Description:Before her work in educational reform, Duchess Millicent was instrumental in campaigns against the use of lead in the pottery industry. Lead was used for glazing and had caused cases of lead poisoning. Duchess Millicent was involved in campaigns to ban the use of lead in the Staffordshire Potteries. Her work in this capacity earned her the cariccature of the Countess of Chell in Arnold Bennett’s Five Towns.
Duchess Millicent's letters to Reverend William Podmore reflect her involvement in this campaign. In a letter dated 31st July 1898 written from Lilleshall, Millicent writes ‘I have been very busy in The Potteries lately on the subject of the deadly lead poisoning. I do trust that Government will take some decisive action in the matter. There is a great deal of work to do, is there not? And how many more workers are needed!’.
A newspaper clipping from the Daily Mirror kept in Duchess Millicent’s scrapbook from the outbreak of the First World War notes that she was ‘deeply interested in social questions’. The article remarks that the Duchess was ‘instrumental in getting the Government to go into the question of lead poisoning in the Potteries’. Click on the image on the left to read this newspaper cutting.
Duchess Millicent was also involved with other philanthropic work in Staffordshire. As well as founding Hanchurch Holiday Home in the late nineteenth century, she was responsible for the foundation of the North Staffordshire Cripples Aid Society.