Hart, Alice (fl. late-19th c.)

British-born social activist who, with husband Ernest Hart, established the Donegal Famine Fund and the Donegal Industrial Fund. Flourished in the late 19th century.

In a visit to Donegal, Ireland, in 1883, England's Alice Hart and her doctor-husband Ernest Hart established the Donegal Famine Fund to assist those suffering from the meager harvests that had afflicted the area. Alice sought to revive the cottage industries in the region to ease the economic distress and, in 1883, started the Donegal Industrial Fund. After rousing some interest through a display of woven tweeds from Donegal at the Health Exhibition in London, Hart opened a shop in London to sell Donegal products and experimented with various dyes made from indigenous wild plants. Subsequently, some hosiery made in Donegal and colored with these dyes won the medal of the Sanitary Institute of Great Britain for "innocuous vegetable dying."

Hart also encouraged Irish women to keep alive a technique which came to be known as "Kells Embroidery," the designs of which, done on linen with dyed threads made of flax, were taken from early Irish manuscripts. The "Kells Embroidery" won a gold medal at the Inventions Exhibition held in London in 1885. The following year, Hart moved to a larger shop which became known as Donegal House. She also had a hand in bringing specialized teachers to Donegal to help revive wood-carving and carpentry. The work was exhibited in Edinburgh, Liverpool, Paris, Dublin, Chicago, and Olympia. Unfortunately, the project, successful at the time, did not continue after the Harts retired in 1896.