Posts Tagged women’s history
Books And Ephemera By And About Women For Sale: Catalogue 206 – Part Two – General
Posted by womanandhersphere in Books And Ephemera For Sale on March 14, 2022
Woman and her Sphere
Catalogue 206: Part Two – General
Elizabeth Crawford
5 Owen’s Row
London EC1V 4NP
elizabeth.crawford2017@outlook.com
Index to Catalogue
General Non-fiction: Items 120-266
General Biography: Items 267-353
General Ephemera: Items 354-394
General Postcards: Items 395-396
General Fiction: 397-431
Women and the First World War: Items 432-435
General Non-fiction
1. ADELMAN, Jeanne And ENGUIDANOS, Gloria (eds) Racism in the Lives of Women: testimony, theory and guides to antiracist practice Harrington Park Press 1995
Paper covers – mint
[5226] £5
2. AHMED, Leila Women and Gender in Islam Yale University Press 1992
Fine in d/w
[10512] £15
3. ALBERMAN, Eva And DENNIS, K.J. Late Abortions in England and Wales Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists 1984
A report of a national confidential survey by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. Soft covers – good – ex-library
[9010] £8
4. ALLEN, Isobel Birth Control in Runcorn and Coalville: a study of the F.P.A. campaign PEP 1974
Soft covers – fine
[9020] £4
5. ALLEN, Jennifer (ed) Lesbian Philosophies and Cultures State University of New York Press 1990
Paper covers – very good
[5164] £5
6. BACK, Lee And SOLOMOS, John Theories of Race and Racism: a reader Routledge 2000
Soft covers – fine. Heavy
[9986] £12
7. BANET-WEISER, Sarah The Most Beautiful Girl in the World: beauty pageants and national identity University of California Press 1999
Paper covers – mint
[5141] £5
8. BEACHY, Robert Et Al (eds) Women, Business and Finance in 19th-century Europe: rethinking separate spheres Berg 2006
Fine
[9208] £12
9. BEER, Janet Kate Chopin, Edith Wharton and Charlotte Perkins Gilman: studies in short fiction Palgrave 1997 r/p
Focusses on a wide range of short fiction by these three women writers. Hardovers – fine
[11769] £12
10. BENJAMIN, Marina (ed) Science and Sensibility: gender and scientific enquiry 1780-1945 Basil Blackwell 1994
An interesting collection of essays, Soft covers – mint
[11668] £18
11. BERRY, Mrs Edward And MICHAELIS, Madame (eds) 135 Kindergarten Songs and Games Charles and Dible, no date [1881]
‘These songs are printed to supply a want in English Kindergartens’ – the music is, of course, included – as are movement instructions. Mme Michaelis ran the Croydon Kindergarten. Very good
[9035] £48
12. BLOOM, Stanley The Launderette: a history Duckworth 1988
Soft covers – very good
[10201] £3
13. Boucé, Paul-Gabriel (ed) Sexuality in 18th-century Britain Manchester University Press 1982
Includes essays by Roy Porter, Ruth Perry and Pat Rogers – among others. Very good in d/w
[11034] £24
14. BROCKLEBANK, Lt Col Hugh Brocklebank A Turn or Two I’ll Walk to Still My Beating Heart: commentary on a private collection Cresset Press 1955
A most beautifully produced book – large format – lovely paper – essays on the paintings contained in the author’s collection – including works by Poussin, Richard Wilson, Murillo, and Harold Knight – among others. Each work is illustrated. Fine
[2782] £15
15. BURSTALL, Sara A. The Story of the Manchester High School for Girls 1871-1911 Manchester University Press 1911
Very good internally – slightly marked cover
[9606] £15
16. CARTWRIGHT, Ann How Many Children? Routledge 1976
Soft covers – good
[9008] £8
17. CAVENDISH, Ruth Women on the Line Routledge 1982
Explores the relationship between sex, class and imperialism as reflected in the lives of women working on the assembly line of a large factory. The author worked on an assembly line alongside women who had settled in England from Ireland, the Caribbean or the Indian subcontinent. Paper covers – fine
[10001] £10
18. CHECKLAND, Olive Philanthropy in Victorian Scotland: social welfare and the voluntary principle John Donald Ltd 1980
Fine in fine d/w
[9241] £20
19. CHERNIN, Kim Womansize: the tyranny of slenderness Women’s Press 1983
[9440] £5
20. CHESTER, Gail And NIELSEN, Sigrid (eds) In Other Words: writing as a feminist Hutchinson 1987
Paper covers – mint
[5342] £3
21. CLARKE, Norma Dr Johnson’s Women Hambledon and London 2000
investigates lives of Elizabeth Carter, Charlotte Lennox, Elizabeth Montagu, Hester Thrale and Fanny Burney – exploring their relationship with Dr Johnson, with each other and with the world of letters. Excellent reading. Mint in d/w
[9736] £8
22. CLARKE, Patricia The Governesses: letters from the colonies 1862-1882 Hutchinson 1985
Fine in fine d/w
[12463] £7
23. COHEN, Cathy Et Al (eds) Women Transforming Politics: an alternative reader New York University Press 1997
Paper covers – large format – mint
[5122] £12
24. COHEN, Monica Professional Domesticity in the Victorian Novel: women, work and home CUP 1998
Offers new readings of narratives by Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, Dickens, George Eliot, Emily Eden etc to show how domestic work, the most feminine of all activities, gained much of its social credibility by positioning itself in relation to the emergent professions. Soft cover – fine
[12419] £25
25. COOTE, Anna And CAMPBELL, Bea Sweet Freedom: the struggle for women’s liberation Picador 1982
Paper covers – good
[2703] £3
26. CROSLAND, Margaret Women of Iron and Velvet and the books they wrote in France Constable 1976
Study of the French women writers who came after George Sand. Fine in d/w
[2746] £3
27. CUNNINGTON, C. Willett Feminine Attitudes in the Nineteenth Century William Heinemann 1935
Good
[2558] £15
28. DEAN-JONES, Lesley Ann Women’s Bodies in Classical Greek Science OUP 1996
Soft covers – fine
[11865] £15
29. DICKSON, Anne And HENRIQUES, Nikki Menopause: the woman’s view Quartet 1992
Revised and updated edition. Soft covers – mint
[9989] £5
30. DINSHAW, Carolyn and WALLACE, David (eds) The Cambridge Companion to Medieval Women’s Writing CUP 2003
Soft covers – fine
[11857] £12
31. DISKI, Jenny On Trying To Keep Still Little, Brown 2006
A ‘non-travel travel book’ – covering her trips to New Zealand, Somerset and Lapland – with digressions. Uncorrected proof copy. Soft covers – fine
[10569] £5
32. DOODY, Margaret Anne The True Story of the Novel Fontana 1998
Aims to prove that the novel is an ancient form – with a continuous history of 2000 years. Soft covers – very good
[10562] £5
33. DORESS, Paula And SIEGAL, Diana Ourselves Growing Older: women ageing with knowledge and power Fontana 1989
Paper covers – 600pp – mint
[5339] £7
34. DOYAL, Lesley Et Al (eds) Aids: setting a feminist agenda Taylor & Francis 1994
Paper covers – fine
[5061] £4
35. DUBY, Georges Women of the Twelfth Century: vol 1: Eleanor of Aquitaine and Six Others Polity Press 1997
Soft covers – fine
[11860] £7
36. DURHAM, Edith High Albania Virago 1985
First published in 1909. Soft covers – very good
[10802] £8
37. ELLIS, Mrs Sarah Stickney The Select Works Henry G. Langley (New York) 1844
Includes ‘The Poetry of Life’, ‘Pictures of Private Life’, ‘A Voice From the Vintage, on the force of example addressed to those who think and feel’
Good in original decorative cloth
[11234] £48
38. FADERMAN, Lillian Surpassing the Love of Men: romantic friendship and love between women from the Renaissance to the present The Women’s Press 1991 (r/p)
Paper covers – fine
[15049] £8
39. FAERY, Rebecca Blevins Cartographies of Desire: captivity, race, & sex in the shaping of the American nation University of Oklahoma Press 1999
Soft covers – mint
[5930] £8
40. FARRELL, Christine My Mother Said…; the way young people learned about sex and birth control Institute for Social Studies in Medical Care 1978
Based on over 1500 interviews with a national random sample of 16- to 19-year olds in 1974-5. Very good in good d/w – though ex-library
[8997] £10
41. FINDLAY, J.J. (ed) The Young Wage-Earner and the Problem of His Education: essays and reports Sigwick and Jackson 1918
For ‘His Education’ read also ‘Hers’. The essays include: ‘From Home Life to Industrial Life: with special reference to adolescent girls, by James Shelley, prof of education, University College, Southampton; ‘The Young Factory Girl’ by Emily Matthias, superintendent of women employees, the Phoenix Dynamo Manufacturing Co, Bradford and the reports include: ‘Working Girls and Trade Schools (London)’ by Theodora Pugh and ‘The Sons and Daughters of Farming Folk’ by J.J. Findlay. Very good
[8026] £25
42. FRANCOME, Colin Abortion Freedom: a worldwide movement Allen & Unwin 1984
Very good in d/w
[9006] £5
43. FRYE, Susan And ROBERTSON, Karen (Eds) Maids and Mistresses, Cousins and Queens: women’s alliances in early modern England OUP 1999
A collection of essays exploring how early modern women associated with other women in a variety of roles, from alewives to midwives, prostitutes to pleasure seekers, slaves to queens, serving maids to ladies in waiting…’. Fine
[7435] £28
44. FULLER, Margaret ‘These Sad But Glorious Days’: dispatches from Europe, 1846-1850 Yale University Press 1991
Fine in d/w
[8887] £18
45. GACEMI, Baya I, Nadia, Wife of a Terrorist University of Nebraska Press 2006
The ‘autobiography’ of a young Algerian woman. Translated by Paul Cote and Constantina Mitchell.
[9974] £6
46. GARRETT, Stephanie Gender Tavistock 1987
In ‘Society Now’ series. Soft covers – very good
[8759] £3
47. GATHORNE-HARDY, Jonathan The Rise and Fall of the British Nanny Victorian (& Modern History) Book Club 1972
Good in d/w
[2578] £3
48. GATTY, H.K.F (ed) Aunt Judy’s Christmas Volume for 1877 George Bell 1877
762 pages of entertainment – stories, poetry, songs, botany, travel etc. Very good
[1246] £10
49. GOOD HOUSEKEEPING’S HOME ENCYCLOPAEDIA Ebury Press 1968 (r/p)
Packed with information and illustrations. How very retro. Large format – very good in rubbed d/w – heavy
[10297] £10
50. GREENWOOD, Victoria And YOUNG, Jock Abortion In Demand Pluto Press 1976
Soft covers – good
[8998] £5
51. GRIFFIN, Susan A Chorus of Stones: the private life of war Women’s Press 1994
A study of the nature of war and gender, illuminating the interplay between private suffering and public tragedy. Soft covers – mint
[6217] £8
52. GUTTMACHER, Alan And MEARS, Eleanor Babies By Choice Or By Chance Gollancz 1960
Very good in d/w
[9004] £10
53. HARTLEY, Jenny (ed) Hearts Undefeated: women’s writing of the Second World War Virago 1994
Soft covers – very good
[9135] £10
54. HESSELGRAVE, Ruth Avaline Lady Miller and the Batheaston Literary Circle Yale University Press 1927
An 18th-century Bath literary salon. Lady Miller was the first English woman to describe her travels in Italy. Fine
[3020] £30
55. HOLDSWORTH, Angela Out of the Doll’s House: the story of women in the 20th century BBC 1988 (r/p)
Paper covers – very good
[4809] £5
56. HOLT, Anne A Ministry To The Poor: being a history of the Liverpool Domestic Mission Society, 1836-1936 Henry Young (Liverpool) 1936
Very good – scarce
[9243] £45
57. HONEY, Michael Keith Black Workers Remember: an oral history of segregation, unionism, and the freedom struggle University of California Press 1999
Mint in d/w – 482pp
[6020] £12
58. HORSFIELD, Margaret Biting the Dust: the joys of housework Fourth Estate 1997
Mint in d/w
[10183] £5
59. HOUSMAN, Laurence Ploughshare and Pruning-Hook: ten lectures on social subjects Swarthmore Press 1919
A collection of papers, originally given as lectures – including ‘What is Womanly?’ (1911) and ‘Art and Citizenship’ (1910). Very good in d/w
[1322] £10
60. HUGHES, Linda K. And LUND, Michal Victorian Publishing and Mrs Gaskell’s Work University Press of Virginia 1999
Fine in fine d/w
[9537] £15
61. INNESS, Sherrie (ed) Running For Their Lives: girls, cultural identity and stories of survival Rowan & Littlefield 2000
Paper covers – mint
[5303] £5
62. JACKSON, James S. (ed) Life in Black America Sage 1991
Soft covers – mint
[5648] £6
63. JACOBSEN, Joyce The Economics of Gender Blackwell 1994
Paper covers – mint
[5121] £10
64. KANDALL, Stephen Substance and Shadow: women and additiction in the United States Harvard University Press 1996
Mint in d/w
[5309] £6
65. KEDDIE, Nikki And BARON, Beth (eds) Women in Middle Eastern History: shifting boundaries in sex and gender Yale University Press 1991
The first study of gender relations in the Middle East from the earliest Islamic period to the present. Fine in d/w
[10511] £15
66. KENEALY, Arabella Feminism and Sex-Extinction E.P. Dutton & Co (NY) 1920
Anti-feminist eugenicist polemic. US edition is scarce. Very good internally – cloth cover a little bumped and rubbed
[12107] £25
67. KENNY, Mary Woman X Two: how to cope with a double life Sidgwick and Jackson 1978
How to combine work and caring for a family. Very good in d/w
[1886] £4
68. KERTZER, David and BARBAGLIO, Marzio (eds) Family Life in the Long Nineteenth Century 1789-1913 Yale University Press 2002
A collection of essays under the headings: Economy and Family Organization: State, Religion, Law and the Family; Demographic Forces; Family Relations. 420pp Heavy. Mint in d/w
[11037] £18
69. KESTNER, Joseph Protest & Reform: the British social narrative by women, 1827-1867 Methuen 1985
Very good in d/w
[2125] £8
70. KIDD, Alan and NICHOLLS, David (eds) Gender, Civic Culture and Consumerism: middle-class identity in Britain 1800-1940 Manchester University Press 1999
Soft covers – very good
[11759] £12
71. KING, Brenda Silk and Empire Manchester University Press
A study of the Anglo-Indian silk trade, challenging the notion that Britain always exploited its empire. Mint in d/w (pub price £55)
[9845] £25
72. KLEIN, Renate (ed) Infertility; women speaking out about their experiences of reproductive medicine Pandora
Soft covers – very good
[6593] £0
73. LARSEN, Timothy A People of One Book: the Bible and the Victorians OUP 2011
Case studies of representative figures, from Elizabeth Fry to Florence Nightingale, from C.H. Spurgeon to Grace Aguilar to demonstrate the scripture-saturated culture of 19th-century England. Mint in d/w (pub price £76)
[13407] £25
74. LAZARSFELD, Sofie Woman’s Experience of the Male Encyclopaedia Press Ltd, 8th imp 1961
Subtitled ‘ A frank statement of woman’s sexual experience in all its aspects’. With a foreword by Norman Haire. Very good in d/w
[3996] £3
75. LEE, Julia Sun-Joo The American Slave Narrative and the Victorian Novel OUP 2010
Investigates the shaping influence of the American slave narrative on the Victorian novel in the years between the British Abolition Act and the American Emancipation Proclamation – and argues that Charlotte Bronte, Elizabeth Gaskell, Thackeray and Dickens integrated into their works generic elements of the slave narrative. Mint in d/w (pub price £40)
[13436] £15
76. LOANE, M. The Queen’s Poor: life as they find it in town and country Edward Arnold (new and cheaper edition0 1906
Martha Loane, a Queen’s Nurse in Portsmouth, wrote as a social investigator among the ‘respectable poor’. This was her first study. Good in decorative boards
[7995] £35
77. LUTZ, Helma, PHOENIX, Ann And YUVAL-DAVIS, Nira (eds) Crossfires: nationalism, racism and gender in Europe Pluto Press 1995
Soft covers – mint
[10090] £8
78. (LUXEMBOURG) Richard Abraham Rosa Luxembourg: a life for the International Berg 1989
Mint in d/w
[1399] £10
79. LYNN, Susan Progressive Women in Conservative Times: racial justice, peace, and feminism, 1945 to the 1960s Rutgers University Press 1992
Paper covers – mint
[5219] £10
80. MACKIE, Vera Creating Socialist Women in Japan: gender, labour and activism, 1900-1937 CUP 1997
Mint in d/w
[5222] £18
81. MCKILLOP, A.B. The Spinster and the Prophet: a tale of H.G. Wells, plagiarism and the history of the world Aurum Press 2000
In 1925 a Canadian, Florence Deeks, launched a lawsuit against H.G. Wells, claiming that he had plagiarised her manuscript in the writing of ‘i The Outline of History’. Mint.in d/w
[9420] £10
82. MCLACHLAN, H. The Widows’ Fund Association (established 1764): a historical sketch privately printed 1937
Founded as ‘The Society for the Relief of the Necessitous Widows and Fatherless Children of Protestant Dissenting Ministers’ by, among others, Joseph Priestley.
