl who saw the light of day 30 November 1872. when she was baptized[xi] in the Cathedral 15 May the following year – she had not been baptized at home – she was named for her mother, Adelaide Pauline. The witnesses were Lieutenant Herman Stang; Lieutenant Johs. Solum; Joachim Lund; Solicitor Heffermehl; Erik Berg; Widow Marie Berg; Mrs Kathrine Hopp; and Miss Kristine Stang.

The sixth of the Stang siblings was Peder Berg. He was born 24 March 1875 and baptized[xii] in the Cathedral 10 May the same year. Peder’s witnesses were Prime Minister Fredrik Stang; Wholesaler Knud Graah; Premier Lieutenant Peter O. J. Berg; Mr Gustav Berg; Widow Marie H. Berg; [NN] Mrs. Emma Heffermehl; and Miss Agneta Lund.

In the census for 1875[xiii] – conducted in early 1876 – Augusta can be found, with her parents and siblings, in an apartment in Prinsens Gade 3a in Christiania, not far from the main railway station. Her father is listed as solicitor, her mother housewife. Her two brothers and two sisters are there, too: Marie Henriette (10); Fredrik (8); Adeleide Pauline (3); and Peder Berg (1). The three servants were all women – Frederikke Elise Kynell from Larvik (30); Kristine Kristiansen from Romedal (24); and Petra Vetlesen from Nesodden (24).

Two years later, 9 October 1877, the little sister Emilie was born. When she was baptized[xiv] 2 December the same year the ceremony was witnessed by Mrs Jakobine Stang; Prime Minister F. Stang; Sorenskriver Kristian Frisch; [NN]-doctor [NN] [NN]; Mrs J. Augusta G. Stang, n. Morgenstierne; and Mrs [NN] [NN] n. Morgenstierne.

Emilie died as a small child on 10 April 1878. The cause was a lung-infection. She was buried[xv] three days later.

Augusta’s youngest brother, Emil, announced his arrival 22 September 1882. He was baptized[xvi] 10 November the same year, and the witnesses were Prime Minister Fr. Stang; the National Archivist Birkeland; Premier Lieutenant Alexis von Munthe af Morgenstjerne; Student Emil Stang Lund; Marie Berg; Mrs Christine Berg; and Miss Marie Stang.

Emil, like his father and grandfather, and like Augusta herself, became politically active – but in opposition to the family he was first a socialist, then a communist and participated in the First International, and a journalist and lawyer who ended up as a Supreme Court Justice after the Second World War[xvii].

When Augusta was around 15, her paternal grandfather died. His life ended 8 June 1884 and was buried Thursday 12 the same month, with the ceremony[xviii] taking place in the Church of the Trinity at 2:15 in the afternoon.

A year later, in 1885[xix], there was another census. In this Augusta – with no more given names – is found with her parents in an apartment in Grev Wedels Plass 5. Of the other children, Marie (19); Fredrik (18); Adeleide (13); Peder (10); and Emil (3) are present.

The servants include Elise Fredrikke Kynell (39) – most probably the same as in 1875, even if the order of the given names has been altered – Bredine Olsen (31) from Laurdal; and Sophie Christensen (27) from Eker.

Some years passed, and the family had moved to a new house: now to Raadhusgade, house number 19. That is where one finds Augusta in 1891[xx], together with her parents. She is a bit difficult to find in the census material, for the transcriber has misinterpreted the family name as “Steng”.

Many of the siblings are still with their parents. And a number of servants: now also a male one – Jens Kristian Johannesen Hauger, a 29-year old man from Drøbak; but also several female ones: Hanna Matilde Olsen (30) from Eidsvold; Henriette Karoline Halvorsen (27) from Drammen; Dina Dahl (33) from Nittedal; and the ever-present Lise Fredrike Kynnell (45) from Larvik.

Augusta was enrolled at Nissen’s Pikeskole – a girls’ school in one of the better districts of Christiania and graduated from there in 1896[xxi] with a teacher’s certificate. She then began working at Frogner School, also in the west end of the city.

