Camilla Wedgwood

Camilla Hildegarde Wedgwood (25 March 1901 – 17 May 1955) was a British anthropologist and academic administrator. She is best known for her research in the Pacific and her pioneering role as one of the British Commonwealth's first female anthropologists.

Early life and education Wedgwood was born on 25 March 1901 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Her father was Josiah Wedgwood later the first Baron Wedgwood. Her mother, Ethel Bowen Wedgwood, was the daughter of a Lord Justice of Appeal, Charles Bowen. She was a member of the extensive Wedgwood family. Her parents separated in 1914 and divorced in 1919.

Wedgwood was educated at two private schools: Orme Girls' School in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, and at Bedales School in Steep, Hampshire. In 1930, she held a temporary lectureship in the Department of African Life and Languages at the University of Cape Town.

Personal life Wedgwood was a member of the Religious Society of Friends (the Quakers) and as such was a pacifist. During the Second World War she was the president of the Federal Pacifist Council. However, she was increasingly attracted to Anglicanism during her time in Australia and particularly to the Anglo-Catholic wing of the church. She was received into the Church of England in Australia in 1944.

Selected works