Violet Van der Elst

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Violet Van der Elst 1882-1966 was born Violet Dodge, in Surrey, England. The daughter of a coal porter and a washerwoman, she herself worked as a scullery maid. She became a successful businesswoman by developing Shavex, the first brush-less shaving cream.

In the 1930s she married Jean Van der Elst, a Belgian.

Having amassed a huge personal fortune she purchased Harlaxton Manor, in Lincolnshire, England.

She earned notoriety from her vocal campaigns against capital punishment, and stood three times, unsuccessfully, as a Labour Party (UK) candidate to be an M.P. She was ahead of her times.

Her campaigning, her behaviour, and unsuccessful political career reduced her fortune, forcing her to sell her house and move to a flat in Knightsbridge, London, in 1959.

She died in 1966, penniless and largely forgotten, the year after capital punishment was abolished in UK law.

References:

Harlaxton Manor publicity materials

The incredible Mrs. Van der Elst. by Charles Neilson Gattey