Our Common Land (and Other Short Essays)

"Our Common Land (and Other Short Essays)" by Octavia Hill is a collection of essays written in the late 19th century. The essays address social issues pertaining to public spaces, charity, and the lives of the poor in urban environments, particularly in London. Hill focuses on the importance of open spaces for the well-being of people who live in crowded conditions and critiques the inadequacies of existing charitable practices. At the start of this work, Hill paints a vivid picture of the bustling scenes on Bank holidays in London, where crowds flock to open spaces for leisure and recreation. She reflects on the contrasting experiences of urban dwellers, highlighting the significance of maintaining and protecting common lands amidst a backdrop of potential enclosure. She warns against the loss of these vital public spaces and advocates for their preservation as essential to the physical and mental health of the community, urging legislative action to safeguard them for the enjoyment of future generations. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Octavia Hill was an English social reformer, whose main concern was the welfare of the inhabitants of cities, especially London, in the second half of the nineteenth century. Born into a family of radical thinkers and reformers with a strong commitment to alleviating poverty, she herself grew up in straitened circumstances owing to the financial failure of her father's businesses. Home educated by her mother, she worked from the age of 14 for the welfare of working people.