The Daughters of the British Empire, (DBE) was founded in the United States in 1909 by Sarah Josephine Meredith Langstaff. Sarah was born in St. Catherine’s, Ontario, Canada on April 14, 1849. She was adopted shortly after her birth by Bridgewater Meredith and his wife Caroline Arnold who were visiting Canada. Shortly after adopting Sarah the Meredith’s brought her to their home in New Jersey.
The DBE is a nationally recognized 501(c)(3) charity organization whose purpose is to organize and operate exclusively for charitable purposes.
· Female students, 18 years of age or older, who are residents of the USA with British or Commonwealth of Nations ancestry.
· Applicants must be a student at an accredited 2 - or 4 - year, college or university.
· Applicants must have a college 3.0 GPA or better (students in the second semester of the freshman year are eligible to apply).
Applicants cannot be a State, Chapter, or Member-at-Large member of Daughters of the British Empire (DBE).
· Applicants must submit a one-page typed essay with information about career goals and British or Commonwealth of Nations ancestry or heritage.
· Applicants must include a current copy of college transcript with the essay.
· For notification purposes applicants should include contact information with the essay.
· Applications must be received by DBE no later than November 1st of each year.
· Scholarship awards will be submitted by DBE National to the applicant’s college or university.
· All applicants will be notified by email the status of their application by January 5thof the year following the November 1st receipt of their scholarship application.
· Application packets are available at
DBE Flier Final Draft (docx)
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