Museum celebrates Cornish heroine's 165th birthday

A museum about the life of Cornish heroine Emily Hobhouse is celebrating her 165th birthday.

Hobhouse saved the lives of thousands of women and children held in British concentration camps in South Africa in the Second Boer War of 1899-1902.

She grew up in the village of St Ive, near Liskeard, where her father was a vicar and the first Archdeacon of Bodmin.

Wednesday marked her 165th birthday and additional celebrations are taking place on Saturday.

The museum, called the Story of Emily, is in Hobhouse's restored home.

The birthday celebrations taking place on Saturday include a talk, a birthday cake competition, a bust unveiling and kite flying.

Elsabé Brits, content consultant at The Story of Emily, said at the time Hobhouse was regarded as a traitor in England for her work during the Second Boer War.

She said she was never formally recognised in England and it was time "the whole story is told".

Hobhouse died in 1926 in London but her ashes are interred in a statue in South Africa.

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