[10583] £7
83. MALMGREEN, Gail Neither Bread nor Roses: utopian feminists and the English working class, 1800-1850 John L. Noyce (Brighton). 1978 (r/p)
A ‘Studies in Labour’ pamphlet – 44pp. Soft covers – very good
[9147] £15
84. MALOS, Ellen (ed) The Politics of Housework Allison & Busby 1980
Fine in d/w
[1819] £4
85. MARKS, Lara Metropolitan Maternity maternity and infant welfare services in early 20th century London Rodopi 1996
Soft covers – fine
[11624] £22
86. MARTIN, Jane Women and the Politics of Schooling in Victorian and Edwardian England Leicester University Press 1999
Mint (pub price £65)
[10781] £15
87. MARTIN, John And SINGH, Gurharpal Asian Leicester Sutton 2002
An illustrated history of Asians in Leicester. Soft covers – mint
[10413] £4
88. MASON, Michael The Making of Victorian Sexuality OUP 1994
Fine in d/w
[10599] £14
89. MASSIAH, Joycelin (ed) Women in Developing Economies: making visible the invisible Berg 1993
Paper covers – mint
[5131] £10
90. MEWS, Hazel Frail Vessels: woman’s role in women’s novels from Fanny Burney to George Eliot Athlone Press 1969
Very good in d/w
[3801] £12
91. MILES, Angela Integrative Feminisms: building global visions 1960s -1990s Routledge 1996
Soft covers – mint
[6223] £9
92. MILLER, Naomi and YAVNEH, Naomi (eds) Maternal Measures: figuring caregiving in the early modern period Ashgate 2000
Essays on a wide range of early modern caregiving roles by women in England, Italy, Spain, France, Latin America, Mexico and the New World. A wide range of scholarly and critical approaches is represented. Mint in d/w
[11038] £15
93. MOI, Toril Sexual/Textual Politics Methuen 1995
Soft covers – very good
[10542] £7
94. MORRIS, A.J.A (ed) Edwardian Radicalism, 1900-1914: some aspects of British radicalism Routledge 1974
Articles on ‘The Radical Press’, ‘1906: Revival and Revivalism’ (by Stephen Koss), ‘H.G. Wells and the Fabian Society’ (by Margaret Cole); ‘Socialism and progressivism in the political thought of Ramsay MacDonald’, amongst others – but no mention of the women’s movement. Times change, I doubt that such an omission would pass muster now. Very good in d/w
[1489] £10
95. MUMM, Susan (ed) All Saints Sisters of the Poor: an Anglican Sisterhood in the 19th century Boydel Press/Church of England Record Society 2001
A history of the Sisterhood that was founded by Harriet Brownlow Byron in 1850 to work in the slums of Marylebone – but then spread its net much wider. This volume comprises material drawn from the Sisterhood’s archives. V. interesting. Mint
[10964] £15
96. NASH, David Secularism, Art and Freedom Leicester Unviersity Press 1992
A study of the Secular movement in Victorian England. Fine
[7447] £18
97. NATIONAL LESBIAN AND GAY SURVEY What a Lesbian Looks Like: writings by lesbians on their lives and lifestyles Rooutledge 1992
Paper covers – mint
[5281] £10
98. NORWICH HIGH SCHOOL 1875-1950 privately printed, no date [1950]
A GPDST school. Very good internally – green cloth covers sunned – ex-university library
[9612] £15
99. ORAM, Alison And TURNBULL, Annmarie The Lesbian History Sourcebook: love and sex between women in Britain from 1780 to 1970 Routledge 2001
Soft covers – fine
[9092] £12
100. ORBACH, Susie And EICHENBAUM, Luise Bittersweet: facing up to feelings of love, envy and competition in women’s friendships Century 1987
Fine in d/w
[5077] £10
101. PATTEN, Marguerite The Victory Cookbook Imperial War Museum 1995 (r/p)
‘Over 200 recipes which helped the nation celebrate on that special day and right up to the end of rationing in 1954’. Packed with illustrations. Soft covers – very good
[10328] £8
102. PEACH, Linden Contemporary Irish and Welsh Women’s Fiction: gender, desire and power University of Wales Press 2008
The first comparative study of fiction by late 20th and 21st-century women writers from England, Southern Ireland and Wales. Soft covers – mint
[11572] £15
103. PEEL, John And POTTS, Malcolm Textbook of Contraceptive Practice CUP 1969
Soft covers – very good
[9021] £6
104. PINES, Davida The Marriage Paradox: modernist novels and the cultural imperative to marry University Press of Florida 2006
Mint
[10188] £18
105. POTTS, Malcolm, DIGGORY, Peter And PEEL, John Abortion CUP 1977
Soft covers – very good – 575pp
[9007] £8
106. PURKISS, Diane The Witch in History: early modern and 20th century representations Routledge 1996
Soft covers – mint
[9395] £12
107. RAO, S.V. Ramani Et Al Women at Work in India: an annotated bibliography vol 2 Sage Publications 1994
Fine in dustwrapper
[8702] £6
108. RENDALL, Jane The Origins of Modern Feminism: women in Britain, France and the United States 1780-1860 Macmillan 1985
Soft covers – very good
[9461] £15
109. RIOJA, Isabel Ramos The Day Kadi Lost Part of Her Life Spinifex 1998
A photographic study of female circumcision. Soft covers – large format – mint
[7577] £8
110. ROBERTS, Alison Hathor Rising: the serpent power in ancient Egypt Northgate 1995
Soft covers – fine
[11866] £8
111. ROBINSON, Annabel, PURKIS, John, MASSING, Ann A Florentine Procession: a painting by Jane Benham Hay at Homerton College, Cambridge Homestead Press (Cambridge) 1997
A study of the Pre-raphaelite style painting and its artist – who was a friend of Bessie Rayner Parkes. With colour reproduction of the large painting. Paper covers – mint
[2465] £8
112. ROBINSON, Jane Angels of Albion: women of the Indian mutiny Viking 1996
Very good in rubbed d/w
[4240] £8
113. RUBEL, David The Coming Free: the struggle for African-American Equality Dorling Kindersley 2005
Illustrated chronicle of one of America’s most important eras, from 1954 to 1966. Large format – mint in mint dustwrapper
[9264] £15
114. RUSHING, Janice Rushing Erotic Mentoring: women’s transformations in the University Left Coast Press 2006
Study of young women in university mentored by older scholars – who attempt to mould them into their own masculine ideals. Soft covers – mint
[9876] £10
115. SCHOESER, Mary Watts Book of Embroidery English church embroidery 1833-1953 Watts & Co 1998
Heavily illustrated. Soft covers
[9859] £12
116. SCOTT. Hilda Women and Socialism: experiences from Eastern Europe Alison and Busby 1976
Very good in dustwrapper
[8701] £6
117. SEAGER, Joni Earth Follies: feminism, politics and the environment Earthscan 1993
Soft covers – fine
[8708] £8
118. SEARLE, Arthur (ed) Barrington Family Letters 1628-1632 Royal Historical Society 1983
In the main letters to Lady Joan Barrington, the focal point of the extended family, the dowager and respected matriarch on a recognisable early 17th-century pattern. Very good
[10955] £12
119. SEIDLER, Victor The Achilles Heel Reader: men, sexual politics and socialism Routledge 1991
Paper covers – mint
[5302] £5
120. SENIOR, Olive Working Miracles: women’s lives in the English-speaking Caribbean James Currey 1991
Soft covers – mint
[6225] £9
121. SHATTOCK, Joanne And WOLFF, Michael (eds) The Victorian Periodical Press: samplings and soundings Leicester University Press 1992
A collection of essays. Fine in d/w
[3501] £28
122. SHIVA, Vandana (ed) Close To Home: women reconnect ecology, health and development Earthscan 1994
Essays showing how women worldwide are taking action at grass-roots level in the struggle for truly sustainable community development. Soft covers – very good
[6607] £8
123. SMITH, Joan Misogynies Faber 1990
Reprint, paper covers – mint
[15064] £4
124. SPENDER, Dale Invisible Women: the schooling scandal Women’s Press 1989
Pioneering research on sexism in education. Paper covers – mint
[1667] £2
125. SPENDER, Dale And SARAH, Elizabeth Learning to Lose: sexism and education Women’s Press 1980
Paper covers – fine
[1668] £3
126. STAFFORD, William English feminists and their opponents in the 1790s; unsex’d and proper females Manchester University Press 2002
Fine in fine d/w (pub. price £45)
[11757] £25
127. STARK, Freya East is West Century 1986
Her war-time experiences in Egypt, Palestine and Syria. First published in 1945. Soft covers – very good
[10557] £5
128. STEVENSON, Violet Gifts From Your Garden J.M. Dent 1974
Fine in d/w
[2760] £3
129. STONE, Dorothy The National: the story of a pioneer college Robert Hale 1976
History of the pioneering domestic economy training college – The National Training College of Domestic Subjects. Fine in d/w
[8231] £12
130. STOPES, Marie Birth Control Today Hogarth Press, 12th ed 1957
Very good in d/w
[9003] £5
131. STOPES, Marie Carmichael Contraception (Birth Control: its theory, history and practice) Putnam, 8th ed 1952
‘A manual for the medical and legal professions’. Very good in d/w
[9002] £12
132. STOPES, Marie Carmichael Roman Catholic Methods of Birth Control Peter Davies 1949 (r/p)
Very good in d/w
[8996] £12
133. TAYLOR, Jane Contributions of Q.Q. Jackson & Walford 5th ed, 1855
The majority of these essays were first published in the ‘Youth’s Magazine’, between 1816 and 1822. Good in original cloth
[1699] £15
134. TODD, Janet Gender, Art and Death Continuum (NY) 1993
Mint in d/w
[3972] £14
135. TRIMMER, Mrs Abridgment of Scripture History consisting of Lessons selected from the Old Testament for the use of Schools and Families Rivington, stereotyped ed 1811
One of the most popular scripture textbooks of the 19th century. Fair – good internally in original boards but missing spine strip
[3042] £10
136. VANITA, Ruth Sappho and the Virgin Mary: same-sex love and the English literary imagination Columbia University Press 1996
Soft covers – very good
[11223] £8
137. VICINUS, Martha (ed) Suffer and Be Still: women in the Victorian age Methuen 1972
An excellent collection of essays. Paper covers – fine – scarce
[2388] £25
138. VINCE, Mrs Millicent Decoration and Care of the Home W. Collins 1923
Mrs Vince had been a pupil of the pioneer ‘House Decorator’, Agnes Garrett. Very good in rubbed d/w
[12870] £18
139. WANDOR, Michelene Post-War British Drama: looking back in gender Routledge, revised edition 2001
Soft covers – mint
[5897] £12
140. WETZEL, Janice Wood The World of Women: in pursuit of human rights Macmillan 1993
Paper covers – fine
[5242] £5
141. WILLMUTH, Mary And HOLCOMB, Lilian (eds) Women with Disabilities: found voices Harrington Park Press (US) 1993
Paper covers – mint
[5120] £5
142. WILSON, Philip K (ed) Childbirth: Vol 3: Methods and Folklore Garland Publishing 1996
An anthology of key primary sources centring on methods of childbirth -covering ‘Painless Childbirth’ from the 18th century onwards; ”Caesarian Sections’ and ’20th Century Natural Childbirth’ and ‘Oral Traditions and Folklore of Pregnancy and Childbirth’ A single volume from a 5-voume series. Fine – 433pp
[11065] £25
143. WOLFE, Susan J. And PENELOPE, Julia (eds) Sexual Practice/Textual Theory: lesbian cultural criticism Blackwell 1993
Paper covers – mint
[5276] £5
144. WOOD, Ethel M. The Pilgrimage of Perseverance National Council of Social Service 1949
A rather negelected but I think rather good short history of feminist campaigns. Good – though ex-library
[2312] £3
145. WOODHOUSE, Annie Fantastic Women: sex, gender and transvestism Macmillan 1989
Mint in d/w
[5282] £5
146. YARBORO-BEJARANO, Yvonne The Wounded Heart: writings on Cherrie Moraga University of Texas Press 2001
Study of the work of the Chicana lesbian writer. Soft covers – mint
[7057] £8
147. ZMROCZEK, Christine And MAHONY, Pat (eds) Women and Social Class – International Feminist Perspectives UCL Press 1999
Contributors include Valerie Walkerdine, Gaby Weiner and Ronit Lentin. Hardback -mint
[10095] £4
General Biography
148. (ALLEN) John C. Hirsh Hope Emily Allen: medieval scholarship and feminism Pilgrim Books (Oklahoma) 1988
Biography of an American medieval scholar, born in 1883 – who spent time at Newnham. Fine
[11995] £15
149. (AMBERLEY) Bertrand and Patricia Russell (eds) The Amberley Papers: the letters and diaries of Lord and Lady Amberley Hogarth Press 1937
The epitome of radical liberalism in the mid-19th-century. Both died tragically young. Good
[11044] £45
150. ANON (Agnes Maud Davies) A Book with Seven Seals Cayme Press 1928
First edition of a classic of Victorian childhood – I think perhaps it is a ‘faction’ – am not sure that it is actually a memoir. If I said that it strikes me as having a hint of Rachel Ferguson about it, those that are familiar with her work will know what I mean. The author’s name was withheld for this first edition. An elegant book – cover a little blotched
[8552] £15
151. (ARNOLD-FOSTER) T.W. Moody and R.A.J. Hawkins (eds) Florence Arnold-Foster’s Irish Journal OUP 1988
She was the niece and adopted daughter of W.E. Foster. The journals covers the years 1880-1882 when he was chief secretary for Ireland. Fine in slightly rubbed d/w
[1043] £10
152. (ASHBURTON) Virginia Surtees The Ludovisi Goddess: the life of Louisa Lady Ashburton Michael Russell 1984
She was possibly proposed to by Browning – and was the patroness (and perhaps lover) of Harriet Hosmer. Fine in d/w
[8886] £18
153. (BAIRD) Elizabeth Nussbaum Dear Miss Baird: a portrait of a 19th-century family Longstone Books 2008
Traces the fortunes of a 19th-century family over 60 years, shedding light on issues such as the status of women, education and changing attitudes to religion, love and death. Some pencil lines in margins. Young Gertrude Baird was a talented artist, who died too young. Soft covers -some pencil lines in margins – otherwise fine
[15068] £3
154. (BEETON) Kathryn Hughes The Short Life and Long Times of Mrs Beeton Harper 2006
Excellent biography. Soft covers – fine
[10918] £6
155. BELL, Alan (ed and with an introduction by) Sir Leslie Stephen’s ‘Mausoleum Book’ OUP 1977
Intimate autobiography written for Stephen’s immediate family after the death of his wife, Julia, the mother of Vanessa and Virginia. Very good in d/w
[13199] £12
156. BHATTACHARYA, Rinki (ed) Janani: mothers, daughters, motherhood Sage 2006
Autobiographical writings of Indian women from all walks of life, sharing their experience of being mothers, daughters or both. Soft covers – mint
[10391] £8
157. (BIRD) Pat Barr A Curious Life for a Lady: the story of Isabella Bird Macmillan 1970
Biography of the 19th-century traveller. Very good internally in rubbed d/w
[4581] £5
158. (BRANDIS), Marianne Brandis Frontiers and Sanctuaries: a woman’s life in Holland and Canada McGill-Queen’s University Press 2006
The life of Madzy Brender a Brandis (1910-1984) – her experiences in war, as an immigrant and pioneer, wife and mother, writer and painter, and an invalid. Mint in slightly nicked d/w
[9966] £10
159. (BRETTEL) Caroline Brettell Writing Against the Wind: a mother’s life history SR Books 1999
Biography of the author’s mother, a Canadian journalist, who worked from the 1930s to the 1980s. Interesting. Mint
[10009] £8
160. (BURNEY) Janice Farrar Thaddeus Frances Burney: a literary life St Martin’s Press 2000
Soft covers – very good
[10546] £8
161. (BURNEY) Joyce Hemlow (ed) Fanny Burney: selected letters and journals OUP 1986
Follows her career from her romantic marriage to the impoverished French émigré General d’Arblay to her death 46 years later. Fine in fine d/w
[12030] £12
162. (CAMERON) Victoria Olsen From Life: Julia Margaret Cameron and Victorian photography Aurum Press 2003
Fine in d/w
[9345] £15
163. (CASSON) Elizabeth Sprigge Sybil Thorndike Casson Gollancz 1971
Biography of the actress. Good internally – ex-school library
[4444] £2
164. CHAPMAN, Barbara Boxing Day Baby QueenSpark Market Books 1994
She was born in Brighton on Boxing Day in 1927. Soft covers – 34pp – very good
[10402] £4
165. CLAYTON, Ellen English Female Artists Tinsley Brothers 1876
Biographical essays on English women artists – from the 16th century until 1876. Particularly interesting for the information on 19th-century artists. Two volumes – bumped, rubbed and back board of vol 2 detached, but present. Scarce
[15078] £50
166. (CLEARY) Susanne George Kate M. Cleary: a literary biography with selected works University of Nebraska Press 1997
Study of woman who wrote stories, poems and articles about life in the American west. Mint in d/w
[5413] £5
167. CRAWFORD, Anne et al (eds) Europa Biographical Dictionary of British Women: over 1000 notable women from Britain’s Past Europa 1983
Soft covers – 536pp – fine
[12408] £10
168. (DE STAEL/CONSTANT) Renee Winegarten Germaine de Stael and Benjamin Constant: a dual biography Yale University Press 2008
Hardcovers – fine in fine d/w
[11963] £12
169. (DISRAELI) Janet Hindersley Mr Disraeli’s ‘Rattle’ JHA Publications 2004
Biography of Mrs Disraeli. Soft covers – mint
[8524] £5
170. (EDEN) Violet Dickinson (Ed) Miss Eden’s Letters Macmillan 1919
Born, a Whig, in 1797. Her letters are full of social detail. In 1835 she went to India with her brother when he became governor-general. Very good
[9339] £28
171. (ELIZABETH) Philip Yorke (ed) Letters of Princess Elizabeth of England, daughter of King George III, and Landgravine of Hesse-Homburg written for the most part to Miss Louisa Swinburne T. Fisher Unwin 1898
Full of social details – letters written both from England and Germany. Good
[8520] £38
172. (EUGENIE) Joyce Cartlidge Empress Eugénie: her secret revealed Magnum Opus Press 2008
The mystery of an illegitimate child…Soft covers – fine
[13468] £5
173. EWAN, Elizabeth, PIPES, Rosie etc (eds ) The New Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women Edinburgh University Press 2018
Soft covers – 496pp – mint
[15072] £16
174. (GAUTIER) Joanna Richardson Judith Gautier: a biography Quartet 1986
Biography of French woman of letters – and muse. Soft covers – fine
[12432] £6
175. (GLADSTONE) Lucy Masterman (ed) Mary Gladstone (Mrs Drew): her diaries and letters Methuen 1930
Daughter of Gladstone, born in 1847, excellent diary and letters, 1858-to her death (1927). Very good in d/w
[8409] £18
176. (GOODINGS) Lennie Goodings A Bite of the Apple: a life with books, writers and Virago OUP 2020
Autobiography of Lennie Goodings, one of the founders of Virago. Mint in mint d/w
[15091] £6
177. (HAMMOND) Mrs John Hays Hammond A Woman’s Part in a Revolution Longmans, Green 1987
The ‘Revolution’ was the Boer War – her husband was imprisoned by the Boers. Good
[6083] £30
178. (HARRISON) Amy Greener A Lover of Books: the life and literary papers of Lucy Harrison J.M. Dent 1916
Lucy Harrison (a niece of Mary Howitt) studied at Bedford College, then taught for 20 years at a school in Gower St (Charlotte Mew was a pupil at the school and v. attached to Miss Harrison) and then became headmistress of the Mount School, York. Good – pasted onto the free front end paper is a presentation slip from the editor, Amy Greener, to Mary Cotterell
[11054] £18
179. HAYS, Frances Women of the Day: a biographical dictionary of notable contemporaries J.B. Lipincott (Philadelphia) 1885
A superb biographical source on interesting British women. Good in original binding – with library shelf mark in ink on spine- scarce
[12594] £75
180. HEJMADI, Padma Room To Fly: a transcultural memoir University of California Press 1999
Part autobiography, part travelogue, moving from Bombay to the Bahamas, from Japan to New England, the Greek Isles to New Mexico, tracing the elusive contours of cultural perceptions East and West. Mint in d/w
[10010] £10
181. (HOWARD) Elizabeth Jane Howard Slipstream: a memoir Macmillan 2002
Fine in d/w
[10523] £8
182. (HOWE) Valarie Ziegler Diva Julia: the public romance and private agony of Julia Ward Howe Trinity Press International 2003
Hardcover – fine in fine d/w
[11892] £10
183. (HUNT) Swanee Hunt Half-Life of a Zealot Duke University Press 2006
Her life ‘reads like a novel. Born into a powerful, conservative, and patriarchal American family, a young girl grows up to use her part of that power to support the powerless and to encourage peace and women’s leadership around the world.’ Mint in d/w. Heavy
[9962] £8
184. (JAMESON) Clara Thomas Love and Work Enough: the life of Anna Jameson Macdonald 1967
Good
[12070] £10
185. (JAMESON) G.H. Needler (ed) Letters of Anna Jameson to Ottilie von Goethe OUP 1939
Very good internally – cover marked
[12451] £20
186. (JEBB) Alice Salomon Eglantyne Jebb Union Internationale de Secours Aux Enfants 1936
Short study in French. Paper covers – 53pp – very good
[13170] £5
187. (KATERI) Margaret Thornton Kateri: the maid of the Mohawks Alexander Ouseley no date (1934)
Hagiography of A 17th-century Indian Catholic ‘holy girl’. Good
[10849] £3
