Octavia Hill mark the centenary of the National Trust, a new variety of rose, "Octavia Hill", was named in her honour. Octavia Hill Octavia Hill (3 December 1838 – 13 August 1912) was an English social reformer, whose main concern was the welfare of the inhabitants of cities, especially London, in the second half of the nineteenth century. Born into a family with a strong commitment to alleviating poverty, she herself grew up in straitened circumstances owing to the financial failure of her father. With no formal schooling, she worked from the age of 14 for the welfare of working people. Hill
Brenda Rawnsley 1939, she enlisted in the ATS Officer Cadet training unit, but soon left to work for the Ministry of Economic Warfare in London. Through mutual friends she met Flt Lt Derek Rawnsley, who had made history by flying solo in a Tiger Moth from Australia to Oxford. In 1937 Lt Rawnsley had founded the Federal Union Movement with Charles Kimber and Patrick Ransome, seeking the unification of Europe to avoid war. Hugh-Jones and Rawnsley were married in February 1941, but he was immediately posted overseas in the RAF. By the end of 1941, Mrs Rawnsley was a Women's Auxiliary Air