ABSTRACT
Octavia Hill was one of the prominent figures of Victorian social reform. Her reputation derived from her work in the field of working-class housing and her role in the establishment of the National Trust. Octavia was one of a group who forged careers in the public world and showed by their example that women could successfully step out of their traditional role. This chapter investigates the support mechanisms which enabled women such as Octavia to perform their new roles in the public sphere. Networks are made up of personal relationships and those that existed between Octavia and her sisters, friends and co-workers are discussed here. The chapter also looks in particular detail at her relationships with two significant women friends, Sophia Jex-Blake and Harriot Yorke. Gillian Darley's detailed biography of Octavia, and the published volumes of Octavia's letters, shows that the same names and contacts cropped up time and time again, not all necessarily connected with housing.