188. (KNIGHT) Roger Fulford (ed) The Autobiography of Miss Knight: lady companion to Princess Charlotte William Kimber 1960
Born in 1757, Ellis Cornelia Knight was appointed to the household of Queen Charlotte in 1805. Very good in torn dustwrapper
[8543] £12
189. (LEIGH) Michael and Melissa Bakewell Augusta Leigh: Byron’s half-sister – a biography Chatto & Windus 2000
Hardcovers – fine in fine d/w
[12012] £8
190. MARTINDALE, Hilda Some Victorian Portraits and Others Allen & Unwin 1948
Biographical essays of members of her circle – including Adelaide Anderson, factory inspector. Very good in d/w
[6071] £18
191. (MARTYN) Christopher Hodgson (compiler) Carrie: Lincoln’s Lost Heroine privately published 2010
A biographical anthology of works relating to Caroline Eliza Derecourt Martyn, socialist. Soft covers – fine
[14222] £10
192. (MARY) Hugo Vickers (ed) The Quest for Queen Mary Hodder 2018
The story behind James Pope-Hennessy’s official biography of Queen Mary, consort of Goerge V. ‘The series of candid observations, secrets and indiscretions contained in his [Pope-Hennesy’s] notes were to be kept private for 50 years.’ A very good read
[15090] £4
193. MAVINGA, Isha McKenzie And PERKINS, Thelma In Search of Mr McKenzie: two sisters’ quest for an unknown father Women’s Press 1991
An intriguing search to find their black father – their mother was white and Jewish. Soft covers – good
[10418] £5
194. (MAYNARD) Catherine B. Firth Constance Louisa Maynard: mistress of Westfield College Allen & Unwin 1949
Very good – scarce
[11033] £15
195. (MONROE) Fred Lawrence Guiles Norma Jean: the tragedy of Marilyn Monroe Mayflower 1971
Paper covers – good
[2816] £2
196. (MONTGOMERY) Mary Rubio and Elizbeth Waterston (eds) The Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery: vol 1 1889-1910 OUP 1985
Fine in very good d/w -424pp – heavy
[12426] £15
197. (MORGAN) Sydney Lady Morgan Passage From My Autobiography Richard Bentley 1859
‘The following pages are the simple records of a transition existence, socially enjoyed, and pelasantly and profitably occupied, during a journey of a few months from Ireland to Italy.’ Good – in original decorative mauve cloth
[13675] £18
198. NEWNHAM COLLEGE REGISTER 1871-1950 privately printed
packed with biographical information on students and staff. Soft covers – 2 vols – good – although backing on vol 1 is coming unstuck and outermost cover of vol II is missing- internally very good – scarce
[11776] SOLD
199. (NIGHTINGALE) Lynn McDonald (ed) Florence Nightingale’s European Travels Wilfrid Laurier Press 2004
Her correspondence, and a few short published articles, from her youthful European travels. She is an excellent observer and reporter. Fine in d/w – 802pp
[11112] £45
200. (NORTON) Jane Gray Perkins The Life of Mrs Norton John Murray 1910
Very good
[3537] £8
201. (OAKLEY) Ann Oakley Taking it Like a Woman Cape 1984
Fine in d/w
[5442] £3
202. PARRY, Melanie (ed) Chambers Biographical Dictionary of Women Chambers 1996
Soft covers – fine – 741pp – heavy
[12421] £10
203. (PASTON) Helen Castor Blood and Roses Faber 2004
A family biography tracing the Pastons’ story across three generations. Mint in mint d/w
[11981] £8
204. (PINZER) Ruth Rosen & Sue Davidson The Maimie Papers Virago 1979
Correspondence, beginning in 1910, between Fanny Quincy Howe, a distinguished Bostonian, and Mainie Pinzer, a Jewish prostitute. Fascinating. Paper covers – very good
[5444] £5
205. (PLATH/HUGHES) Diane Middlebrook Her Husband: Hughes and Plath: a marriage Little,Brown 2004
Fine in fine d/w
[12020] £8
206. (PORTER) Pamily Petro The Slow Breath of Stone: a Romanesque love story Fourth Estate 2005
Extremely interesting biography of Kingsley and Lucy Porter who in the 1920s documented the Romanesque abbeys of south-west France. Using these photographs and Lucy’s journal the author retraces their steps and their lives. Fine in d/w
[10461] £8
207. (PUREFOY) G. Eland (ed) Purefoy Letters 1735-1753 Sidgwick & Jackson 1931
The letters of Elizabeth Purefoy (1672-1765), whose husband died in 1704, and her son, Henry Purefoy. Elizabeth Purefoy was, as her epitaph recorded, ‘a woman of excellent understanding, prudent and frugal’ and her letters are full of domestic detail. Very good – two volumes
[9338] £40
208. (RUSKIN) Mary Lutyens (ed) Young Mrs Ruskin in Venice: the picture of society and life with John Ruskin 1849-1852 Vanguard Press (NY) 1965
Very good in d/w
[13200] £12
209. (SEEBOHM) Victoria Glendinning A Suppressed Cry: life and death of a Quaker daughter Routledge 1969
The short, sad life of Winnie Seebohm, smothered by her loving family. She enjoyed a month at Newnham in 1885, before returning home and dying. Good in d/w – though ex-library
[4276] £4
210. (SHAN) Sharan-Jeet Shan In My Own Name: an autobiography Women’s Press 1985
Life of an Indian woman living a complicated life in India and in Britain. Soft covers – mint
[6761] £4
211. SICHERMAN, Barbara et al (eds) Notable American Women: The Modern Period Belknap Press of Harvard University Press 1980
Soft covers – 773pp – heavy – very good
[12418] £12
212. (SMITH) Dodie Smith Look Back With Astonishment W.H. Allen 1979
A volume of autobiography – from the early 1930s and the beginning of her success as a playwright. Good reading copy – ex-public library
[10642] £3
213. (SMITH) Dodie Smith Look Back With Gratitude Muller, Blond & White 1985
Follows on from ‘Look Back With Atonishment’. Reading copy – ex-public library
[10643] £3
214. (SOYER) Ruth Cowen Relish: the extraordinary life of Alexis Soyer, Victorian celebrity chef Weidenfeld 2006
Chef and kitchen designer to the Reform Club and reformer of army catering. Mint in d/w
[9824] £8
215. (SPENCE) Susan Magarey etc (eds) Every Yours, C.H. Spence Wakefield Press 2005
Catherine Helen Spence was an Australian novelist, journalist and campaigner. This is her Autobiography (1825-1910), Diary (1894) and some correspondence (1894-1910). Fine in fine d/w
[15071] £12
216. (SPRING RICE) Lucy Pollard Margery Spring Rice: pioneer of women’s health in the early 20th century Open Book 2020
Excellent biography of yet another enterprising member of the Garrett family, author of ‘Working Class Wives’. Soft covers – mint
[15074] £12
217. (ST TERESA OF AVILA) St Teresa of Avila by Herself Penguin Classics 1957 (r/p)
Soft covers – fine
[11950] £6
218. (STEAD) Chris Williams Christina Stead: a life of letters Virago 1989
Soft covers – fine
[11891] £8
219. (STOWE) Joan Hedrick Harriet Beecher Stowe OUP 1994
Soft covers – fine
[11991] £9
220. (STUART) Hon. James A. Home (ed) Letters of Lady Louisa Stuart to Miss Louisa Clinton David Douglas (Edinburgh) 1901 & 1903
Two volumes – complete set. The first volume covers the period 1817 to 1825 and the second volume (called ‘Second Series’) that from1826 to 1834. Society observed. Very good – two volumes together
[13335] £38
221. (TAYLOR) Nicola Beauman The Other Elizabeth Taylor Persephone 2009
Biography of the novelist. Soft covers – mint
[15089] £8
222. (TENNYSON) James O. Hoge Lady Tennyson’s Journal University Press of Virginia 1981
Fine in d/w
[9675] £18
223. (TREMAIN) Rosie: scenes from a vanished life Vintage 2018
Autobiography of the novelist. Soft covers – mint
[15093] £4
224. (TROUBRIDGE) Jaqueline Hope-Nicholson (ed) Life Amongst the Troubridges: journals of a young Victorian 1873-1884 by Laura Troubridge John Murray 1966
Very good in rubbed d/w
[9324] £10
225. (TUCKER) Agnes Giberne A Lady of England: the life and letters of Charlotte Maria Tucker Hodder & Stoughton 1895
The standard biography of a popular children’s and religious writer – who spent the later years of her life as a missionary in India. Good – though ex-university library
[9599] £28
226. (TUDOR) Maria Perry Sisters to the King deutsch 2002
Lives of the sisters of Henry VIII – Queen Margaret of Scotland and Queen Mary of France. Soft covers – fine
[12024] £4
227. (VICTORIA) Agatha Ramm (ed) Beloved and Darling Child: last letters between Queen Victoria and her eldest daughter 1886-1901 Alan Sutton 1990
Mint in d/w
[6509] £10
228. (VICTORIA) Dorothy Marshall The Life and Times of Victoria Weidenfeld & Nicolson 1992 (r/p)
Lavishly illustrated. Mint in d/w
[6510] £10
229. WALLER, Maureen Sovereign Ladies: the six reigning queens of England John Murray 2007
Soft covers – mint
[11023] £6
230. (WARWICK) Charlotte Fell-Smith Mary Rich, Countess of Warwick (1625-1678), her family and friends Longmans, Green 1901
Very good
[1754] £15
231. (WORTH) Edith Saunders The Age of Worth: courtier to the Empress Eugenie Longmans 1954
Interesting social history. Good – though ex-Boots library, with label pasted on to front cover.
[4013] £5
232. (WRIGHT) Margaret Lane Frances Wright and the ‘Great Experiment’ Manchester University Press 1972
An Owenite – the ‘Great Experiment’ was Nashoba, a utopian community in America. Very good
[6081] £18
233. (WYNNE) Anne Fremantle (ed) The Wynne Diaries Vol II (1794-1798 OUP 1937
I’ve loved Betsey and Eugenia Wynne ever since I encountered them about 50 years ago in the condensed, one volume, Oxford Classics edition of the Wynne diaries – and then followed them through the three full published volumes. They are rattling around Europe, on land and sea, during the war with France. Very good in very good d/w
[9609] £35
234. (WYNNE) Anne Fremantle (ed) The Wynne Diaries Vol III (1798-1820) OUP 1940
I’ve loved Betsey and Eugenia Wynne ever since I encountered them about 50 years ago in the condensed, one volume, Oxford Classics edition of the Wynne diaries – and then followed them through the three full published volumes. In this vol Betsey is married to Capt Fremantle, who becomes an admiral in the course of fighting Napoleon at sea. Betsey is at home in England and the letters and diary give a wonderful picture of civilian life at all levels of society. Very good in very good d/w
[15077] £35
General Ephemera
235. The Home Friend (New Series) SPCK 1854
4 vols of miscellany of fact and fiction. Very good in embossed decorative original cloth – together
[8313] £45
236. ANGLO-WELSH REVIEW, Vol 9: No 24 Dock Leaves Press no date [1958?]
Soft covers – good
[7306] £2
237. ASSOCIATION OF ASSISTANT MISTRESSES Education Policy (with special reference to Secondary Education) AAM no date (1920s?)
4-pp leaflet. Good – ex-Board of Education library
[13042] £2
238. ASSOCIATION OF TECHNICAL INSTITUTIONS Collection of Proceedings at the Annual General Meetings
Proceedings of the meetings held in 1895, 1896, 1897, 1898, 1899, 1900, 1901, 1902. Each c 34pp, in original paper covers (some covers present but detached). As a collection
[13223] £20
239. AUTOGRAPHS – THE GUILDHOUSE
The Guildhouse was an ecumenical place of worship and cultural centre founded in 1921 by Maude Royden. On 4 sheets of paper are fixed 25 cut-out signatures, including those of Maude Royden, Hudson Shaw, Daisy Dobson (Maude Royden’s secretary), Zoe Procter (former WSPU activist), and Katherine Courtney (of the NUWSS). Together
[13061] £45
240. BATESON, F.W. (ed) Essays in Criticism, July 1951, October 1960 and July 1962 Basil Blackwell
My, it was a male-centric world back then. The July 1951 issue contains an article on Alexander Pope by W.H. Auden.An interesting anthropological study might be made of the state of Eng. Lit in the 1950s/early 1960s by way of these 3 well-preserved issues – together
[8742] £3
241. BINFIELD, Clyde Belmont’s Portias: Victorian nonconformists and middle-class education for girls Dr Williams’ Trust 1981
The 35th Friends of Dr Williams’s Library Lecture. Paper covers – 35pp – good – scarce
[9158] £18
242. BRITISH MEDICAL ASSOCIATION
Memorandum of the Articles of Association, and by-laws of the British Medical Association, together with a few other items sent with a letter, dated 17 July 1922, welcoming Dr Gladys Stableforth, Moorfields, Fenham, Northumberland as a member of the BMA.
[8762] £3
243. CHARITY ORGANISATION REVIEW Vol X (New Series) July To Dec 1901 Longmans, Green 1902
half-yearly bound volume of the COS’s own magazine. Very good
[9244] £28
244. CHARITY ORGANISATION SOCIETY D.R. Sharpe Centralised Registration of Assistance COS 1911
Paper read on 31 May 1911 at the Annual National Conference of Charity Organisation Societies. Paper covers – 14pp pamphlet – good – unusual
[9236] £18
245. CHARITY ORGANISATION SOCIETY Miss Pike Friendly Visiting and Personal Service COS 1911
Paper read on 1 June 1911 at the Annual National Conference of Charity Organisation Societies. Paper covers – 11pp – good – a little foxing – unusual
[9238] £20
246. CITIZEN HOUSE, CHANDOS BUILDINGS, BATH
First Report on the running of Citizen House, which opened in Sept 1913 as an educational and social centre. The Report, dated March 1915, gives details of the societies, such as the National Union of Women Workers, the Workers Educational Association, Girl Guides – and, since the beginning of the war, the Committee of Women Patrols and the Aid Coordination Committee. The Wardens were Helen Hope and Mary de Reyes. Packed full of information about the good works being done in Bath. In very good condition – 16pp – card covers
[14978] £18
247. COMMISSION OF ENQUIRY INTO INDUSTRIAL UNREST: Report of the Commission for Wales HMSO 1917
50pp – good reading copy – bound into later card covers – ex-Board of Education Library
[13215] £12
248. CORNHILL MAGAZINE, May 1912 Smith, Elder 1912
Includes an article by Ella Sykes, ‘At a women’s hostel in Canada’. Ella Sykes was a member of the Colonial Intelligence League for Educated Women and visited Canada, in the guise of a ‘home help’, on the League’s behalf to spy out the land. Soft covers – very good
[7968] £8
249. EQUAL PAY FOR EQUAL WORK Equal Pay Campaign Committee 1944
‘The question of Equal Pay for Equal Work will shortly come up for discussion in Parliament…’Small 4pp leaflet
[14999] £2
250. EVERYWOMAN
founded in 1985, a news and current affairs magazine aimed at ‘real women’. Issues:
1991 July/Aug
1992 Oct, Nov, Dec/Jan 1993;1993, Feb, April, March, May, June, July, Aug, Sept, Oct, Nov Dec/Jan 1994; 1994, Feb, March, April, May, June, July, Aug, Sept, Oct, Nov, Dec/Jan 1995;1995 Feb, March, April, May, June, Aug, Sept, Oct, Nov, Dec/Jan 1996;1996 May
In good condition. Each
[14923] £8
251. FAREWELL FROM THE WOMEN’S BRANCH OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY WAR AND RELIEF FUND 1914 1918
Small metal Vesta case with a map of India shown in relief..to hold a small box of matches. During World War I, Lord Willingdon, the governor of Bombay, created the India War & Relief Fund (Bombay Branch) two which all the native and princely states neighbouring the Bombay Presidency contributed, along with the people of the Bombay Presidency. Lady Willingdon was president of the Women’s Branch. it is thought these little vesta cases were given to soldiers leaving India on their way back to Britain. In good condition – unusual
[14979] £25
252. GIRL’S OWN PAPER, Oct 1885-Sept 1886
Good in decorative binding – front hinge a little loose – some foxing. The lead serial story is ‘Folorn, Yet Not Forsaken: the story of a nursery governess’. Articles include ‘Photography for Girls’, The Law of Mistress and Servant’, ‘On Copying the Old Masters’ – plus many articles on dress, music, gardening etc – with masses of illustrations
[4152] £25
253. GIRL’S OWN PAPER, Oct 1887-Sept 1888
Includes articles on ‘Reform in Underclothing’ – as well as the usual articles on dress – on the typewriter and type-writing, on how girls should spend the year for pleasure and profit, stories by Mrs Linnaeus Banks and Mary Cowden Clarke etc etc.With the Extra Summer Number bound in. Good in chipped publisher’s binding
[4153] £25
254. HIGH SCHOOL FOR GIRLS BOLTON
Page from ‘The Buiilding News’ (18 March 1892) showing the new building for the school, at Park Road, Bolton, opened by Millicent Fawcett on 8 May 1891. The building, now, I think, demolished was in an ‘olde Englishe’ style, with half-timbering and an oriel window to the assembly hall. The page includes plans for the Ground and First floors, showing the disposition of classrooms, wcs etc. Very good
[14898] £25
255. HUTCHINS, B.L. Woman’s Industrial Career Sheratt & Hughes Oct 1909
Reprinted from The Sociological Review. Paper covers – good
[3631] £9
256. LEHMANN, John (ed) The London Magazine Oct 1955
Contributions from, among others, Peter Quennell, Leonard Woolf, John Wain and Charles Causley. Soft covers – good
[7303] £3
257. MATHIEU, Nicole-Claude Ignored by Some, Denied by Others: the social sex category in sociology Women’s Research and Resources Centre Publications 1977
Paper covers – very good
[2870] £4
258. NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE CONTRIBUTION BOOK
for Ethel Leach, a member of the Amalgamated Association of Card, Blowing and Ring room Operatives c1912. Ethel Leach lwas born in 1898 and lived at
2 Alder Street, Bolton, with her parents (her father was a basketmaker) and her brother and sister. When the 1911 census was taken she was 13 and still at school – but by the time this Contribution Book was issued she was a ‘Cardroom Operative;. The 8 printed pages of the book detail the Table of Weeklly Contributions, Contributions Paid, and the Benefits that will accrue.- as well as much detail about the operation of the National Health Insurance at that time. An unusual item. Card covers – very good
[14975] £12
259. REFORMATORIES AND INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS (COMMITTALS) Returns showing the comparative number of committals of boys and girls to reformatories and industrial schools April 1872
‘Shows comparative number of committals of boys and girls to reformatories and industrial schools in 1870, with the number of cases in which the parents have been charged with such payment towards their children’s cost at such schools as may be considered equal to the expense they are saved by so throwing their children on public support, together with a comparative statement of the number of cases in which such charge has been adjudged, with that of the charges actually recovered and regularly paid.’ Raw facts. 4 foolscap pp – disbound
[9150] £28
260. REGULATIONS FOR THE CATHOLIC GIRLS’ SCHOOL AT UGBROOK Printed by J.E. Searle (Chudleigh) 1841
‘Approved by the Rt Revd the Vicar Apostolic of the Western District of England, for the Catholic Girls School at Ugbrook, in the County of Devon, under the protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St Joseph’.’The Catholic girls’ school at Ugbrook is intended by Lord Clifford to be henceforth solely for the education of the female children of those who are or have been tenants, servants, or labourers on his estate, or tradesmen in the employ of his family at Ugbrook…’ Together with ‘Catholic Confirmation at Ugbrook’, reprinted from ‘The Western Times’, 8 January 1842. ‘Thinking that a report of the proceedings [the Confirmation] would be interesting to our readers, on account of the peculiar form of the ceremony itself…and more especially on account of the inroad made into the Protestant flock of the deserted vicarage of Chudleigh..’ Two items – card covers which seem to be original- very good – together
[2052] £55
261. REVIEW OF REVIEWS
edited by W.T. Stead. the first volume, January-June 1890. As Stead spotted, here was a gap in the market, enabling the interested observer to keep a finger on the pulse of the world. With v useful indexes to articles in current periodicals. Very good
[3887] £25
262. ROBERT BROWNING HALL SERIES OF SOCIAL TRACTS: nO 2 The Labour Movement in Religion
Talk by the Warden, Herbert Stead on 6 Jan 1895. Paper covers – 8pp – fair – ex-Board of Education Library
[13227] £3
263. ROBERT BROWNING HALL SOCIAL TRACTS: NO 1 The State and the Unemployed by Sir John Gorst MP
A speech delivered by Gorst on 9 May 1895 in Robert Browning Hall, Walworth. 8-pp leaflet – fair – ex-Board of Education Library
[13226] £4
264. ROSS, Alan The London Magazine, March 1970
Special Short Story Issue. Contains essays on short-story writing by Brian Glanville, Elizabeth Taylor and William Trevor. Soft covers – good
[7308] £5
265. SENIOR, Mrs Nassau Pauper Schools HMSO 1875
‘Copy ”of a Letter addressed to the President of the Local Government Board by Mrs Nassau Senior, lately an Inspector of the Board, being a reply to the observation of Mr Tufnell, also a former inspector upon her report on pauper schools’. This was a follow-up to Mrs Senior’s 1874 report.
