Isabella Gilmore

Isabella Gilmore (née Morris; 1842–1923) was an English churchwoman who oversaw the revival of the Deaconess Order in the Anglican Communion.

Isabella served actively in the poorest parishes in South London for almost two decades and she is remembered with a commemoration in the Calendar of saints in some parts of the Anglican Communion on 16 April.

[1] In September 1860 she married naval officer, Arthur Gilmore, her brother William gave her away, at St Mary's Church, Leyton.

"[5] Gilmore and the Bishop of Rochester proceeded to plan for an Order of Deaconesses for the Church of England where the women were to be “a curiously effective combination of nurse, social worker and amateur policeman”.

At her memorial service, Randall Davidson, the Archbishop of Canterbury, foretold, "Some day, those who know best will be able to trace much of the origin and root of the revival of the Deaconess Order to the life, work, example and words of Isabella Gilmore.