Florence Mary Barrow (27 January 1876 – 3 March 1964) was an English International Aid worker, Quaker and housing reform activist particularly associated with her home city of Birmingham.
[3] She remained in Russia during the revolutions of 1917 working on feeding, clothing and medical programmes, as well as establishing occupational workshops, orphanages, nurseries for refugee children, and even a circulating library.
In her autobiographical recollections, she reflected: Before deciding exactly what form our relief work should take many hundreds of families of refugees were visited.
One after another would tell of the good house they had left in the west surrounded by a pleasant fruitful garden.Language and the need for an interpreter was a constant barrier for Barrow, who struggled to learn Russian even though she already spoke French and German.
[5] The British and later the American Society of Friends established hospitals, orphanages and workshops in Samara, as well as shelters in Moscow for refugees in transit.
Barrow left Russia by travelling east on the Trans-Siberian Railway, reached Japan, and then America, before crossing the U-boat-infested Atlantic in a camouflaged vessel in order to report back to the Society of Friends in London.
[6] In 1919, following the end of the war, Barrow was one of the first civilians allowed into defeated Germany to investigate conditions on behalf of the Quaker Relief Services.
She moved out of 35 Frederick Road and downsized to number 23, which is where her blue plaque is sited, giving the difference in price to Copec.
[10] She also acted as a rent collector in Nechells and was very involved in promoting the work, giving talks and writing leaflets to raise awareness and funds for the organisation.