24pp – large format – disbound.
[10457] £28
266. TEACHERS’ GUILD Helps to Self-Help for Teachers by Assurance and Investment through the Teachers’ Guild 1901
Paper covers – 28pp – good – ex-Board of Education Library
[13221] £3
267. TEACHERS’ GUILD OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND Collection of Annual Reports
Reports for 1896-1897; 1897; 1899; 1900; 1901-1902; 1904-1905; 1905-1906; 1906; 1907-1908; 1908; 1909-10; 1910; 1911-12. The Guild represented both male and female teachers. With much detail of local branches. Each Report c 90pp, in original paper covers (the occasional cover present, but detached) – all in good condition. Together – 13 items
[13217] £20
268. TEACHERS’ GUILD OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND List of Members Alphabetically Arranged 1913
Names and addresses – very useful. Women teachers appear to be in the majority. Soft covers – good – ex-Board of Education Library
[13218] SOLD
269. THE EDUCATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE TEACHERS’ GUILD OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND A Catalogue of the Historical Section 1896
A list of the costumes, tables, charts, photographs, maps and lantern slides that were available for hire by teachers. Interesting. Paper covers – 20pp – fair – ex-Board of Education Library
[13219] £8
270. THE LAUNDRY INDUSTRY EDUCATION BOARD Education, Training and Scholarships in the Laundry Industry Laundry Industry Education Board 1953 (revised)
A vanished world of work. Paper covers – 16pp – good – ex-Board of Education Library
[13214] £5
271. THE TEACHERS’ GUILD OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND Scheme of Proposed Teachers’ Guild Friendly Society (Sickness and Accident Fund) 1897
Insurance for teachers. The contributions for women teachers is set higher arising ‘from the fact that amonst women the frequency, if not the duration of sickness, is very much greater than amongst men of coresponding ages, and to provide for both on the same terms would be inequitable and unsafe.’ Soft covers – 12pp – good – ex-Board of Education Library
[13220] £8
272. A WOMAN’S RIGHT TO CHOOSE Abortion Law Reform Association Why we must fight the Abortion (Amendment) Bill and how to go about it
20-pp pamphlet giving ‘Some Information about the Abortion (Amendment) Bill’ – and including a ‘List of Members of Parliament who voted AGAINST the Bill’s Second Reading, 7 Feb 1975)
[13197] £8
273. WOMEN: A CULTURAL REVIEW OUP
1994 Spring, vol 5, no 1; Autumn vol 5, no 2; Winter vol 5, no 3
1995 Summer vol 6, no1; Autumn vol 6, no 2; Winter, vol 6, no 3
1996 Spring vol 7, issue 1; Autumn vol 7, no 2; Winter vol 7, no 3
1997 Sprng vol 8, no 1; Autumn vol 8. no 3
In very good condition – each
[14929] £8
274. WOMEN & LITERATURE, VOL 3, NO 2 Fall 1975
This issue contains the 1974 Bibliography of Women in British and American Literature, 1660-1900 – and articles on ‘The “Female Virtuoso” in early 18th-c English drama’, on Willa Cather, and on Wollstonecraft, Godwin and Rousseau. Soft covers – very good
[7868] £6
275. WOMEN’S PRINTING SOCIETY (LIMITED)
Advertising card for this very interesting business, founded in 1876. Coincidentally, I was commissioned to write an article on the WPS to accompany the BL’s ‘Unfinished Business’ exhibition. You can find it here https://www.bl.uk/womens-rights/articles/the-womens-printing-society. This trade card dates from the early years of the WPS, before 1893, when it was in Great College St, Westminster.
[15080] £35
General Postcards
276. CLARK’S COLLEGE, CIVIL SERVICE Preparing for the Lady Clerk’s G.P.O. Exam
Photographic postcard of the young women preparing for this exam which, if they passed, offered a chance of bettering themselves. Millicent Fawcett wrote an excellent article, published in Atalanta, describing how her husband, Henry Fawcett, opened up this examination to young women.Very good – unposted
[9233] £12
277. MYSTERY ‘WOMEN’S DEMONSTRATION’ POSTCARD
I bought this card in 2004, but it was only as a result of Lockdown research that I was available to work out why a large group of women were arrayed in front of a camera in Hull. For details see the piece about it on my website – https://wp.me/p2AEiO-1Br
[8145] £20
General Fiction
278. AITKEN, David Sleeping with Jane Austen No Exit Press 2000
Facetious crime novel. Soft covers – very good
[12417] £4
279. ANON ( W.R.H. Trowbridge) The Grandmother’s Advice to Elizabeth T. Fisher Unwin 1902
‘Suggested by the ‘Visits of Elizabeth’ by Elinor Glyn.’ Paper covers – good
[3078] £6
280. BARKER, Pat Double Vision Penguin 2005
A novel centring on a war reporter returning from Afghanistan. Soft covers – fine
[10468] £3
281. BULKIN, Elly (ed) Lesbian Fiction: an anthology Persephone Press (Massachusetts) 1981
Soft covers – very good
[15079] £8
282. CLIFT, Charmian Walk to the Paradise Gardens Harper & Bros (NY) 1960
First US edition of this Australian novel. Very good in very good d/w, which is slightly chipped at top and bottom of spine
[12458] £25
283. DONNELLY, Jennifer A Gathering Light bloomsbury 2004
Set in the Adirondack mountains at the beginning of the 20th century. Soft covers – fine
[10478] £3
284. DUNSFORD, Cathie Ao Toa: Earth Warriors Spinifex 2004
A New Zealand eco-thriller. Soft covers – mint
[10137] £5
285. EL SAADAWI, Nawal The Circling Song Zed Books 1989
A novel. Soft covers – fine
[9897] £5
286. FLETCHER, Beryl The Blood Wood Gain Spinifex 1999
An Australian novel. Soft covers – fine
[10053] £4
287. FLETCHER, Beryl The House at Karamu Spinifex 2003
A New Zealand novel. Soft covers – mint
[10136] £5
288. FOUR ONE-ACT PLAYS Basil Blackwell 1923
The plays are: ‘Double Demon’ by A.P. Herbert; ‘St Simeon Stylites’ by F. Sladen Smith, ‘Thirty Minutes in a Street’ by Beatrice Mayor, and ‘Pan in Pimlico’ by Helen Simpson. The plays were selected for publication by the Reading Committee of the British Drama League. Good
[15145] £3
289. GAWSWORTH, John (ed) The Poetry Review, March-April 1951
Contributors include A.E. Coppard and Viola Meynell. Soft covers – good
[7266] £2
290. GREGORY, Philippa A Respectable Trade HarperCollins 1995
A novel set in Bristol in 1787 – a Bristol booming on the back of the slave trade. Proof copy – fine
[10466] £3
291. HITE, Shere The Divine Comedy of Ariadne and Jupiter Peter Owen 1994
Mint in d/w
[5462] £3
292. LEIGHTON, Rachel Clothes Mangled Here, or, A Serious Laughter Matter Abel Heywood & Sons no date [1910?]
A play for 4 women amateur actors. An Irish washerwoman is involved. Paper covers – with extensive listing of other plays for amateurs from this Manchester publisher
[15144] £2
293. LEVERSON, Ada Love’s Shadow Chapman & Hall 1950
Reprint of the 1908 edition. Good
[3086] £4
294. LINGARD, Joan Encarnita’s Journey Allison & Busby 2005
A novel interweaving the life of the writer Gerard Brenan – who arrives in Yegen, in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, in 1920 – with that of Encarnita, a young Spanish woman. Other Bloomsberries, Lytton Strachey, Dora Carrington, the Woolfs and Lytton Strachey, pass in and out. Soft covers – fine
[10465] £4
295. MACDONALD, M.P. Trefoil: the story of a girl’s society Thomas Nelson no date (c 1908?)
An Australian (Melbourne) girls’ story. Good
[2489] £5
296. MARTIN, Valerie The Unfinished Novel and Other Stories Weidenfeld & Nicolson 2006
Soft covers – fine
[10469] £4
297. NOEL, Lady Augusta From Generation to Generation Elkin Mathews 1929
First published in 1879. Very good
[2838] £5
298. ROBERTS, Denis Kilham (ed) Penguin Parade no. 1 Penguin Aug 1938 (reprint)
The lead short story, ‘Witches’ Sabbath’, is by I.A.R. Wylie, sometime lover of suffragette Rachel Barrett. The book also contains a woodcut by Gwen Raverat. Soft covers – very good
[7263] £3
299. SEWELL, Mrs Poems and Ballads Jarrold no date (1880s?)
With a memoir of the author by Miss E.B. Bayly. Good internally – covers marked – in 2 vols
[1636] £8
300. SHEPHERD-ROBINSON, Laura Blood and Sugar Pan 2019
Crime thriller set in late-18thc Deptford – involving the grim slavery trade. Atmospheric. Soft covers – mint
[15088] £3
301. SHERWOOD, Mrs The Happy Family Houlston & Sons, new edition no date
A little tract – paper covers. Fine
[3607] £5
302. SIGOURNEY, Mrs (ed. F.W.N. Bailey) The Poetical Works of Mrs L.H. Sigourney G. Routledge 1857
Neatly rebound in cloth
[2428] £10
303. SMEDLEY, Agnes Daughters of Earth Virago 1984
Soft covers – fine
[8731] £3
304. SOUEIF, Ahdaf In the Eye of the Sun Bloomsbury 1992
‘The Great English Novel about Egypt’/’The Great Egyptian Novel About England’. Very good in d/w. 791pp – heavy
[9927] £8
305. SPENDER, Dale The Diary of Elizabeth Pepys Grafton 1991
Elizabeth gives her account of life with Samuel. Soft covers – very good
[11232] £8
306. TAYLOR, Kate Madame Proust and the Kosher Kitchen Vintage 2004
Enjoyable novel, Canadian literary researcher in Paris – parallel portraits of old and new worlds. Soft covers – fine
[10470] £4
307. THE ENGLISH REVIEW
Issue for April 1913 – containing, among other items, a short story by E.H. Young (published quite early in her writing career) and an essay, ‘Seeing Life’, by Arnold Bennett. Paper covers – good internally but back paper cover present but detached.
[2882] £5
308. THE LONDON MERCURY April 1936
Includes contributions from Laurence Housman, James Bridie, Robert Donat, John Gielguid, and Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies – an article on D.H. Lawrence by Freda Gurling and wood engravings by Gwendolen White and Pamela D’A. Nathan. Paper covers – good
[15142] £3
309. WELSH, Kate The Wages of Sin Tinder Press 2017
Murder mystery in 19thc Edinburgh with Sarah Gilchrist, who is training to be a doctor, as the heroine. Soft covers – mint
[15083] £3
310. WOOD, Mrs Henry Mrs Halliburton’s Troubles Richard Bentley 1893
Good reading copy
[2863] £4
311. YONGE, Charlotte M. A Book of Golden Deeds T. Nelson, no date, reprint
Good reading copy
[9698] £5
312. YONGE, Charlotte M. The Dove in the Eagle’s Nest Macmillan 1908 (r/p)
Very good
[9700] £6
Women and the First World War
313. DOUGLAS-PENNANT, Violet Under the Search-Light: the record of a great scandal Allen & Unwin 1922
In June 1918 Violet Douglas-Pennant was appointed Commandant, Women’s Royal Air Force – only to be dismissed two months later ‘by direction of Lord Weir and Sir Auckland Geddes on the advice of Lady Rhondda, who acted without enquiry on secret information supplied to her, as well as to Mr Tyson Wilson MP, and Miss P. Strachey, by Mrs Beatty and others’. How intriguing. The book takes 463 pp to cover the ‘scandal’. Douglas-Pennant wrote it as her self-justificatory account of events “so that my name & honour may at last be vindicated.” Includes recollections of her ten weeks’ in charge, a Who’s Who of the personalities involved & full details of the House of Lords Inquiry into her dismissal. Good
[14129] £85
314. MUNITION WORKERS
– mainly women -pose for the photographer. They are wearing their caps and the triangular-shaped munition workers badge can be seen pinned to many of the overall dresses. Young men sit at the front – displaying the fruits of their labours – shells.There were a number of munitions factories in Bradford, including the Low Moor munitions factory that suffered a large explosion in 1916. There’s no clue as to the name of the factory in the photograph. The card bears the imprint of the Belle Vue Studios, Bradford – which was one of the best-known in the city and was in business until 1985. Good condition – appears to have been cut down by about 1 cm at some time
[14442] SOLD
315. YOUR KING & COUNTRY WANT YOU a woman’s recruiting song Chappell & Co 1914
Sheet music – words & music by Paul A. Rubens. The cover is illustrated by John Hassall. ‘The entire profits from the sale of this song will be devoted to Queen Mary’s “Work for Women” Fund’. ‘Oh! we don’t want to lose you but we think you ought to go. For your King and your Country both need you so; We shall want you and miss you but with all our might and main. We shall cheer you, thank you, kiss you when you come back again’. Makes the spine creep. 6-pp – very good
[14390] SOLD
316. GROUP PHOTOGRAPH OF WOMEN
– members of the Welfare Department of the Gretna Munitions Factory c 1917. Joan Wickham is seated on the ground, in the centre, next to ‘Ping’, a pekingese?. I can supply the names of the other women. Once owned by Joan Wickham, the photograph is in reasonable condition – with a crease across one side
[15161] SOLD
You can pay me by bank transfer (preferred method), cheque or (if from overseas) at www.Paypal.com, using my email address as the payee account.
****
In case you are interested in books I have written (that are still in print) they are ~
Art and Suffrage: a biographical dictionary of suffrage artists discusses the lives and work of over 100 artists, each of whom made a positive contribution to the women’s suffrage campaign. Most, but not all, the artists were women, many belonging to the two suffrage artists’ societies – the Artists’ Suffrage League and the Suffrage Atelier. Working in a variety of media –producing cartoons, posters, banners, postcards, china, and jewellery – the artists promoted the suffrage message in such a way as to make the campaign the most visual of all those conducted by contemporary pressure groups.
In the hundred plus years since it was created, the artwork of the suffrage movement has never been so widely disseminated and accessible as it is today, the designs as appealing as they were during the years before the First World War when the suffrage campaign was at its height. Yet hitherto little has been known about most of the artists who produced such popular images. Art and Suffrage remedies this lack and sets their artistic contribution to the suffrage cause within the context of their reanimated lives, giving biographical details, including addresses, together with information on where their work may be seen.
With over 100 illustrations, in black-and-white and in colour.
Published by Francis Boutle Soft cover £20
**
Kate Parry Frye: the long life of an Edwardian actress and suffragette
Published by ITV Ventures as a tie-in with the series: ‘The Great War: The People’s Story’ this e-book tells Kate’s life story from her Victorian childhood to her brave engagement with the Elizabethan New Age. For details see here (and many more posts on my website).
