Matilda Widegren
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Maria Matilda Aurora Widegren (1863–1938) was a Swedish educator and peace activist. A delegate for Sweden at the 1915 International Congress of Women held in The Hague, she helped establish the Swedish branch of the International League for Peace and Freedom, serving as president from 1919 to 1934. She was active in other peace organizations, becoming a board member of the Nordic Teachers Peace Association, chair of Swedish School Peace Union (Svenska skolornas fredsförbund) and a council member of the Nordic Association for International Cooperation on Peace (Nordiska föreningen mellanfolkligt samarbete för fred).[1][2][3]
Born in Söderköping on 7 August 1863, Maria Matilda Aurora Widegren was the daughter of the school principal Per Mauritz August Widegren (1815–1899) and his wife Aurora Fredrika née Steinnordh (1828–1879). In 1879, after her mother's death, she moved with her father to Stockholm where she attended the normal school for girls. She went on to spend three years at the Royal Seminary (HLS) where she graduated in the mid-1880s. In 1893, she spent a further year taking special studies at the HLS.[1]
