International Women’s Day 2026: "Give to Gain"
Remembering Stella A. Hill of the Cork Council of Women, and the Cork Children’s Fresh Air Association (1930s- 1980s)
Biography- Stella A.Hill
Stella Amelia Hill, née Harris, was born in 1877 in Rahway, New Jersey to Thomas and Rose Harris. In November 1903, she married prominent Cork-born architect and engineer William Henry Hill at All Angel’s Church in New York City. The couple later relocated to Cork, living firstly in Summerhill and Montenotte respectively, before relocating to Currabinny, near Crosshaven. The Hills had four children together: William Martin (b.1905); Stella Isabel Marian (b.1908); Noel Rose (b.1909) and Pamela Josephine Constance (b.1920). Throughout her life, Hill was particularly drawn to charitable causes, including Buckingham School and Victoria Hospital in Cork City. In 1931, she was instrumental in the establishment of the Cork Children’s Fresh Air Fund under the auspices of the Cork Council of Women. A proactive advocate for women, she was elected President of the Cork Council of Women and later was selected as the Irish delegate for the 1933 Congress of the International Council of Women (ICW) in Chicago, U.S.A. Hill died at the age of 71 in February 1949.
Cork Children’s Fresh Air Fund
The origins of the CCFAF can be traced to the 1931 Annual General Meeting of the Cork Council of Women. Inspired by the success of the Dublin Fresh Air Fund, a proposal was made to set up a similar scheme in Cork whereby impoverished children residing within the city boundaries could avail of healthy holidays with families living in coastal or rural areas.
It was formally inaugurated on the 29th of May 1931 at a Public Meeting held at The School of Art, Grand Parade (now MTU Crawford College of Art and Design) under the auspices of the Cork Council of Women, with the Lord Mayor F. J. Daly presiding. The Fund received an enthusiastic response from attendees, with a Professor Porter of U.C.C. remarking that there was no other cause he could think of that ‘…could appeal more to the instincts of humanity and good citizenship.’[1] Priority would be given to ‘convalescent or delicate’ applicants initially between the ages of 6 to 14 (in later years reduced to children aged 6 -10) who were assessed by medical authorities as urgently requiring ‘an interlude…[from] poverty and malnutrition.’[2] Children suffering from contagious diseases such as Tuberculosis were precluded from consideration.
With the support of Cork Corporation, the Fund obtained an office in the City Hall. The Fund’s Committee was responsible for a wide range of administrative tasks, including identifying and inspecting suitable host families. A decline in families willing to facilitate children availing of the scheme was reversed in the 1940s when the Committee acquired a liaison officer from the Irish Countrywomen’s Association. This consolidated a long running partnership between both groups in sourcing hosts in rural areas. Later, efforts were made by the Fund to open a purpose-built facility to house children of the scheme, however these plans never came to fruition. The Committee also worked closely with the Cork Rotary Club in transporting children by car to their holiday accommodation except for a brief period during the Emergency when petrol rationing required the Committee members to convey the children by bus and train.[3] As the Fund was solely financed through public subscriptions, members also organised and co-ordinated fundraising activities. This included multiple initiatives such as an annual Flag Day, a formal dinner dance at the Imperial Hotel and a Summer Garden Fete hosted by Hill at her family home in Currabinny. Hill also made several annual radio broadcasts for charitable donations, with one in 1933 highlighting the benefits of donating to the Fund:
“In these days of World Depression and disillusionment there are few consolations left to Humanity; but there is one joy which will survive all plagues of pessimism, and that is the joy of feeling we have made others happy, and the Organisation, on whose behalf I appeal, gives everybody a chance of capturing that joy…’
Hill resigned as President of the Fund in 1945 due to ill-health. Her eldest daughter Isabel remained an active member of the Committee, later becoming Honorary Secretary. By the time of its dissolution in the 1980s, the Fund had provided respite holidays for many thousands of under-privileged children across the city.
As part of IWD’s 2026 campaign “Give to Gain”, Cork City and County Archives Service is delighted to make available items relating to Stella A. Hill. from the Archives' Cork Children’s Fresh Air Fund collection and W.H. Hill collection.
- Annual Report presented by Hill as President of the CCFAF at the AGM for the Cork Council of Women and the Cork Children’s Fresh Air Association at the Council Chamber, City Hall in May 1944. (Item ref. SM99/4/1/3). (Click here or on the image below to view the full report)
- Ceremonial address featuring a Celtic-inspired design presented by the Committee of Cork Children’s Fresh Air Fund to Hill in April 1945 in acknowledgment of her work as President of the Cork Branch of the National Council of Women. (Embossed ‘SAH’ on the front cover). (Item Ref. SM99/4/4)
- Photograph of Stella A. Hill (back seat, far left) from the W. H. Hill Collection at CCCA. The caption refers to 'Currabinny 1908.’ Item Ref. No. SM640/21.
[1] Cork Examiner, 30 May 1931
[2] SM99/4/1/ii
[3] SM99/4/1/i