Available to download from iTunes or Amazon
***
The Women’s Suffrage Movement 1866-1928: A reference guide
Elizabeth Crawford
‘It is no exaggeration to describe Elizabeth Crawford’s Guide as a landmark in the history of the women’s movement…’ History Today
Routledge, 2000 785pp paperback £74.99 – Ebook £70
The Women’s Suffrage Movement in Britain and Ireland: a regional survey
Elizabeth Crawford
‘Crawford provides meticulous accounts of the activists, petitions, organisations, and major events pertaining to each county.’ Victorian Studies
Routledge, 2008 320pp paperback £30, Ebook £26
Enterprising Women: the Garretts and their circle
Elizabeth Crawford
‘Crawford’s scholarship is admirable and Enterprising Women offers increasingly compelling reading’ Journal of William Morris Studies
For further details see here Francis Boutle, 2002 338pp 75 illus paperback £25
Copies of all of these books may be bought direct from the publishers or ordered from any bookshop.
Books And Ephemera By And About Women For Sale: Catalogue 206 – Part One – Suffrage
Posted by womanandhersphere in Books And Ephemera For Sale on March 14, 2022
Woman and her Sphere
Catalogue 206
Part One: Suffrage
Women’s Freedom League sash see #56
Elizabeth Crawford
5 Owen’s Row
London EC1V 4NP
elizabeth.crawford2017@outlook.com
Index to Catalogue
Suffrage Non-fiction: Items 1-5
Suffrage Biography: Items 6-10
Suffrage Fiction: Items 11-12
Suffrage Ephemera: Items 13-64
Suffrage Ephemera from the Isabel Seymour Collection Items 65-69
Suffrage Postcards: Real Photographic: Items 70-115
Suffrage Postcards: Suffrage Artist Card: Item 116
Suffrage Postcards: Commercial Comic: Items 117-119
Suffrage Non-fiction
1. KENT, Susan Sex and Suffrage in Britain, 1860-1914 Princeton University Press 1987
Fine in d/w (which has one slight nick)
[1361] £20
2. PROBERT, Laura Women of Kent Rally to the Cause: a study of women’s suffrage in East Kent 1909-1918 Millicent Press 2008
Soft covers – fine
[15067] SOLD
3. STRACHEY, Ray The Cause: a short history of the women’s movement in Great Britain G. Bell 1928
This copy belonged to Lord McGregor – author of ‘Divorce in England’, a book that includes a very useful bibliography of works on women’s rights. He has laid in the book a collection of newspaper cuttings, from the 1950s to 1970s, relating to the position of women. The copy of the book is in good condition – but he had bought it as an ex-library copy and has added a few pencilled notes on the back pastedown. An interesting association copy.
[12059] £55
4. VAN HELMOND, Marij Votes for Women: events on Merseyside 1870-1928 National Museums & Galleries on Merseyside 1992
Soft covers – fine
[1745] £15
5. PANKHURST, Christabel Unshackled: the story of how we won the vote Hutchinson 1959
Edited by Frederick Pethick-Lawrence and published after Christabel Pankhurst’s death, this is her ‘take’ on the suffragette campaign. This copy once belonged to Joan Wickham, a some-time secretary to Emmeline Pankhurst and WSPU organizer. First edition, very good in torn d/w. This edition is now quite scarce.
[15165] £75
Suffrage Biography
6. (DUNIWAY) Ruth Barnes Moynihan Rebel for Rights: Abigail Scott Duniway Yale University Press 1983
Abigal Scott Duniway (1834-1915), American suffragist, journalist, and national leader. Fine in d/w
[1205] £5
7. (MILL) John Stuart Mill Autobiography Longmans, Green 1873
First edition in original green cloth. Internally very good – a little wear at top and bottom of spine
[14974] £75
8. (PANKHURST) David Mitchell Queen Christabel: biography of Christabel Pankhurst MacDonald and Jane’s 1977
Good in d/w – ex-library, free front end paper removed
[11623] £6
9. (TYSON) Anne Ward No Stone Unturned: the story of Leonora Tyson, a Streatham suffragette Local History Publications 2005
She was a very active member of the WSPU. Soft covers – 28pp. Scarce
[10921] £15
10. (WEBB) Richard Harrison Richard Davis Webb: Dublin Quaker Printer (805-72) Red Barn Publishing 1993
Webb was a committed anti-slavery campaigner, whose family were very involved in the Irish women’s suffrage campaign. A brief biography. Soft covers – very good condition
[15066] £8
Suffrage Fiction
11. GRAY, LESLEY The King’s Jockey Solis Press 2013
A novel centring on the life of the jockey who was riding the King’s Horse at the 1913 Derby, colliding with Emily Wilding Davison. Soft covers – fine condition
[15065] £5
12. LUCAS, E.V. Mr Ingleside Methuen, 15th ed, no date 1910/1912?)
A novel with suffrage scenes. Only a reading copy – cloth worn – backstrip loose
[14132] £4
Suffrage Ephemera
13. [ARTISTS’ SUFFRAGE LEAGUE] CALENDAR FOR 1913
This bears one of my all-time favourite ‘suffrage’ designs – a blindfolded infant flying on the back of a mother goose over wintry roofs through the night-time sky and distributing ‘votes’ as he goes – and in my ‘Art and Suffrage: a biographical dictionary of suffrage artists’ I identified the artist as [Susan] Beatrice Pearse, later well-known as the illustrator of the ‘Ameliaranne’ books. That image is mounted on card, which also bears a monthly tear-off calendar for 1913. The loop by which the calendar could be hung up is still present. The calendar was printed by the Women’s Printing Society Ltd. It is somewhat battered around the edges but is another amazing survivor. ASL material such as this is extremely scarce
[15185] SOLD
14. CAZALET, Thelma Mrs Pankhurst
An article about Mrs Pankhurst by Thelma Cazalet (MP for Islington East) in ‘The Listener’ (6 Nov 1935) in a series ironically titled ‘I Knew A Man’. See also item ??. A 4-pp article – including photographs. The late-lamented ‘The Listener’ was a substantial journal in those days – this issue is 55 pages – in goodish condition – the front page is present but detached.
[14454] £20
15. CLAYTON, Joseph Militant Methods in History The Woman’s Press no date [1911]
With an introduction by H.W. Nevinson. The British Library catalogue dates this WSPU pamphlet to 1913, but my research shows it was first published in March 1911, having first appeared as a series of articles in ‘Votes for Women’. Paper covers – 36pp – in very good condition. This copy bears on the cover the stamp of the Men’s League for Women’s Suffrage.
[15183] SOLD
16. CROYDON NATIONAL UNION OF WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE SOCIETIES – SPECIAL EFFORT WEEK
A flyer for the consciousness- and fund-raising activities mounted by the Croydon NUWSS between 9 and 12 Nov 1909. The flyer, printed in red on white paper, gives details of the society’s objects and methods and of the Committee organizing the events,. In very good condition – mounted on red card. Unusual. See also items 17, 73 and 74.
[15193] SOLD
17. CROYDON NATIONAL UNION OF WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE SOCIETIES – SPECIAL EFFORT WEEK
A flyer advertising Croydon NUWSS’ ‘Red-and-White Sale’, opened by Miss Alice Abadam in the Pembroke Hall, Croydon, on 10 November 1909. Printed in red on white paper. The leaflet is mounted on card alongside a photograph of a woman that I have identified as Miss Ethel Crickmay, hon sec of the Croydon NUWSS. In very good condition. See also items 16, 73 and 74.
[15194] SOLD
18. DYSON, Will Cartoons The Daily Herald 1914
A Second Collection of cartoons drawn by the celebrated Australian cartoonist, Will Dyson (1880-1938), and published in ‘The Daily Herald’. Among the 40 are 6 directly related to the suffrage campaign. In fair condition the middle 2pp have come loose from the staples and the edges are a little rubbed. Could be broken up and the prints framed individually. Large format – 36 x 26 cm – paper covers
[13801] £85
19. ELMY, Elizabeth Wostenholme Woman’s Franchise: the need of the hour ILP 2nd ed, no date [1907]
A campaigner for women’s suffrage since the mid-1860s, she had put aside a lifetime’s aversion to party politics and joined the Manchester ILP in 1904. This article was originally published in the ‘Westminster Review’. In her concise style she analyses the events of the previous 40 years and demands that Liberal MPs who profess to support women’s suffrage honour their pledges. Very good – withdrawn from the Women’s Library (duplicate)
[15002] £35
20. INTERNATIONAL WOMAN SUFFRAGE CONGRESS
Budapest June 15-20 1913. This is a small advertising paper label/stamp (it has a sticky back) for the Congress – showing two graceful women stretching their arms, to hold hands across the globe. The type-face is very 1913. A pretty and interesting memento of the last pre-war international women’s gathering. Fine -amazingly ephemeral – and unusual. With the background printed in blue
[14505] £85
21. MISS EMILY FAITHFULL
studio photograph by W & D Downey, 57 & 61 Ebury Street, London, together with a printed brief biography.
[14029] £40
22. MISS MORGAN, OF BRECON The Duties of Citizenship Women’s Local Government Society c 1912
Extracts reprinted from a paper read at the Annual Conference of the National Union of Women Workers, Manchester, October 27th 1896. By the time this leafet was issued Miss Morgan had been Mayor of Brecon, 1911-12. 4-pp – good – withdrawn from the Women’s Library
[13833]
23. MRS PANKHURST PORTRAIT BADGE
A well-known photograph of Mrs Emmeline Pankhurst printed as a badge. She is shown wearing, at her throat, her ‘Holloway badge’. The reverse of the badge still contains the paper backing – printed with ‘Votes for Women Women’s Social and Political Union Clement’s Inn Strand WC’. 2cm in diameter.In very good condition – extremely scarce –
[15177] SOLD
#24
24. NATIONAL UNION OF WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE SOCIETIES BADGE
circular, enamel. The upper half is red and carries the words ‘National Union Of”, the middle horizontal section is white with ‘Women’s Suffrage’ and the bottom half is green with ‘Societies’. The maker’s name is W.O. Lewis of Howard St, Birmingham. In very good condition – ready to wear
[14879] £750
#25
25. NATIONAL UNION OF WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE SOCIETIES LARGE, HEAVY WOODEN SHIELD
Across the top of the shield a painted banner, in red on white, reads ‘NUWSS North-Eastern’ with the number ’25’ encircled in green on the right-hand side. Underneath is painted the well-known NUWSS ‘tree’ showing the branches of the NUWSS federations, each with a number attached, these relating to the number of societies that comprised each federation.The ’25’ indicates that at this time the North-Eastern Federation was composed of 25 societies. Eighteen federations are shown, suggesting to me that the shield dates from c 1913. ‘Founded 1867’ is painted at the base of the ‘tree’. The shield is 53.5cm (21″) at its widest and is 49cm (19.5″) high – a substantial object. I wonder if every federation had a similar shield?The NUWSS paper, ‘Common Cause’, 22 March 1918, reveals that when decorating the Queen’s Hall for the ‘Victory’ celebrations, there were 21 federation sheilds available, ‘with heraldic devices’ -soquite different from this one with the NUWSS ‘tree’ image. A shield certainly unique to the North-Eastern Federation – in good condition.
[14890] £2,500
26. PUNCH CARTOON
21 January 1912 – full page – ‘The Suffrage Split’. Sir George Askwith (the charismatic industrial conciliator), as ‘Fairy Peacemaker’, has tamed the dragon of the Cotton Strike – and Asquith, wrestling to keep a seat on the Cabinet horse turns to him ‘Now that you’ve charmed yon dragon I shall need ye to stop the strike inside this fractious gee-gee.’
[14323] £12
27. PUNCH CARTOON
30 Nov 1910, scene is a suffragette demonstration, ‘Votes for Women’ flags flying. Two young street urchins observe and comment. Caption is ‘Man of the World (lighting up), “Well ‘ave to give it ’em, I expect, Chorlie”‘. Half-page illustration
[14324] £12
28. PUNCH CARTOON
18 April 1906. ‘A Temporary Entaglement’ – a scene from ‘Vanity Fair’. Sir Henry Campbell Bannerman as Josh Sedley holds the wool as The Suffragette (aka Becky Sharp) winds it into a ball. The allusion is to the news that ‘The Prime Minister has promised to receive a deputation on the subject of Female Suffrage after Easter’. Full-page cartoon by Bernard Partridge
[14333] £12
29. PUNCH CARTOON
5 October 1927. As a young woman takes her gun from the ghillie an elderly gentleman (the Conservative Party) looks concerned and remarks ‘I hope she’s got enough ‘intuition’ not to let it off in my direction’. The remark is explained: ‘The question of extended suffrage for women [ie for those between 21 and 30] [in whose ‘intuition’ Mr Baldwin reposes so much confidence will be raised in the approaching Conference of the Conservative Party]. Full page
[14334] £12
30. PUNCH CARTOON
23 May 1928. A gentleman identified as Lord Banbury kneels in a ring (it’s an allusion to the Royal Tournament which was doubtless on at the time) and opens his umbrella to defend himself against the horde of cloche-hatted women who are rushing towards him carrying their flag for the ‘Equal Franchise Bill’. In the debate on the Representation of the People Act on 21 May 1928 Lord Banbury had attempted to move its rejection. Full-page cartoon – good – one corner creased
[14335] £12
31. PUNCH CARTOON
26 March 1913. ‘Burglary Up-To-Date’. Burglar has taken his swag from a safe and now writes ‘Votes for Women’ across the jemmied door. Half-page cartoon – good condition
[14343] £10
32. PUNCH CARTOON
19 March 1913. At a railway wayside halt the stationmaster asks the signalman to keep an eye on ‘the ole gal on the platform’ while he has his dinner. The signalman doesn’t think she’ll come to any harm but the stationmaster explains ‘I’m not thinkin’ of ‘er ‘ealth. I’m thinkin’ about my station. She might want to burn it down.’ Half-page cartoon – very good
[14344] £10
33. PUNCH CARTOON
5 March 1913. ‘The child is daughter to the woman’ is the caption. Suffragette mother returns after a strenuous day and is expecting some important correspondence. Her daughter, however, reveals she has torn up the letters to provide a paperchase for her dolls. Mother expostulates: ‘..Haven’t I often told you that letters are sacred things?’ A comment on suffragette attacks on post-boxes. A half-page cartoon – very good
[14345] £10
34. PUNCH CARTOON
5 February 1913. ‘How Militant Suffragettes Are Made’. A cheeky caddie explains to a visiting golfer that the old green they are passsing gets flooded and ‘so they’ve give it up to the lydies.’ A half-page cartoon – very good
[14347] £10
35. PUNCH CARTOON
29 January 1913. ‘Rag-Time in the House’ is the caption. Members of the government are enjoying the ‘Suffrage Free & Easy Go As You Please’ dance. Asquith, with an ‘Anti’ label, is keeping an eye on Lloyd George (wearing a ‘Pro’ armband) jitterbugs with Sir Edward. The sub-text is ‘Sir Edward Grey’s Woman Suffrage Amendment produces some curious partnerships’. Full-page cartoon – very good
[14349] £12
36. PUNCH CARTOON
23 June 1912. ‘Votes for Men and Women’ is the caption. John Bull is sitting comfortably and turns round as Nurse Asquith enters carrying a baby labelled ‘Franchise Bill’. In answer to JB’s query ‘she’ replies: ‘Well, Sir, it’s certainly not a girl, and I very much doubt if it’s a boy’. The government’s Franchise and Registration bill was given its first Reading on 18 June 1912. Full-page cartoon – very good
[14350] £12
37. PUNCH CARTOON
27 March 1912. A young suffragette is standing on a table addressing a crowd: ‘I defy anyone to name a field of endeavour in which men do not receive more consideration than women!’ A Voice from the Crowd retorts: ‘What about the bally ballet!’ A half-page cartoon – very good
[14351] £10
38. PUNCH CARTOON
7 December 1910. ‘Voter’s Vertigo’ is the caption. It is the second general election of 1910 and the voter is all in a tizz..muddling up all the campaign slogans..(e’g. ‘don’t tax the poor man’s dreadnought’ and ‘home rule for suffragettes’). A quarter of a page cartoon – very good
[14352] £8
39. QUESTIONS TO LLOYD GEORGE ASKED BY THE WOMEN’S SOCIAL AND POLITICAL UNION
11 questions concerning his behaviour re introducing a Government measure for Manhood Suffrage in 1913…Among the many other pertinent questions ‘Why do you expect us to accept your personal and unofficial advocacy of Woman Suffrage as a substitute for united and offiicial action on the part of the Government as a whole? In good condition – some creasing. 2-sided leaflet, printed in purple
[15006] £100
#40
40. SUFFRAGETTE BANNER – ‘VOTES FOR WOMEN IN 1912’
AN AMAZING FIND – a banner bearing the legend ‘Votes for Women in 1912’ The banner was created for the 14 July 1912 demonstration organised by Sylvia Pankhurst in Hyde Park to mark Mrs Pankhurst’s birthday.Still attached to it is a luggage-type label bearing the information ‘Platform 2′ Votes for Women 1912’. This, however, doesn’t refer to a railway platform but to the Hyde Park Platform 2, chaired by Georgina Brackenbury at which the speakers were Mrs Cameron Swan, Mrs Massy and Miss Amy Hicks. The banner is 193 cm (76 inches) at its widest x 111 cm (44 inches) high, with a machine-stiched pocket running down the right-hand side into whiich a stiffening rod was presumably inserted. Small rings have been hand-sewn to the top and the bottom of this pocket. The left -hand side of the banner is shaped as a sideways ‘V’ – all the better to flutter in the wind. The material is a cream cotton and the lettering is painted on in green.
‘Votes for Women’, 19 July 1912, p 686 gives details of those who worked on the banners for the demonstration. The main work was carried out in the studio in the garden of 2 Phillimore Terrace, Kensington, the home of Mrs Ferguson, mother of Rachel. Particular mention is made of Norah Smyth, who ‘was responsible for 100 flags wiith painted mottoes’ and of Olive Hockin, who took over when Norah was absent. Could either of them have painted this banner?
With another similar, the banner was discovered some years ago by a vintage clothes dealer at the bottom of a bag of garments she had purchased from a house in Old Brompton Road, Chelsea..In nearly 100 years they hadn’t moved far. I wonder who had taken them home from Hyde Park?
The banner is in surprisingly good condition – in that it is intact, no moth holes, the painted lettering is still quite bright. The marks that it does show are consonant with having been carried in a great demonstration – a little muddied and marked..
