{{Short description|British civil servant and author (1875–1952)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = Hilda Martindale | image = Hilda Martindale CBE - 1920s (sq cropped).jpg | honorific_suffix = CBE | birth_date = 12 March 1875 | birth_place = Leytonstone, England | death_date = {{Death date and age|1952|4|18|1875|3|12}} | death_place = South Kensington, London | occupation = Civil servant, author | mother = Louisa Martindale }}

'''Hilda Martindale''' CBE (12 March 1875 &ndash; 18 April 1952) was a British civil servant and author, and the daughter of Louisa Martindale.<ref name="Hartley2013">{{cite book|author=Cathy Hartley|title=A Historical Dictionary of British Women|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uY2B224NwmYC&pg=PA620|date=15 April 2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-35534-0|pages=620–}}</ref><ref name="johnsimkin">{{cite web|url=http://spartacus-educational.com/Wmartindale.htm|title=Louisa Martindale|author=John Simkin|work=Spartacus Educational}}</ref><ref name="suffrage">{{cite book |last=Crawford |first=Elizabeth |author-link=Elizabeth Crawford (historian) |title=The Women's Suffrage Movement: A Reference Guide, 1866-1928 |publisher=Routledge |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-415-23926-4 |location=London |page=387}}</ref> She was a prominent campaigner for the improvement of working conditions, particularly those of women.<ref name="Hilda Martindale Trust Awards">{{Cite web|url=https://www.royalholloway.ac.uk/studying-here/fees-and-funding/undergraduate/scholarships-and-bursaries/scholarships/hilda-martindale-trust-awards/|title=Hilda Martindale Trust Awards|website=www.royalholloway.ac.uk|language=en-gb|access-date=2019-06-06}}</ref> Her will established the Hilda Martindale Trust in 1952 to fund British women attempting to establish themselves in professions dominated by men.<ref name="Hilda Martindale Trust Awards"/>

== Early life and education == Hilda Martindale was born on 12 March 1875 in Leytonstone. Her mother was Louisa Martindale, née Spicer, a British activist for women's rights and suffragist.<ref>{{Cite ODNB|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-56459|title=Martindale [née Spicer], Louisa (1839–1914), women's activist |year=2004 |language=en|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/56459|access-date=2019-06-06}}</ref> Her father was William Martindale, a City merchant who died before she was born.<ref name="Hartley2013" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://spartacus-educational.com/Wmartindale.htm|title=Louisa Martindale|website=Spartacus Educational|language=en|access-date=2019-06-06}}</ref><ref name="Hartley">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uY2B224NwmYC&pg=PA620|title=A Historical Dictionary of British Women|last=Hartley|first=Cathy|date=2013-04-15|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781135355340|language=en}}</ref> Her elder sister Dr. Louisa Martindale (named after their mother) was a leading surgeon.

She was taught initially by governesses in Switzerland and Germany before attending Brighton High School for Girls (now Brighton Girls).<ref name="Hartley"/> She would go on to study at Royal Holloway College and later at Bedford College.<ref name="royalholloway.ac.uk">{{cite web|url=https://www.royalholloway.ac.uk/aboutus/governancematters/thehildamartindaletrust.aspx|title=Royal Holloway - The Hilda Martindale Trust - About us home|publisher=}}</ref> During 1900-1901 she traveled around the world studying how children were treated.<ref name="Hartley2013" />

== Career and activism == In 1901, she became a factory inspector with the Home Office.<ref name="royalholloway.ac.uk" /> She was one of Britain's first female factory inspectors.<ref name="johnsimkin" /> In 1903 she wrote an important report about lead poisoning in brickworks.<ref name="johnsimkin" /> In 1904 she and her mother attended the International Congress of Women in Berlin.<ref name="suffrage" /> By 1914, she had become a Senior Lady Inspector.<ref name="johnsimkin" /> In 1918, she was a recipient of one of the 1918 Birthday Honours; specifically, she was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE).<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=30716 |date=3 June 1918 |pages=6451–6486 |supp=y}}</ref><ref>{{London Gazette |issue=30717 |date=3 June 1918 |pages=6487–6492 |supp=y}}</ref><ref>{{London Gazette |issue=30718 |date=3 June 1918 |pages=6493–6502 |supp=y}}</ref><ref>{{London Gazette |issue=30719 |date=3 June 1918 |pages=6503–6510 |supp=y}}</ref><ref>{{London Gazette |issue=30720 |date=3 June 1918 |pages=6511–6512 |supp=y}}</ref><ref>{{London Gazette |issue=30721 |date=3 June 1918 |pages=6513–6517 |supp=y}}</ref><ref>{{London Gazette |issue=30722 |date=3 June 1918 |pages=6519–6522 |supp=y}}</ref><ref>{{London Gazette |issue=30723 |date=3 June 1918 |pages=6523–6534 |supp=y}}</ref><ref>{{London Gazette |issue=30730 |date=7 June 1918 |pages=6687–6742 |supp=y}}</ref> She became a Commander of the same Order (CBE) in the 1935 Birthday Honours.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=15180|page=495|date=7 June 1935|city=e}}</ref>

In 1925, she became Deputy Chief Inspector of Factories.<ref name="royalholloway.ac.uk" /> In 1933, she joined the Treasury, and she retired at age 65 in 1937.<ref name="johnsimkin" /><ref name="royalholloway.ac.uk" /> She had been one of the first women to reach the higher levels of the Civil Service.<ref name="johnsimkin" /> She was a member of the Whitley Council Committee on the Women's Question, and as such she argued in favour of women's right to choose whether or not to leave their jobs if they got married, as well as in favour of equal pay.<ref name="johnsimkin" />

After retiring, she wrote books including ''A History of Women in the Civil Service'', '' One Generation to Another'' (about her family), ''Some Victorian Portraits'', and ''Women Servants of the State: 1870-1938''.<ref name="johnsimkin" />

== Death and legacy == Martindale died on 18 April 1952, aged 77, in Coleherne Court, South Kensington, London.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/account/signin?returnurl=https%3a%2f%2fwww.ancestry.co.uk%2finteractive%2f1904%2f32858_635001_2123-00297%2f17926894%3fbackurl%3dhttps%3a%2f%2fwww.ancestry.co.uk%2ffamily-tree%2fperson%2ftree%2f68094999%2fperson%2f48198777328%2ffacts%2fcitation%2f342060076792%2fedit%2frecord|title=England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1995|website=www.ancestry.co.uk|access-date=2019-07-27}}</ref>

In her will she appointed Bedford College as trustees of the Hilda Martindale Trust, which "makes a very limited number of awards to British women towards training or studying for a career in a profession where women are underrepresented. The maximum award is £3,000."<ref name="royalholloway.ac.uk" />

==References== {{Reflist}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Martindale, Hilda}} Category:1875 births Category:1952 deaths Category:British civil servants Category:English feminist writers Category:Writers from the London Borough of Waltham Forest Category:Factory inspectors Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Category:20th-century British women civil servants Category:People from Leytonstone Category:International Congress of Women people Category:People educated at Brighton and Hove High School Category:Alumni of Bedford College, London Category:Alumni of Royal Holloway, University of London Category:English women non-fiction writers