In 1900[xxii], Augusta has left her parent’s household. During the census of this year she is found at the Holmenkollen Sanatorium, currently a hotel. By occupation she is still teacher, and she has remained unmarried.

The same year she published a book for children: Til arbeide og lek. Haandbok for gutter og piker – «For work and play. A Handbook for Boys and Girls”.

In 1905 she appears to have quit her teaching job for, over the next years, a free-lance life of writing and translating.

In 1906 Augusta, together with her sister Adelaide and someone called Yngvar Brun, published a “reading book” for school children.

In 1909 she appears as the translator[xxiii] of a German work by A. L. Grimm, Stories from the Heroic Age of the Greeks and Romans, adapted for Youth.

Ten years later, in 1910[xxiv], she is back with her – now retired – parents in an apartment on the third floor of Nobel’s Street 18 in Kristiania. The teaching career seems to have petered out: she is listed as having no occupation. Her sister Marie, too, lives there – but has a job as an assistant in the national insurance service. With a smaller family they had reduced the number of servants to two: 26-year old Thora Halvorsen from Drammen and the three years younger Agnes Jacobsen from Sem.

Two years later Augusta lost her father. Emil Stang died, 78 years old, 4 July 1912. The funeral[xxv] took place at the graveyard of Our Saviour Church 8 July, but the record of this has not been found.

The same year she appears as translator of a book[xxvi] by Howard Pyle,  in Norwegian called “Squire and Knight”.

With her father gone, living at home was probably impractical, for the same year she start working for Aftenposten, a Kristiania newspaper of a conservative persuasion.

Here she edited the column “For the Little Ones”, and initiated the newspaper’s annual fundraising campaign, the Argus campaign.

She was, increasingly, active in politics. First at the municipal level: she was member of the council of Christiania – Oslo from 1925 – during the period 1920-31. From 1931[xxvii] to 1933 she was the second female member of parliament for the Conservative Party, whose Women’s Organisation she chaired for ten years until 1937.

In 1920, Augusta represented the Norwegian Red Cross at the first conference of the League of Red Cross Societies, which took place in Geneva 2-8 March 1920.

Her interests were focussed on the welfare of children, and for that reason she participated in the “International Conference on the Treatment of Women and Children[xxviii]” which took place in Geneva 30 June to 5 July 1921, at which she represented the Norwegian Red Cross.

Augusta’s parliamentary career was short, in 1933 she was deselected[xxix] by the Conservative Party in Oslo and replaced by Mrs Gulla Grundt.

Augusta died in 1944, around 75 years old. The funerals are not available for this year.

_______________________________________

[i] SAO, Oslo domkirke Kirkebøker, F/Fa/L0017: Ministerialbok nr. 17, 1869-1878, s. 76

Brukslenke for sidevisning: https://www.digitalarkivet.no/kb20060216011045

[ii] In the original «Res. kapellan», a sort of junior vicar, often in charge of a subsidiary church and congregation.

[iii] The term used is «Høyesterettsadvokat», a lawyer who has won the right to plead a case before the Supreme Court of Norway.

[iv] SAO, Trefoldighet prestekontor Kirkebøker, F/Fc/L0001: Ministerialbok nr. III 1, 1858-1874, s. 162

Brukslenke for sidevisning: https://www.digitalarkivet.no/kb20060213040508

[v] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_Red_Cross

[vi] SAO, Oslo domkirke Kirkebøker, F/Fa/L0016: Ministerialbok nr. 16, 1863-1871, s. 175

Brukslenke for sidevisning: https://www.digitalarkivet.no/kb20060216010777

[vii] SAO, Oslo domkirke Kirkebøker, F/Fa/L0016: Ministerialbok nr. 16, 1863-1871, s. 275

Brukslenke for sidevisning: https://www.digitalarkivet.no/kb20060216010878

[viii] The term used is «sorenskriver», literally “sworn scribe” a legal official appointed by the Crown.