[14921] £8,400
41. SUFFRAGETTE CHINA – ‘ANGEL OF FREEDOM’ DESIGN
Saucer (12.25cm) made by Williamsons of Longton for the WSPU in 1909, initially for use in the refreshment room of the Prince’s Skating Rink Exhibition and then sold in aid of funds. The white china has strikingly clean, straight lines and is rimmed in dark green. Each piece carries the motif, designed by Sylvia Pankhurst, of the ‘angel of freedom’ blowing her trumpet and flying the banner of ‘Freedom. In the background are the intitials ‘WSPU’ set against dark prison bars, surrounded by the thistle, shamrock and rose, and dangling chains. For more information on the WSPU china see my website – http://tinyurl.com/o4whadq. This piece originally belonged to a well-known suffragette. In very good condition – would be ‘fine’ but the ‘Angel of Freedom’ motif is very slightly faded
[14751] £350
42. SUFFRAGETTE CHINA – ‘ANGEL OF FREEDOM’ DESIGN
Saucer (12.25cm) made by Williamsons of Longton for the WSPU in 1909, initially for use in the refreshment room of the Prince’s Skating Rink Exhibition and then sold in aid of funds. The white china has strikingly clean, straight lines and is rimmed in dark green. Each piece carries the motif, designed by Sylvia Pankhurst, of the ‘angel of freedom’ blowing her trumpet and flying the banner of ‘Freedom. In the background are the intitials ‘WSPU’ set against dark prison bars, surrounded by the thistle, shamrock and rose, and dangling chains. For more information on the WSPU china see my website – http://tinyurl.com/o4whadq. This piece originally belonged to a well-known suffragette. In very good condition – would be ‘fine’ but there is a small crack to the surface of the saucer. This slight blemish does not penetrate through to the reverse.
[14752] £200
#43
43. SUFFRAGETTE CHINA – ‘ANGEL OF FREEDOM’ DESIGN
Side plate (17 cm) made by Williamsons of Longton for the WSPU in 1909, initially for use in the refreshment room of the Prince’s Skating Rink Exhibition and then sold in aid of funds. The white china has strikingly clean, straight lines and is rimmed in dark green. Each piece carries the motif, designed by Sylvia Pankhurst, of the ‘angel of freedom’ blowing her trumpet and flying the banner of ‘Freedom. In the background are the initials ‘WSPU’ set against dark prison bars, surrounded by the thistle, shamrock and rose, and dangling chains. For more information on the WSPU china see my website – http://tinyurl.com/o4whadq. This piece originally belonged to a well-known suffragette. In fine condition
[14756] £650
#44
44. SUFFRAGETTE CHINA – ‘ANGEL OF FREEDOM’ DESIGN
Saucer (12.25cm) made by Williamsons of Longton for the WSPU in 1909, initially for use in the refreshment room of the Prince’s Skating Rink Exhibition and then sold in aid of funds. The white china has strikingly clean, straight lines and is rimmed in dark green. Each piece carries the motif, designed by Sylvia Pankhurst, of the ‘angel of freedom’ blowing her trumpet and flying the banner of ‘Freedom. In the background are the intitials ‘WSPU’ set against dark prison bars, surrounded by the thistle, shamrock and rose, and dangling chains. For more information on the WSPU china see my website – http://tinyurl.com/o4whadq. This piece originally belonged to a well-known suffragette Mrs Rose Lamartine Yates. In fine condition
[15058] £450
45. SUFFRAGETTE CHINA – ‘ANGEL OF FREEDOM’ DESIGN
Cup, saucer and small plate made by Williamsons of Longton for the WSPU in 1909, initially for use in the refreshment room of the Prince’s Skating Rink Exhibition and then sold in aid of funds. The white china has strikingly clean, straight lines and is rimmed in dark green with a green handle to the cup. Each piece carries the motif, designed by Sylvia Pankhurst, of the ‘angel of freedom’ blowing her trumpet and flying the banner of ‘Freedom. In the background are the intitials ‘WSPU’ set against dark prison bars, surrounded by the thistle, shamrock and rose, and dangling chains. For more information on the WSPU china see my website – http://tinyurl.com/o4whadq. One each of cup, saucer and plate – a trio. The cup has a tiny chip to the inside and a couple of hairline cracks near the handle – none of which would show if displayed with the Angel of Freedom device facing out. The plate and saucer are in fine condition. Together-
[15147] £1,500
46. THE CONCILIATION BILL EXPLAINED
Leaflet headed ‘Votes for Women’, probably dating from 1910. settng out the contents of the Conciliation Bill, which had passed its Second Reading in July 1910, and explaining details,such as which groups of women would be enfranchised under tis terms. Printed by Baines and Scarsbrook, 75 Fairfax Road, South Hampstead and with the rubber stamp of the WFL [Women’s Freedom League] 1 Robert St, Adelphi. In pristine condition, having been found laid betwen the pages of a book.
[15036] £120
47. ‘THE END OF THE HUNGER STRIKE. SHE COULDN’T RESIST THAT! PLASMON OATS’
Advertisement for Plasmon Oats, showing the hunger striker in her cell, a bowl of oats – and its packet – on bench beside her. The vapour is steaming towards her spelling out the message ‘(V)Oats for Women’. The young woman is dressed in a white blouse with purple and green trim and a purple skirt trimmed in green, so the message that she is a suffragette is not missed. A prison guard looks through a barred window into the cell to view the effect of this hot, nourishing dish (round the rim of the bowl is written ‘70% more nourishment than any other oats’. Plasmon was a proprietory dried milk that was added to various products including oats..hence, Plasmon Oats. The artist was Anita Reed, who was born in Finsbury Park in 1891 and in 1911 (around the time of this item) was still only 20. On the 1911 census she is described as an artist and was living at home in Twickenham with her parents and younger brother. There is not much information available about her..but by 1925, still an artist, she had emigrated to Canada, to where returned at the end of that year after a visit to the Twickenham home.
I think thisversion of the image dates from the 1960s, reproduced on a calendar, from which it has been removed and tben framed – the frame now very riickety. The poster is 30cm x 18cm and, with the wooden frame, the item measures 33cm x 22 cm. Another example of the adaptability of a suffragette trope. I note that the V & A holds an example of the image which is described as a ‘poster’, although their catalogue doesn’t give dimensions. In good condition – most unusual
[14909] SOLD
48. THE FIGHTING SEX
This issue of the part-work ‘History of the 20th Century’ includes a section on the suffrage campaign – written by Trevor Lloyd (author of ‘Suffragettes International’). Paper covers – large format
[14074] £5
49. THE MARLBOROUGH THEATRE, Holloway Road, London
Theatre programme for the Boxing Day 1910 performance of ‘The Musical, Mirthful, Spectacular Pantomime DICK WHITTINGTON’ – a most appropriate choice as Dick Whittington is very much a local hero in Holloway. In this production the cook to Alderman Fitzwarren is ‘Eliza, a Suffragette’, played by Dan Crawley (1872-1912), an Irish comedian who had considerable success as a pantomime dame. Clearly at this time the idea of a ‘suffragette’ was a good fit for a cross-dressing humourous character. Incidentally, the Marlborough Theatre was designed by the renowned Frank Matcham and had opened in 1903. The programme is packed with advertisements for local businesses, including one for the Dimoline Piano Co whose owners were members of the WSPU and regular advertisers in ‘Votes for Women’. In good condition, with decorative cover
[14439] SOLD
50. ‘THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN’
supplement to ‘The Graphic’, 1885, heralding the supplements to be issued in Nov and Dec 1885 on ‘Parliamentary Elections and Electioneering in the Old Days’. As its advertisement for the series The Graphic has chosen to use George Cruickshank’s ”The Rights of Women; or a view of the hustings with female suffrage, 1853.’ We see on the hustings the two candidates – ‘The Ladies’ Candidate’- Mr Darling’ and ‘The Gentleman’s Candidate – Mr Screwdriver – the great political economist’. Elegant Mr Darling is surrounded by ladies in bonnets and crinolines – Mr Screwdriver by ill-tempered-looking boors. The audience contains many women accompanied, presumably, by their husbands who are holding aloft a ‘Husband and Wife Voters’ banner. Another banner proclaims the existence of ‘Sweetheart Voters’ and riding in their midst is a knight in armour holding a ‘Vote for the Ladies’ Champion’ pennant. There do not appear to be many supporters of the opposition.
Single sheet 28 cm x 20.5 cm – a little foxed around the edges of the paper but barely affecting the good, clear image of Crucikshank’s cartoon.
[13690] £160
51. TIME AND TIDE MAGAZINE – ADVERTISING POSTER
Large, lovely, colourful, art-deco poster, dating from the 1930s, advertising ‘The review with independent views – Edited by Lady Rhondda. Some recent contributors: G.B. Shaw, Rebecca West, St. John Ervine, Sylvia Lynd, Wickham Steed, Edith Sitwell. Every Friday Price 6 d’. T’ime and Tide’, a political and literary review magazine, was founded in 1920 by Margaret Mackworth, Lady Rhondda (1883-1958), Welsh peeress, businesswoman and active suffragette. 76cm x101cm. In good condition – with folds and a few nicks. A rather amazing find – as copies of ‘Time and Tide’ itself are so scarce
[15195] SOLD
52. VOTES FOR WOMEN CALENDAR FOR 1911
A tiny, 18-page calendar issued by the Women’s Social and Political Union. It comprises 4 pages setting out postage rates and then has a page for each month of 1911. The back cover carries an advertisement for the WSPU paper, ‘Votes for Women’. The calendar is 4cm wide and 5cm high and the covers are printed in green on pinkish paper -with an embossed insignia for 1911 printed in purple. Yet another amazing survivor – I have never seen another.
[15181] SOLD
53. VOTES FOR WOMEN HOOKS AND EYES
is emblazoned across the front of this small box – now bereft of its ‘3 Doz spring hooks and eyes. Guaranteed rustproof’. The cardboard box is purple, and the front is printed in white and green. ‘Votes for Women’ is noted as a ‘Trademark’. There was a firm, ‘Smart’s’, that advertised its hooks and eyes regularily in the WSPU paper ‘Votes for Women’, but this box does not carry any such maker’s name, so I did wonder if little boxes such as this were perhaps packaged to be sold in WSPU shops and at bazaars. ‘Votes for Women’, 16 December 1910, while extolling the Christmas present wonders to be found in the Woman’s Press Shop mentions that among all the other goods are ‘boxes of pins…done up so as to bring the Suffrage colours before purchasers.’ This little box is an amazing survivor; linking the WSPU to a womanly home occupation – dressmaking. The box is 4cm long x 2.5cm wide x 1cm deep and is in very good condition.
[15178] SOLD
54. [WOMEN WRITERS’ SUFFRAGE LEAGUE] LETTER FROM BESSIE HATTON
to ‘Miss Winifred Graham’ inviting her to join the ‘Literary Suffragist League now being formed’. The letter was written from Bessie Hatton’s home,15 Sandringham Court, Maida Vale, London, on ’28 April’. The year was probably 1908, at the formation of what was to be the Women Writers’ Suffrage League, of which Bessie Hatton was the secretary. The letter was presumably one of many in a similar vein written by Hatton to literary women, Winifred Graham (1873-1950) was a popular novelist; I can find no evidence that she did join the WWSL or, indeed, that she supported the suffrage campaign. Along the margin of the letter are a few words (not in Hatton’s extravagant hand) that may be a theme for Graham’s response. They are difficult to decipher but appear to say ‘singular fragility & energy….’ 4pp – in very good condition
[15184] SOLD
55. WOMEN’S FREEDOM LEAGUE BIRTHDAY BOOK
This was a fund-raising venture undertaken by the Scottish Council of the Women’s Freedom League. In a Preface, Eunice Murray, who was president of the Glasgow branch of the WFL wrote that ‘Besides members of the League many well known supporters of the movement have sent a quotation to it as a practical sign of their sympathy with the Woman’s Cause.’, And indeed every day of the year has set against it a quotation supplied by a sympathiser – some well known, such as Ann Cobden Sanderson, Mrs Borrmann Wells, Alexia Jack, Edith How-Martyn and Charlotte Despard, and many others whose involvement is now forgotten. The Scottish Council of the WFL was formed in early 1910, based at 302 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow, the address printed in the Birthday Book, which was, I think, issued in the autumn of 1910 – at least, the WFL was then advertising in ‘The Vote’ the sale of ‘Birthday Books’ (priced at 1 shilling), Only one name was allotted to a birthday date by the original owner – that of ‘N.L. Hutchison’ against 24 February. But the many names (although some are noted only by their initials) of those who submitted quotations would afford excellent scope for research – particularly into Scottish supporters of the WFL.
The book – the cover of which is rendered in the WFL colours of green, white and gold – is in very good condition. Very scarce – I have never seen another
[15179] SOLD
56. WOMEN’S FREEDOM LEAGUE SASH
An original Women’s Freedom League sash – made of heavy grosgrain-type material. The words ‘Women’s Freedom League’ are shown in black block capitals across the white. The ends of the sash are tapered into a point and sewn down. I think the sash could, with adaption, have been worn either acoss the shoulder or as a belt. It measures 104 cm in length and is 5cm in width. The sash is in amazingly fine condition – the colours bright. For a pic see first page of this catalogue.
[15180] SOLD
57. WSPU A WOMEN’S DEMONSTRATION TO WELCOME MRS PANKHURST ON HER RETURN FROM AMERICA.
Held at the Royal Albert Hall on Thursday Dec 9, 1909 at 8 o’clock. Speakers were Mrs Pankhurst and Christabel Pankhurst. 4-page leaflet printed in purple on white paper, with Sylvia Pankhurst’s device of the women emerging from the prison gates printed in purple, white and green. On the second page is a list of the women to whom Mrs Pankhurst presented ‘the medal for vvalour’ – ie the hunger-strike medal, who ‘during her absence in the United States, have suffered Imprisonment, carried through the Huner Strike, and, as a consequence, have in many cases endured the terrible ordeal of Feeding by Force.’ There follows a list of c 40 names. Page 3 calls for helpers in the upcoming General Election and for money to run the campaign – highlighting the necessity of selling copies of ‘Votes for Women’ to raise funds. The 4th – back -page gives notice of Free Public Meetiings every Monday afternoon at the Queen’s Hall and on Tursday evenings at St James’s Hall, Great Portland Street. An important, lovely, and scarce leaflet – in fine, bright condition
[15141] SOLD
58. WSPU CORONATION PROCESSION – 17 JUNE 1911
Souvenir tissue printed by Mrs Sarah Burgess, 18 York Place, Strand, to commemorate the WSPU’s Coronation Procession. It reproduces images of many of the speakers and gives details of the contingents taking part – including the Historical Pageant of Women – and gives details of the route. The border is a blaze of brightly coloured patriotic flags linked by now rather faded floral devices. The tissue is in good condition and has already been framed. I don’t think I have ever previously had such a commemoration of the Coronation Procession for sale.
[15023] SOLD
59. WSPU PROGRAMME AND SOUVENIR
commemorative WSPU paper tissue souvenir for the demonstration in Hyde Park on 21 June 1908 – reproducing portraits of the speakers -including Mary Gawthorpe, Annie Kenney, Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence, Emmeline Pankhurst, Adela Pankhurst, and Nellie Kenney. At the centre of the piece is a map of Hyde Park, showing the positions of the 20 platforms for the speakers. Interestingly this tissue souvenir differs from the one, printed by Mrs S Burgess, that we more usually see. The edges of this paper souvenir are deckled and the images of the speakers are reproductions of real photographs (rather than Mrs Burgess’ line-drawings). It was this design that was used on posters advertising the demonstration. See also item ??. It’s interesting that there were two different souvenir programmes issued.. A supremely ephemeral annd scarce piece- already framed, protecting its fragility
[15022] SOLD
#60
60. WSPU NECK PIECE
A length of purple, white, and green woven ribbon, from which gold tassels dangle from the two ends. I hardly like to call it a tie, as this gives the wrong impression – but it was worn around the neck, as modelled by Christabel Pankhurst on 13 October 1908, when being arrested by Inspector Jarvis, along with her mother and Flora Drummond, in Clements Inn. The item is in fine condition, with no fraying, the colours vibrant. I have never seen one of these for sale before.
The neckpiece originally belonged to a Miss Louisa Chapman, who lived at 11 Bristol Gardens, Maida Vale, London, whom my research indicates was probably an early supporter of the WSPU. I am including with the piece, for the sake of provenance, a comic suffragette postcard, postmarked 1913 and addressed to Miss Chapman, together with an original real photographic postcard depicting, as mentioned above, Christabel Pankhurst wearing just such a neck piece..
[15106] £3,000
61. ZANGWILL, Israel The Sword and the Spirit The Woman’s Press no date [1910]
The text of a speech given by Zangwill at the very successful WSPU meeting in the Royal Albert Hall on 10 November 1910. ‘Votes for Women’ reported that ‘Mr Zangwill’s speech, which was a great literary treat,..was punctuated with almost continuous applause and laughter.’ The pamphlet was on sale by 25 November 1910. In good condition – with a little foxing -20pp – paper covers
[15182] SOLD
62. MRS DESPARD
portrait photograph by Lena Connell, 50 Grove End Road, NW – mounted on stiff brown card – published by The Suffrage Shop, the card embossed with the shop’s monogram. This once belonged to Joan Wickham. Fine
[15159] £120
63. MRS EMMELINE PANKHURST
– a beautiful, head and shoulders, photograph taken in New York in 1913 at the Underwood and Underwood Studio and signed in ink ‘E. Pankhurst’. This was clearly treasured by its owner, Joan Wickham, who had arranged Mrs Pankhurst’s tour of the US. In fact, she probably organised the visit to the photographer’s studio. She had framed the photograph – but the passe partout around the edges of the frame is now, after 107 years, no longer fit for purpose and the photograph will benefit from the attention of a professional framer. Extremely scarce – with a provenance that could hardly be more interesting and relevant
[15162] £900
64. SYLVIA PANKHURST
an informal snapshot, probably taken by John Hodgson in the mid-1920s. Once owned by Joan Hodgson (nee Wickham). Very good
[15155] £80
Isabel Seymour’s Suffrage Collection
Marion Isabella Seymour [known as Isabel Seymour] (1882-1968) was born in Mayfair, London, the eldest child of Charles Read Seymour (1855-1935), a barrister, and Marion Frances Violet Seymour [née Luxford] (1855-1900). In 1891 the Seymour family lived at The Elms, Hartley Wintney, Hampshire. Isabel now had two younger brothers and a sister and the household was attended by a governess, six servants, and a coachman. Another sister was born in 1893. Charles Seymour was a Justice of the Peace and chairman of the parish council.
At the beginning of the 20th century the family moved to a new house, Inholmes Court, Hartley Wintney, designed for them in 1899 by an architect friend, Robert Weir Schulz. The move may have taken place just after the death of Isabel’s mother on 21 October 1900.
In 1902 Charles Seymour remarried. His new wife, Adelaide Bentinck, the daughter of a Hampshire neighbour, was 28 years old, only about eight years older than Isabel. There were to be two more children of this second marriage.
We know nothing of Isabel’s education other than she was fluent in German and that her spelling in English could be a little erratic. She was probably educated at home for a time by a series of governesses – of which one may perhaps have been German? Her slightly younger sister, Elinor, was a pupil at a girls’ boarding school at Southbourne, Hampshire, in 1901 and it may be that Isabel did attend that school, or a similar establishment, for the final years of her education.
