Emily Dobson

Emily Dobson (; 10 October 1842 – 5 June 1934) was an Australian philanthropist. She was known for her work supporting women's charities.

Early life Dobson was born in Port Arthur, Tasmania on 10 October 1842 to Thomas James Lempriere and Charlotte Lempriere née Smith. She was educated at home by her father. Emily married lawyer and politician, Henry Dobson, at the Bothwell Church of England on 4 February 1868.

Philanthropy work Dobson began her philanthropy work after her husband was elected to the Parliament of Tasmania in 1891. She became secretary of the Women's Sanitary Association in September 1891 which was founded to fight an outbreak of typhoid in Hobart. The group petitioned Hobart local council and ran candidates for the municipal election of 1892, alongside the men's Sanitary and General Improvement Association. By 1906 there was a home in Victoria. In 1892 Dobson's founded a local Ministering Children's League. In 1898 she founded the ladies' committee of the Blind, Deaf and Dumb Institution. Dobson also supported nursing institutions and was one of the founders of the New Town Consumptives' Sanatorium in 1905 as well as being a life-long patron of the Tasmanian Bush Nursing Association. In 1919, the National Council of Women of Tasmania established the Emily Dobson Philanthropic Prize in recognition of her work.

Dobson died in Hobart on 5 June 1934 and was buried in Queenborough cemetery.