Elizabeth Maria Molteno

Other Events and Attributes:

• Death: 25 Aug 1927, London; Age at Death: 74
• Probate Date: 13 Apr 1928, London

Notes:

The eldest of John Charles Molteno’s children. When her mother, Elizabeth Maria Jarvis, died in 1874, Betty took responsibility for bringing up several of her younger brothers. Only when she was in her mid thirties, did she begin teaching. During the 1890s, she was headmistress of The Collegiate School for Girls in Port Elizabeth, which is where she met her lifelong partner, Alice Greene.

Betty is perhaps the most remarkable of John Charles’s children. She took up many causes, including opposition to Britain’s war against the Boer Republics. She was active in support of the rights of Indian South Africans (she was a friend of Gandhi and spoke at many of his public meetings).

She also supported Black South Africans’ early struggles over land and political rights, and lived for a time in a cottage built for her at the Ohlange Institute (next door to Gandhi’s Phoenix Settlement) which was founded by John Dube, first President General of the African National Congress. She was a particular friend of Sol Plaatje. Betty was also a feminist and demanded the franchise for women.



Read more about Betty Molteno at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Maria_Molteno

Family/Spouse: Alice M Greene. Alice was born in 1859; died in Mar 1920 in Cornwall. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]