There is no trace of Isabel in the 1901 census; it may be that she was abroad. It is likely that at this stage of her life Isabel was supported by her father but that, later, as his finances grew more precarious (he only left c £600 when he died in 1934), she did have to provide something towards her own living costs. Certainly, by the time Isabel Seymour became involved with the WSPU she was living In London, at an address, 36 Chenies Street Chambers [address sourced from a letter from her in the Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 29 November 1907] that was just the place for a young woman such as her. For these ‘Ladies’ Residential Chambers’, the brainchild of Millicent Fawcett’s sister, Agnes Garrett, were intended for ‘educated working women’, a place where they could have their own room(s) away from the indignities of the boarding house. [I write extensively about the ‘Ladies’ Residential Chambers’ in my Enterprising Women: the Garretts and their circle – and there is one rather idiosyncratic article about the establishment on my website – see https://wp.me/p2AEiO-g2.] So Isabel was among others similarly minded, who, although most probably pro-suffrage, were less likely to be sympathisers of the WSPU but, rather, to be in favour of the constitutional methods of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies.
Items in Isabel Seymour’s collection suggest that she had joined the WSPU no later than mid-1906, probably earlier. Isabel Seymour was interviewed by Antonia Raeburn for The Militant Suffragettes, a book she had begun working on in 1964, although it was not published until 1973, five years after Isabel Seymour’s death. Raeburn described her as ‘a young friend of the Pethick Lawrences [who] came to work in the office [at Clement’s Inn] when it first opened. The fact that she was friendly with the Pethick Lawrences might suggest that Isabel Seymour had been involved in some kind of ‘mission’ or ‘social’ work. Certainly in 1904, when still living at home in Hampshire, she had been appointed as an assistant visitor to the children of the local Workhouse.
Interviewed by Antonia Raeburn, for her book, The Militant Suffragettes (1973), Isabel Seymour described the early days in Clement’s Inn:
‘It was very happy-go-lucky – envelope addressing, and the almost daily tea party. Mrs Pankhurst used to descend but she wasn’t permanently there. I remember the sort of feeling that she was still a bit of an outsider. But of course Christabel was always at Clement’s Inn. The Pethick Lawrences had put the spare room of their flat at her disposal. They really were like overshadowing guardian angels.’
As a full-time worker for the WSPU Isabel Seymour would have been paid; the general rate seems to have been £2 a week. By 1907 her skill as a suffrage speaker had been recognised and, as well as speaking at London meetings, she went on tours around the country, visiting Scotland on several occasions, where she was always particularly well received. In 1909 she was congratulated on her excellent German when on a WSPU speaking-tour of Germany, which she followed up with a speech in Brussels. In 1910 she took her suffrage tour to Austria and Hungary. In a reported speech in her home village of Winchfield in Hampshire she particularly mentioned ‘the benefits derived by women who had the franchise in New Zealand and Australia and she conclude by appealing to all to think over this question in their minds seriously, and ask themselves whether as women they did not wish to leave the world better than they found it, so that the next generation should have to enter the arena of the labour market handicapped and with little or no protection as was the case now. Many of them had given up ease, money, and even their lives for this great cause, because they saw the great wrongs under which many of their sisters laboured. Their cause was going forward, and truth, justice, liberty, and progress would certainly win.’ [Votes for Women, 14 April 1911 p 462]
From her earliest days with the WSPU Isabel Seymour was ‘Hospitality Secretary’, which involved finding accommodation for country members who came to London to attend meetings and demonstrations. As WSPU militancy increased in 1909 and more and more women were imprisoned and then went on hunger strike, she handed over this post to another WSPU activist and instead became ‘Prisoners’ Secretary’. Thus more onerous task involved dealing with all aspects of WSPU imprisonment – attempts to get bail, the treatment of prisoners once incarcerated, dealing with enquiries from prisoners’ families, keeping track of prisoners and their sentences, informing readers of Votes for Women of the prisoners still held in any one week, and helping organise the ‘release’ demonstrations.
It is not known when she left England but in September 1916 Isabel Seymour was living in Canada, her address being the Okangan Gate Ranch, Enderby, British Columbia. Other than that she was living there with a friend, it is not clear what had brought her to Enderby, a very small town, with a population of 700+ in 1921, However, on 15 September 1916 Isabel Seymour wrote a letter to the Woman’s Dreadnought ( a paper edited by Sylvia Pankhurst) revealing that ‘yesterday I became a voter’. She explained how the British Columbia had ‘decided to have a Referendum on “Women’s Suffrage and Prohibition” – the first Referendum ever held here. There has been but little time to carry propaganda out, and therefore this vote has come as the result of the genuine conviction on men’s part that we have earned our vote I may say that the work the women have done in England since the war had a great effect on the result here. Personally I have been speaking on the platforms of both candidates in our constituency, and they were only pleased to have me. There has been no opposition at all and I never met any man who was going to vote against the suffrage. We have had encouragement and help all the time.
I never thought to get a vote here; when we came it was so far away and no one cared. How is the W.S.F.? If I ever come back to England I shall come and work for you, but now I feel as if my work were starting out here…’
However Isabel Seymour did not remain in Canada but returned to England after the death of the friend with whom she lived. She sailed into Southampton from New York, on 27 December 1920 and by March 1922 was elected a member of the Hampshire County Council, as representative of the St Paul and St Thomas ward in Winchester. She was now living in the town, with her father and step-mother in Bereweeke House, a large Edwardian house standing in spacious grounds. She remained a councillor for many years, serving for some time on the Education Committee, taking a special interest in trying to achieve equality for women head-teachers.
Isabel’s father died in 1934 and it is likely that the Bereweeke household then broke up. Certainly by 1939 Isabel, still a county councillor, was living with Dorothy Pearce, an old friend from Hartley Wintney, at Littlemount, 7 Bassett Row, Southampton. After Dorothy’s death in 1963 Isabel continued to live in the house until her own death in 1968. Emmeline Pethick Lawrence had remained a friend all her life, leaving Isabel Seymour a bequest in her will.
The following items all once belonged to Isabel Seymour.
65. [1906] WSPU VOTES FOR WOMEN LEAFLETS NO 4 A CAMPAIGN FUND
Leaflet printing a letter sent by the London Central Committee of the WSPU to the editor of ‘The Tribune’, noting that the WSPU were raising a ‘propaganda fund of £1000’ and explaining that ‘our organization consists of women of all classes working shoulder to shoudler to secure the enfranchsement of their sex’. ‘In the Canning town branch alone 150 women are pledged to go to prison if need be, and the same spirit prevails in all the branches.’ This must have been one of the first WSPU appeals for money – because Sylvia Pankhurst has put her name to the letter as hon sec. and, although Emmeline Pethick Lawrence is treasurer, the WSPU office has not yet been opened in Clement’s Inn. In good conditon – a little creasing around the edges
[14861] £250
66. [1910 15 JANUARY] DRUMMERS’ UNION
At the Rehearsal Theatre, Maiden Lane, Strand, WC on Saturday January 15 at 7.45 An Entertainment given by the Drummers’ Uniion Proceeds to be given to the WSPU A Fairy Play entitled ‘The Dream Lady; by Netta Syrett. A new Suffrage Play ‘The Reforming of Augustus’ – also a Cockney Dialogue. Those taking part were Miss Rachel Ferguson, Irene and Janet McLeod, Hazel Roberts and Walter Cross and others. Irene McLeod was 18 at the time and her sister Janet, and Rachel Ferguson (whose entry I wrote for the ODNB) were 17. Single sheet, in good condition except for small tear at bottom edge. Any material related to the Drummers Union is extremely scarce
[14871] SOLD
67. LADY CONSTANCE LYTTON
cyclostyled notes, perhaps produced by Isabel Seymour as the WSPU’s Prison Secretary, detailing the arrests and punishment meted out on Lady Constance both as herself and as,, in disguise, as Jane Warton. It’s not clear what was the purpose of the document – it may have been intended for newspaper editors
[14850] SOLD
68. ROYAL COURT THEATRE PROGRAMME ‘VOTES FOR WOMEN! A DRAMATC TRACT IN THREE ACTS BY ELIZABETH ROBINS
4-page programme for one of the 8 matinée performances in April and May 1907 of this so-popular play, staged at the Royal Court Theatre, Sloane Square, under the joint management of John Vedrenne and Harley Granville Barker,. The programme includes the cast list, of course, and a notice that ‘At these Matinées, Ladies are earnestl requested to remove Hats, Bonnets, or any kind of head dress. This rule is framed for the benefit of the audience…’ Kate Frye (suffrage diarist) saw the play on 16 April and wrote in her diary ‘I loved the piece – it is quite fine – most cleverly written and the characters are so well drawn. Needless to say the acting was perfection as it generally is at the Court Theatre and the second act – the meeting in Trafalgar Square – ought to draw the whole of London. I was besides myself with excitement over it ‘ This is presumably Isabel Seymour’s own programme, folded into her pocket or handbag and then kept for the rest of her life.In good condition – exteremely scarce
[14864] £250
69. ‘THE SPEAKERS’ CLASSES UNDER THE DIRECTION OF MISS ROSA LEO
will be resumed on Friday the 26th inst at 4 Clement’s Inn, at 7.45 sharp – short cyclostyled notice – to which Winfred Mayo has added a comment ‘Will you enlarge on this & say how necessaryy it is for us to get new speakers etc.’ A glimpse behind the WSPU scenes. 1 sheet – a little creased
[14852] £50
End of Isabel Seymour Collection
Suffrage Postcards – Real Photographic
70. MISS ALICE SCHOFIELD (Organiser) Women’s Freedom League WFL
An early WFL card – the address printed on the card is 18 Buckingham Street, Strand (ie before the move to 1 Robert St in 1908). Alice Schofield, influenced by Teresa Billington, had been a very early member of the WSPU, but with Teresa left the WSPU in 1907 and by 1908 was a paid WFL organizer. A postcard from the Postcard Album compiled by Women’s Freedom League members Edith, Florence and Grace Hodgson.. A scarce card – in fine unposted condition
[14554] £120
71. CHRISTABEL PANKHURST
photographed by Lambert Weston and Son, 27 New Bond St. I think the card dates from c 1907/8. Fine – unposted
[13616] £45
72. CHRISTABEL PANKHURST
photographed by Lizzie Caswell Smith, 309 Oxford Street, London W. Head and shoulders oval portrait, The caption is ‘Miss Christabel Pankhurst The Women’s Social and Political Union 4 Clement’s Inn, London WC. It was published by Sandle Bros. The card has been pinned up at its four corners and then roughly removed leaving holes – but in no way affecting the image. Another example of the same card, also a little nicked and creased. This soulful image seems be have been the most venerated. Each
[14217] £10
73. CROYDON NATIONAL UNION OF WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE SOCIETY
a photographic postcard, postmarked ‘Croydon 17 Nov 1909’, of the ‘red-and-white sale’ mounted by the Croydon NUWSS as part of their ‘Special Effort’ that ran from 9-12 November 1909. The sale was held in the Pembroke Hall and was opened by Miss Alice Abadam on Wednesday 10 November. On the previous evening a procession had wound its way through Croydon’s streets, with women carrying the emblems devised earlier in the year for the NUWSS ‘Women’s Trades and Professions’ Procession to the Royal Albert Hall. An article in the18 Nov 1909 issue of the ‘Common Cause’ (the NUWSS paper) tells us The Croydon society had been lent the ‘big red-and-white banner of the National Union’ to head the procession and that the Croydon banner brought up the rear. You can see in the photograph that banners were then used to decorate Pembroke Hall for the subsequent meetings and the sale. The card was sent by one of the organizers of the Special Effort to a Miss Morrison, who lived in Matheson Road, West Kensington, but whose mother clearly lived in Croydon. Miss Morrison was thanked for her help and, amusingly, the writer ends by saying, presumably of the procession, ‘the crowd thought we were church people carrying images’. Very good – most unusual – posted. See also items 16 and 17.
[15190] SOLD
74. CROYDON NATIONAL UNION OF WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE SOCIETY
photographic postcard, probably of the ‘At Home’ held on Friday 12 Nov 1909 in Pembroke Hall during the ‘Special Effort’ week mounted by the Croydon NUWSS Although the report in the 18 November 1909 issue of the ‘Common Cause’ states that tea was available during the ‘red-and-white’sale on 10 and 11 Nov, the beautifully-decorated tea tables shown in this photograph are in the very place where the tables were laid out with sale items in # 73. Many banners are in evidence, including one to George Eliot. The photograph was taken by H. Ward of West Croydon. Fine – most unusual – unposted. See also items 16 and 17.
[15191] SOLD
75. LADY CONSTANCE LYTTON
real photographic postcard- issued by the ‘Women’s Social and Political Union’. She is sitting at her desk looking at a book. Glossy photograph by Lafayette. This card was purchased in the International Suffrage Shop at 15 Adam St, just off the Strand and was sent to France by Helene Putz, who lived at 10a Belsize Parade, Haverstock Hill, London NW. The 1911 census finds her living there, aged 60, and working as a foreign correspondent – dealing with patent medicines. The message, written in French, tells the recipient that Lady Con is another of the important women working ‘pour la franchise’.
[14694] £120
76. MISS GLADICE KEEVIL
Portrait photograph of Gladys Keevil ‘National Women’s Social and Political Union, 4 Clement’s Inn, WC’. The photographer was Lena Connell, who, in an interview in the Women’s Freedom League paper, ‘The Vote’, dated her involvement with the suffrage movement to this commission – photographing Gladice Keevil soon after her release from prison in 1908. Gladice was considered one of the prettiest of the WSPU organisers. You can read about her in my ‘Reference Guide’. In fine conition – unposted. Unusual
[14918] £120
77. MRS BORRMANN WELLS WFL
Headed ‘Votes for Women’ and captioned ‘Women’s Freedom League. Offices: 1 Robert Street, Adelphi, London WC’. Bettina Borrmann Wells was born in Bavaria c 1875 and in 1900 married an Englishman, Clement Wells. She joined the WSPU in 1906- but by 1908 had left to join the WFL. She was imprisoned for 3 weeks in Oct 1908 after demonstrating at Westminster. The Hodgson Collection contains a (different) postcard from Bettina Borrmann Wells to ‘Miss Hodgson’ asking for help with ‘special work’, which may be the picketing She later spent much of her life in the US. A striking photo- she’s rather magnificently dressed. A postcard from the Postcard Album compiled by Women’s Freedom League members Edith, Florence and Grace Hodgson. In fine condition -unusual – unposted
[15005] £120
78. MRS COBDEN SANDERSON WFL
Mrs Cobden Sanderson is shown, head and shoulders, in profile on this most unusual card. The photo is by Max Parker and the caption is: ‘Mrs Cobden Sanderson. Women’s Freedom League’. I would imagine that this is quite an early card -c 1908. Fine – unposted
[14942] £120
79. MRS COBDEN SANDERSON WFL
Mrs Cobden Sanderson is shown, head and shoulders, in profile on this most unusual card. The photo is by Max Parker and the caption is: ‘Mrs Cobden Sanderson. Women’s Freedom League’. I would imagine that this is quite an early card -c 1908. Fine – unposted
[14965] £120
80. MRS EMMELINE PANKHURST
photograph by F. Kehrhahn & Co, Bexleyheath. She is wearing one of the WSPU shield-shaped badges – and looks very beautiful. The sitter isn’t identified, but Mrs Pankhurst is unmistakable. The photograph had been taken at the same time – or had been cropped from and reproduced as a separate image – as a full length portrait (#14536). The card was published by Kehrhahn – about whom you can find out more here https://wp.me/p2AEiO-ge. Unusual – probably dates from c 1909. In fine condition
[14534] £100
81. MRS LILIAN M. HICKS
– photographed by Lena Connell – an official Women’s Freedom League photographic postcard. Mrs Hicks had been an early member of the WSPU, but left to join the WFL in the 1907 split, returning in 1910 to the WSPU. Fine – unposted
[14533] £35
82. MRS MANSEL
photographic portrait, captioned ‘Mrs Mansel Women’s Social and Political Union 4 Clement’s Inn WC’. I think she is holding a copy of ‘Votes for Women’. Mrs Mildred Ella Mansel (1868-1942) was the daughter of Mrs Adeline Chapman (president of the New Constitutional Society for Women’s Suffrage) by her first marriage – to Ivor Guest, at one time Liberal Chief Whip and a vehement anti-suffragist. Mildred Mansel most definitely favoured her mother’s politics, rather than her father’s and joined the WSPU in its early years. She was a particular friend of Lady Constance Lytton. In 1910 Mrs Mansel became the local organizer for the WSPU in Bath, renting a house in Lansdowne Crescent in April 1911 in which members could evade the census. Later that year she spent a week in Holloway. The Mansels lived at Bayford Lodge, Wincanton, Somerset, and this photograph was taken by ‘Goodfellow, Wincanton’. Fine – unposted – unusual
[15188] SOLD
83. MRS MASSY
photographic portrait, taken by Rita Martin and captioned ‘Mrs Massy. National Women’s Social and Political Union, 4, Clements Inn, W.C.’. Mrs Rosamund Massy (1870-1947) probably joined the WSPU in 1908 and in Nov 1909 was imprisoned for the first time, In Nov 1910 she served a month in Holloway after breaking a window during the ‘Black Friday’ debacle. When, in 1928, Mrs Pankhurst stood for election in Whitechapel Mrs Massy, although not a Conservative, gave her every support and it was Mrs Massy’s hunger strike medal and Holloway badge that it was, it is believed, placed in a casket in the plinth of Mrs Pankhurst’s statue when it was first erected in Victoria Tower Gardens. Fine – unposted – unusual
[15189] £140
84. MRS PANKHURST
Full-lenth portrait by F. Kehrhahn of Bexleyheath.- captioned ‘Mrs Pankhurst’ She is wearing a WSPU badge and holds a dangling lorngnette in one hand while the other rests on an open book, is wearing a WSPU badge. Very good – unposted
[14536] £40
85. ‘VOTES FOR WOMEN’ TRAIN
The train is steaming along, a ‘Votes for Women’ banner displayed on its engine. My thinking is that this is one of the special trains bringing women to London for a major WSPU demonstration. Although I have read in ‘Votes for Women’ details of the arrangements for the special trains, I have never seen another image like this. In fine condition – unposted
[15187] SOLD
86. WHITEKIRK CHURCH (Lothian)
A photograph of the church before it was burned down by Fanny Parker on 26 Feb 1914 – in retaliation for the forcibly feeding of Ethel Moorhead
[11067] £6
87. ANNIE KENNEY
– an early postcard, I think, No photographer or publisher is credited. She is wearing a blouse with elaborate lace yoke and deep lace cuffs – and is standing behind a chair. She looks very youthful. It was probably Miss Chapman who wrote on the reverse ‘Miss Annie Kenney’. Very good – on good, thick card – unposted
[15109] £120
88. CHRISTABEL PANKHURST
black and white photograph of the portrait of Christabel by Ethel Wright, with Christabel’s printed signature along the bottom of the card. The card will date from c 1909, when the portrait was first exhibited. Having been owned by the family of Una Dugdale since that time, the portrait was bequeathed to the National Portrait Gallery in 2011 and is on permanent display. This postcard – which is in fair condition (it has a diagonal crease across the centre) comes from Miss Chapman’s collection and is unposted. It represents one of the WSPU’s ingenious methods of fund-raising.
