British politician and social reformer Eleanor Rathbone (1872-1946) was one of the first women members of Parliament, known principally for her successful advocacy of family allowances.

Eleanor Florence Rathbone was born in London on May 12, 1872, into a family of social reformist politicians. Her father was William Rathbone, heir to a family tradition of political commitment and social responsibility and for many years a reformist member of Parliament. Her mother, Emily Acheson Lyle, raised ten children, the next to youngest of whom was Eleanor. Her childhood was alternately spent in Liverpool, where the Rathbone family was rooted, and London, where she attended Kensington High School.

She matriculated at Oxford (at Somerville College) in 1893 in the field of humanities and received second class honors in 1896. After graduation she intended to pursue studies in philosophy, but soon found herself more interested in the real social, economic, and political problems of the...