Clare Mulley (born 1969) is a British author and philanthropist. She is known for documenting the life of Eglantyne Jebb, the founder of Save the Children. In 2007, she was honored by the Daily Mail Biographers' Club for her book, The Woman Who Saved the Children: A Biography of Eglantyne Jebb.
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Mulley was born in 1969 in Luton, England. In 2006, she graduated from the University of London with a Masters degree in Social and Cultural History.[1] Her dissertation was entitled, "Affection or Affectation: The Role and Rhetoric of Maternalism in the Development of Women's Social Action in Victorian Britain".[2]
Today, the author lives in Saffron Walden, Essex, England, with her three daughters.
Mulley has worked with Save the Children and Sightsavers International, raising charitable donations on behalf of the organisations.[3] She has served as a member of the financial advisory board of the World Development Movement, a membership organisation in the United Kingdom which campaigns on issues of global justice and development in southern countries identified according to the global north-south divide. She is currently a trustee of the national charity Standing Together against Domestic Violence.[1]
Mulley is a member of The Social History Society, The Voluntary Action History Society, The Women's History Network, The Royal Society of Literature, The Biographer's Club, The Society of Authors, English PEN, Walden Writers, The Fawcett Society, and The National Secular Society.[1]
Mulley is a seasoned public speaker and literary chair, with extensive experience making presentations and lecturing in academic conferences and literary festivals located in Edinburgh, Oxford and London. She continues to serve as a Campaigns Ambassador with Save the Children.[1][4]
In 1999, while working with Save the Children, Mulley was introduced to the life of Victorian-era British social reformer Eglantyne Jebb, and became intrigued with her life and career.[2] When Mulley took a maternity leave of absence, in order to have her first child, she began researching the life of Jebb, compiled her notes, and began writing the biography, The Woman Who Saved the Children: A Biography of Eglantyne Jebb.[4]
Jebb was an unlikely children's champion; she privately confessed that she was not fond of children, once referring to them as "the little wretches" and laughing that "the dreadful idea of closer acquaintance never entered my mind".[5] She never married or had children of her own. She was a noted humanitarian whose visionary ideas permanently changed the way that the world regards and treats children.[6]
Jebb had soon won huge public support, as well as the backing of celebrities such as George Bernard Shaw who wrote "I have no enemies under the age of seven".[3] Motivated by humanitarian compassion, the belief in the need to invest in the next generation to secure international peace, and her very personal, spiritual, Christian faith, Jebb quickly grew the one-off fund into an international development organisation, supported by the Pope and the miners, the British establishment and the Bolshevik Government, European royalty and the fledgling League of Nations in Geneva.
Five years later, Jebb wrote the pioneering statement of children's human rights that has since evolved into the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the most universally accepted human-rights instrument in history.[3] "It is not impossible to save the children of the world", she wrote. "It is only impossible if we make it so by our refusal to attempt it."
The biography was published in 2009, to coincide with the 90th anniversary of Save the Children and the 20th anniversary of the UN Convenion on the Rights of the Child.[7][3] The book has received positive reviews in print and electronic media across the English-language world.[6][3][5][8] The British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown endorsed the book, stating it is "A truly brilliant book".[9] Reportedly, the prime minister read the book while away on holiday and was moved to offer the unsolicited review.[9] In 2007, Mulley was honored as the recipient of the Daily Mail Biographers' Club Prize for The Woman Who Saved the Children.[4] As noted on the copyright page of the book, all of the author's royalties are donated to Save the Children's international programmes.[8]
In 2010, Mulley contributed to The Arvon Book of Life Writing: Writing Biography, Autobiography and Memoir.
She is currently working on a biography of Krystyna Skarbek, also known as Christine Granville. Skarbek was the first woman to work as a secret agent for the British in the Second World War. The book, currently untitled, will be published by Macmillan Publishers.[1]
Mulley occasionally writes and blogs for various websites, and papers including The Express and The Church Times.[4]