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2009 marks the 90th anniversary of Save the Children, a charity that fights to uphold the human rights of children wherever they are threatened. Now promoted by the likes of Brad Pitt, George Clooney, and Julianne Moore the charity’s original founder was a childless spinster in a brown cardigan whose most famous line, ‘I don’t care for children’ makes hers a most unconventional story. At once a romantic and realist, Eglantyne’s short life (she died aged just 52) was full of humour and tragedy, passion and pain. She moved from illicit romance in Cambridge to espionage in Serbia, from private spiritualism in Shropshire to public arrest in Trafalgar Square. And while children’s universal human rights are yet to be realised, Eglantyne’s achievement of putting them on the world agenda is a powerful testament to her rare combination of personal courage, eccentric charisma, and humane vision. Clare Mulley joined Save the Children as a corporate fundraiser in the 1990s. She is the mother of three daughters and currently lives in Essex, UK.