[ix] SAO, Oslo domkirke Kirkebøker, F/Fa/L0017: Ministerialbok nr. 17, 1869-1878, s. 171

Brukslenke for sidevisning: https://www.digitalarkivet.no/kb20060216011141

[x] SAO, Oslo domkirke Kirkebøker, F/Fa/L0026: Ministerialbok nr. 26, 1867-1884, s. 62

Brukslenke for sidevisning: https://www.digitalarkivet.no/kb20060215020584

[xi] SAO, Oslo domkirke Kirkebøker, F/Fa/L0017: Ministerialbok nr. 17, 1869-1878, s. 278

Brukslenke for sidevisning: https://www.digitalarkivet.no/kb20060216011248

[xii] SAO, Oslo domkirke Kirkebøker, F/Fa/L0017: Ministerialbok nr. 17, 1869-1878, s. 419

Brukslenke for sidevisning: https://www.digitalarkivet.no/kb20060216011391

[xiii] Folketelling 1875 for 0301 Kristiania kjøpstad, https://www.digitalarkivet.no/census/person/pf01052055005191

[xiv] SAO, Oslo domkirke Kirkebøker, F/Fa/L0017: Ministerialbok nr. 17, 1869-1878, s. 526

Brukslenke for sidevisning: https://www.digitalarkivet.no/kb20060216011502

[xv] SAO, Oslo domkirke Kirkebøker, F/Fa/L0026: Ministerialbok nr. 26, 1867-1884, s. 176

Brukslenke for sidevisning: https://www.digitalarkivet.no/kb20060215020701

[xvi] SAO, Oslo domkirke Kirkebøker, F/Fa/L0029: Ministerialbok nr. 29, 1879-1892, s. 94

Brukslenke for sidevisning: https://www.digitalarkivet.no/kb20060921070430

[xvii] Haffner, Vilhelm; Stortinget og statsrådet : 1915-1945. B. 1 : Biografier : med tillegg til Tallak Lindstøl: Stortinget og Statsraadet 1814-1914; Oslo:[Aschehoug], 1949; pp 559-660; https://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-nb_digibok_2007060100024

[xviii] Aftenposten; 10.06.1884; https://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-nb_digavis_aftenposten_null_null_18840610_25_132_1

[xix] Folketelling 1885 for 0301 Kristiania kjøpstad, https://www.digitalarkivet.no/census/person/pf01053257006885

[xx] Folketelling 1891 for 0301 Kristiania kjøpstad, https://www.digitalarkivet.no/census/person/pf01052721058360

[xxi] Haffner, Vilhelm; Stortinget og statsrådet : 1915-1945. B. 1 : Biografier : med tillegg til Tallak Lindstøl: Stortinget og Statsraadet 1814-1914; Oslo:[Aschehoug], 1949; p 660; https://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-nb_digibok_2007060100024

[xxii] Folketelling 1900 for 0218 Aker herred; https://www.digitalarkivet.no/census/person/pf01037028017603

[xxiii] Fischer, Karl; Katalog over bøker skikket for folkeboksamlinger : hovedkatalog 1909 med register; Kristiania, 1909;  P 13; https://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-nb_digibok_2012081424001

[xxiv] Folketelling 1910 for 0301 Kristiania kjøpstad; https://www.digitalarkivet.no/census/person/pf01036392089173

[xxv] Aftenposten; 05.07.1912; https://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-nb_digavis_aftenposten_null_null_19120705_53_335_2

[xxvi] Pyle, Howard|Stang, Augusta; Væbner og ridder; Kristiania, 1912; https://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-nb_digibok_2012081508178

[xxvii] Smaalenenes Social-Demokrat; 22.10.1930; https://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-nb_digavis_smaalenenessocialdemokrat_null_null_19301022_15_245_1

[xxviii] http://www.indiana.edu/~league/conferencedata.htm

[xxix] Smaalenenes Social-Demokrat; 02.09.1933; https://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-nb_digavis_smaalenenessocialdemokrat_null_null_19330902_28_202_1