Biography
Elizabeth McCaul (later Finn) was born on 14 March 1825 to missionary parents in the Zamoyski Palace, Warsaw, Poland. Her father, the Reverend Alexander McCaul was a noted scholar of Hebrew whom Elizabeth Finn describes in her Reminiscences as having 'devoted his life to what he considered to be the highest good for the Jewish people, and through them of the whole world.'
From an early age Elizabeth Finn combined a passion for knowledge with a love of housework. Without formal education, Elizabeth gained command of many foreign languages, becoming polyglot from an early age. She was tutored in Hebrew by a converted Jewish rabbi, Rav Avrohom. When deemed capable of reading for herself at the age of 4 she received her own Bible in English and received a German Bible for her next birthday, by which time she was equally fluent in Yiddish. She first read and discovered Shakespeare in a German translation soon afterwards.
At the age of twelve, she would rise at 3:30 each morning to translate for publication Lavater's Maxims from the German original. She received 2 guineas for her labours, enough to purchase a dozen pairs of new stockings. Queen Adelaide purchased a larger number of copies of this book for a bazaar on the condition that Elizabeth herself would benefit.
The family lived in Palestine Place on the Cambridge Road in Bethnal Green an area leased to the London Society for Promoting Christianity Amongst the Jews (a Jewish Christian missionary society now known as the Church's Ministry Among Jewish People. McCaul was appointed Warburton Lecturer of Lincoln's Inn in 1837. In 1843 the Bishop of London offered him the vicarage of St James, Dukes Place a parish with 800 Jewish inhabitants and only 100 Christians. Elizabeth was an eyewitness to the Houses of Parliament burning down in 1834 and the coronation procession of Queen Victoria in 1837.
Three surviving children were born during the Finns' diplomatic mission. Their eldest child Alexander 'Guy Fawkes' Finn, who, like his father would pursue a diplomatic career, retiring as Consul General for Chile, was born on November 5, 1847. In October 1851 Elizabeth's daughter Constance was born inside a tent pitched on a field north west of Jerusalem. Elizabeth Finn gave birth to Constance having spent the entirety of the previous day personally entertaining the wife of the Turkish Pasha and her numerous escort of friends, servants and slaves. A second son, Arthur Henry, was born in 1854 and in later life as a Hebrew scholar wrote "The Unity of the Pentateuch".
At the age of 72, Finn and her daughter Constance founded the Distressed Gentlefolk's Aid Association or D.G.A.A., the predecessor of Elizabeth Finn Care on May 5, 1897 ‘in the hope of alleviating some of the distress which has overtaken ladies and gentlemen who have seen better days.’
She died at home in Brook Green, Hammersmith, London on 18 January 1921 at the age of 95.She is buried next to her husband James in Wimbledon.
Read more about this topic: Elizabeth Anne Finn
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