[15111] £20
89. DR THEKLA HULTIN
Portrait photograph, published by the Women’s Freedom League, 1 Robert St, Adelphi, and headed ‘Votes for Women’. The portrait is captioned ‘Dr Thekla Hultin, Member of the Finnish Diet’. Thekla Hultin was the first elected woman member of Parliament to speak at a suffrage meeting in Britain. From Miss Chapman’s collection. Fine – unposted
[15123] £120
90. MRS HENRY FAWCETT, LL.D.
photographed by Elliott and Fry in c 1909. She is sitting, full length, seen in profile. From Miss Chapman’s collection. Although the image is familiar I do not appear to have had a copy of this postcard in stock previously. The NUWSS issued far fewer postcards than did the WSPU so are relatively scarce – and this card doesn’t even mention her association with the NUWSS. Very good – unposted
[15127] £60
91. MRS PANKHURST
photographed sitting, turning towards the camera with an open book in her hand. A long, pale stole is draped over her shoulders. A studio portrait, though no photographer is noted. ‘Votes for Women’ is the heading and the caption is ‘Mrs Pankhurst, The Women’s Social and Political Union, 4 Clement’s Inn, Strand, WC’. This card dates from the early days of the WSPU in London, c 1907. From Miss Chapman’s collection. Very good – unposted
[15138] £55
92. COUNTESS RUSSELL
real photographic postcard – headed ‘Votes for Women’ of ‘Countess Russell Member of National Executive Committee Women’s Freedom League’. The card depicts Mollie Russell photographed in a studio setting.. She was the second wife of Frank Russell, 2nd Earl Russell, the elder brother of Bertrand. Mollie was described by George Santyana as ‘a fat, florid Irishwoman, with black curls, friendly manners and emotional opinions: a political agitator and reformer.’ The photograph in no way belies the physical description. She and Russell were divorced in 1915. A postcard from the Postcard Album compiled by Women’s Freedom League members Edith, Florence and Grace Hodgson. Fine – unposted – scarce
[14612] £25
93. EMMELINE PETHICK LAWRENCE
Captioned ‘Mrs Pethick Lawrence. The National Women’s Social and Political Union, 4 Clements Inn, WC’ – she is wearing a coat with a heavy fur collar and lapels and is standing with her hands in her pockets. Published by Sandle Bros. A postcard from the Postcard Album compiled by Women’s Freedom League members Edith, Florence and Grace Hodgson. In fine condition – unposted
[14571] £25
94. EMMELINE PETHICK LAWRENCE
The photo is captioned ‘Mrs Pethick Lawrence Joint Editor of ‘Votes for Women’, Honorary Treasurer, National Women’s Social and Political Union. 4 Clement’s Inn.’ The photographer, F. Kehrhahn, has an entry in my ‘Art and Suffrage: a biographical dictionary of suffrage artists’. Fine – unposted
[14574] £25
95. MISS ALISON NEILANS WFL
Alison Neilans was an organizer for the Women’s Freedom League. In this photograph she is wearing the WFL’s Holloway badge. She served several terms of imprisonment and during one in 1909 went on hunger strike. Issued by the Women’s Freedom League, this is a very scarce card. A postcard from the Postcard Album compiled by Women’s Freedom League members Edith, Florence and Grace Hodgson. Fine – unposted
[14561] SOLD
96. MISS CHRISTABEL PANKHURST, LLB
Captioned ‘National Union of Women’s Social and Political Union, 4 Clement’s Inn, WC’. She is wearing a brooch that may have been designed by C.R. Ashbee. A postcard from the Postcard Album compiled by Women’s Freedom League members Edith, Florence and Grace Hodgson. Fine – unposted
[14599] £25
97. MISS CICELY HAMILTON
‘Member of the Executive Committee of the Women’s Freedom League, 1 Robert St, Adelphi, London WC’. The photograph is by Elliot and Fry – published by the London Council of the Women’s Freedom League. A postcard from the Postcard Album compiled by Women’s Freedom League members Edith, Florence and Grace Hodgson. Fine – unposted
[14600] £65
98. MISS CICELY HAMILTON
member of the National Executive Committee, WFL. office 18 Buckingham Street, Strand, London. 30 Gordon Street, Glasgow.’ An early card – published by the Women’s Freedom League not long after their break with the WSPU and before they moved into their Robert Street office. Cicely Hamilton faces straight on to the camera. A postcard from the Postcard Album compiled by Women’s Freedom League members Edith, Florence and Grace Hodgson.. Fine – unposted – scarce
[14633] £45
99. MISS MARGUERITE SIDLEY
Photograph by Foulsham and Banfield, headed ‘Votes for Women’ and captioned ‘Women’s Freedom League’ 1 Robert St, Adelphi, London W.C.,’ She wears, I think, the WFL ‘Holloway’ badge at ther throat and, certainly, a WFL flag brooch on her bosom. She had joined the WSPU in London in 1907, working for some time in the London office and then as a peripatetic organizer before leaving the WSPU to do the same kind of work for the Women’s Freedom League. A postcard from the Postcard Album compiled by Women’s Freedom League members Edith, Florence and Grace Hodgson. Fine – scarce – unposted
[14643] £65
100. MISS SARAH BENETT
photographed by Lena Connell. In this studio photograph Sarah Benett is wearing her WFL Holloway brooch; she was for a time the WFL treasurer. She was also a member of the WSPU and of the Tax Resistance League. The card was published by the WFL and is from the Postcard Album compiled by Women’s Freedom League members Edith, Florence and Grace Hodgson.
[14631] £65
101. MR AND MRS PETHICK LAWRENCE AND MISS CHRISTABEL PANKHURST GOING TO BOW STREET, OCTOBER 14 1908
Christabel was on trial, charged with inciting crowds to ‘rush’ the House of Commons – but she and the Pethick Lawrences look very cheerful. Published by Sandle Bros for the National Women’s Social and Political Union. A postcard from the Postcard Album compiled by Women’s Freedom League members Edith, Florence and Grace Hodgson. Fine – unposted – scarce
[14646] £45
102. MRS AMY SANDERSON
Women’s Freedom League, 1 Robert Street, Adelphi, London WC. She had been a member of the WSPU, and, as such had endured one term of :imprisonment, before helping to found the WFL in 1907. She is, I think, wearing her WFL Holloway brooch in the photograph. Card, published by WFL, is from the Postcard Album compiled by Women’s Freedom League members Edith, Florence and Grace Hodgson..Fine – unusual – unposted
[14636] £65
103. MRS CHARLOTTE DESPARD
photographed in profile -seated. A postcard from the Postcard Album compiled by Edith, Florence and Grace Hodgson. Fine – unposted
[14580] £25
104. MRS CHARLOTTE DESPARD
studio photograph. She is seated and facing the camera, looking wry. No photographer, publisher or suffrage affiliation given. A postcard from the Postcard Album compiled by Women’s Freedom League members Edith, Florence and Grace Hodgson. Fine – unposted
[14591] £25
105. MRS DESPARD
Photograph of her in profile. The card is headed ‘Votes for Women’ and underneath her name is the caption ‘Hon. Treas. Women’s Freedom League Offices: 18 Buckingham St., Strand. 20 Gordon St, Glasgow’ The card dates from after 1910, when she took over the treasureship of the WFL. Very good – unposted
[14569] £25
106. MRS DESPARD
photographed by Alice Barker of Kentish Town Road and published by the Women’s Freedom League. A head and shoulders portrait in profile. A postcard from the Postcard Album compiled by Women’s Freedom League members Edith, Florence and Grace Hodgson. Fine – unposted
[14592] £25
107. MRS DESPARD
photographed by M.P. Co (Merchant’s Portrait Co). ‘President, The Women’s Freedom League, 1 Robert Street, Adelphi, London W.C.). She is sitting in an armless chair – with her left arm leaning on a table. A postcard from the Postcard Album compiled by Women’s Freedom League members Edith, Florence and Grace Hodgson. Fine – unposted
[14616] £25
108. MRS E. HOW-MARTYN
photographed by M.P.Co (Merchant’s Portrait Co) as ‘Hon. Sec Women’s Freedom League’. It seems to me that for this photograph she wearing the ‘Holloway’ badges issued to erstwhile prisoners by both the WSPU and the WFL. A postcard from the Postcard Album compiled by Women’s Freedom League members Edith, Florence and Grace Hodgson. Fine – unposted
[14609] £65
109. MRS EDITH HOW-MARTYN
Hon Sec Women’s Freedom League, ARCS, BSc – photographic postcard headed ‘Votes for Women’. Photographed by Ridsdale Cleare of Lower Clapton Road. A postcard from the Postcard Album compiled by Women’s Freedom League members Edith, Florence and Grace Hodgson. Fine – unposted
[14594] £65
110. MRS EMMELINE PANKHURST
no photographer or publisher given. She sites in a high-backed chair wearing a dress with heavily embroidered sleeves and bodice. Her right hand rests on her cheek. A postcard from the Postcard Album compiled by Women’s Freedom League members Edith, Florence and Grace Hodgson. Fine – unposted
[14640] £45
111. MRS T BILLINGTON-GREIG WFL
A lovely photographic head and shoulders portrait of her – captioned ‘Mrs T Billington-Greig Hon Organising Sec Women’s Freedom League 1 Robert St, London WC’. The photo is by Brinkley and Son, Glasgow. Fine – unposted – unusual
[14573] £65
112. REV R.J CAMPBELL
published in Rotary Photographic Series. A rather angelic-looking muscular Christian – and fervent supporter of women’s suffrage. He spoke out against the White Slave Trade. A postcard from the Postcard Album compiled by Women’s Freedom League members Edith, Florence and Grace Hodgson.. Fine – unposted
[14652] £65
113. WOMEN’S FREEDOM LEAGUE Mrs DESPARD AND MRS COBDEN SANDERSON WAITING FOR MR ASQUITH WFL
‘Arrested August 19th, 1909’ They are shown wating outside 10 Downing Street as part of the campaign to picket the Prime Minister in a vain attempt to force him to accept a petition. Fine condition – scarce – unposted
[14567] £65
114. CHRISTABEL PANKHURST
photographed probably post-First World War – I have seen an image on Google images that may be from the same sitting and is dated to 1926.. She is shown in profile, wearing a blouse with a wide collar. The image is set in an oval, on stiff brown card – rather like that used by Lena Connell, but no photographer is noted. The card was once owned by Joan Wickham. An unusual image. Fine – unposted
[15153] £120
115. MRS EMMELINE PANKHURST
studio portrait photograph by F. Kehrhahn, Bexleyheath, possibly dating from c. 1912-1914. A head-and shoulders image – she is wearing an evening-style dress, a rather magnificent necklace, and a decorative band across her hair. It is an unusual image of her, taken by a photographer who often photographed WSPU occasions (or a post about Kehrhahn on my website see https://wp.me/p2AEiO-ge). Interestingly, although so recognisable, the card doesn’t carry her name – or any link to the WSPU. On the reverse of the card is written ‘Mrs Pankhurst’. It was once owned by Joan Wickham. Fine – unposted
[15152] £120
Artists’ Suffrage Card
116. JANE BULL ‘NO WOMAN ADMITTED!
No wonder the place is in such a state. High time for a good Spring clean!’ ‘Jane Bull’ now prepares to knock on the door labelled ‘The People’s House (No Women Admitted)’. She balances a mop and in her hand is her bucket labelled ‘Reform’. The artist is Isabel Pocock and the card was published by the Suffrage Atelier in 1909. For info on Pocock see my ‘Art and Suffrage: a biographical dictionary of suffrage artists’. Fine – unposted
[15186] SOLD
Suffrage Postcards: Commercial Comic
117. ONCE I GET MY LIBERTY, NO MORE WEDDING BELLS FOR ME!
says harrassed dad as his wife walks out the door, leaving him to care for the babies. On the wall is a ‘Votes for Women’ poster. This is an American card sent from Washington to Illinois – but the message carried in the picture is very similar to those of British cards
[13999] £25
118. PETTICOAT GOVERNMENT
presumably the result of enfranchising women – Wife wields poker as her husband crawls out from under the tea table. She says, ‘Come along, come along, come along do, I’ve been waiting here for you’. Good – posted from London to Wincanton on 24 June 1911
[14096] £10
119. THEM PESKY SUFFRAGETTES WANTS EVERYTHING FOR THEMSELVES
says old man confronted with a door labelled ‘For Ladies Only’. A US postcard. Fine – unposted
[14000] £20
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In case you are interested in books I have written (that are still in print) they are ~
Art and Suffrage: a biographical dictionary of suffrage artists discusses the lives and work of over 100 artists, each of whom made a positive contribution to the women’s suffrage campaign. Most, but not all, the artists were women, many belonging to the two suffrage artists’ societies – the Artists’ Suffrage League and the Suffrage Atelier. Working in a variety of media –producing cartoons, posters, banners, postcards, china, and jewellery – the artists promoted the suffrage message in such a way as to make the campaign the most visual of all those conducted by contemporary pressure groups.
In the hundred plus years since it was created, the artwork of the suffrage movement has never been so widely disseminated and accessible as it is today, the designs as appealing as they were during the years before the First World War when the suffrage campaign was at its height. Yet hitherto little has been known about most of the artists who produced such popular images. Art and Suffrage remedies this lack and sets their artistic contribution to the suffrage cause within the context of their reanimated lives, giving biographical details, including addresses, together with information on where their work may be seen.
With over 100 illustrations, in black-and-white and in colour.
Published by Francis Boutle Soft cover £20
**
Kate Parry Frye: the long life of an Edwardian actress and suffragette
Published by ITV Ventures as a tie-in with the series: ‘The Great War: The People’s Story’ this e-book tells Kate’s life story from her Victorian childhood to her brave engagement with the Elizabethan New Age. For details see here (and many more posts on my website).
Available to download from iTunes or Amazon
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The Women’s Suffrage Movement 1866-1928: A reference guide
Elizabeth Crawford
‘It is no exaggeration to describe Elizabeth Crawford’s Guide as a landmark in the history of the women’s movement…’ History Today
Routledge, 2000 785pp paperback £74.99 – Ebook £70
The Women’s Suffrage Movement in Britain and Ireland: a regional survey
Elizabeth Crawford
‘Crawford provides meticulous accounts of the activists, petitions, organisations, and major events pertaining to each county.’ Victorian Studies
Routledge, 2008 320pp paperback £30, Ebook £26
Enterprising Women: the Garretts and their circle
Elizabeth Crawford
‘Crawford’s scholarship is admirable and Enterprising Women offers increasingly compelling reading’ Journal of William Morris Studies
For further details see here Francis Boutle, 2002 338pp 75 illus paperback £25
Copies of all of these books may be bought direct from the publishers or ordered from any bookshop.
‘Collecting The Suffragettes’: A Fully-Illustrated Video Talk
Posted by womanandhersphere in Collecting Suffrage, Suffrage Stories on July 23, 2021
If you are interested in discovering something about the wide range of objects produced during the course of the women’s suffrage campaign in the 19th and early 20th centuries, you may like to view a talk I gave recently, hosted by the Antiquarian Booksellers Association and the Institute of English Studies, University of London. Click here to watch.
Campaigning For The Vote: Kate Frye and ‘Black Friday’, November 1910
Posted by womanandhersphere in Kate Frye's suffrage diary on May 20, 2013
Kate Frye was present on so many important suffrage occasions – including ‘Black Friday’ – 18 November 1910. On this day the suffrage societies learned that the Conciliation Bill, on which they had pinned their hopes, would be abandoned as, with the two houses of Parliament locked in confrontation over Lloyd George’s budget, Parliament was to be dissolved. The police were out in force and employed brutal tactics to break up the women’s demonstration.
Only a short excerpt of Kate’s ‘Black Friday’ diary entry appears in Campaigning for the Vote because it occurred in the period before Kate began work as a paid organizer for the New Constitutional Society for Women’s Suffrage. There was, alas, just too much material in her diary to make a book out of her whole suffrage experience. So, for those who would like more, here are full details of Kate’s experience that momentous day.
Kate’s invitation from the WSPU to attend the protest, Friday 18 November 1910. Just imagine how many of these fragile flyers lay torn and trampled on the ground at the end of ‘Black Friday’. Kate carefully preserved hers, took it home and laid it in her diary
Friday November 18th 1910
Up in good time. Brushed Mickie [her dog] then took him for a walk – then started at 10.30 for the Caxton Hall. Train from Notting Hill Gate to St James’ Park. I got there about 12 – and the hall was already full and the crowd hanging about were soon after turned out of the vestibule – so I stood some time on the steps. Then from there we were turned into the street and I waited there, chatting with different women, till about 12.40 when the 1st deputation left the Caxton Hall for Parliament Square.
They were soon swallowed up in a seething mob and I simply flew with many other women by short cuts to Parliament Square where I landed more or less by chance in the thick of it. One could hardly see the plan of it all amid the hurly burly excitement, shouts, laughter applause & rushes of the enormous crowd which grew every minute. I was almost struck dumb and I felt sick for hours. It was a most horrible experience. I have rarely been in anything more unpleasant – it was ghastly and the loud laughter & hideous remarks of the men – so called gentlemen – even of the correctly attired top-hatted kind – was truly awful. It made all the men and women seem mad together. And the poor women – the look of dogged suffering & strain on their faces.
Spread – with newspaper cuttings laid in – from Kate’s Black Friday’ diary entry
I first reached the wall of the moat [round the Houses of Parliament] at the angle so I could see the door plainly and Mrs Pankhurst and the elderly lady [Elizabeth Garrett Anderson] – over 70 years of age – with her. Then I saw policemen breaking up the little standards held by a group of women. I saw deputations pass along and ugly rushes and ever the crowd grew.
I stood some time but I had to give up my place by the wall people pushed so and I was awfully afraid of getting crushed. So I got out to the road and there watched the deputations come along and saw the horrible hustling by the crowds of roughs and overheard the hideous laughter and remarks of the men looking on. Half of them made the remark that it was the funniest thing they had ever seen in their lives – all had their mouths open in an insane grin. One or two were so horrible that I just gazed upon them till they noticed me and moved away, not liking I suppose to be overheard. Several spoke to me – many indignant: ‘What good do you suppose this will do?’ ‘What else would you suggest?’ said I. Then he began the usual – that the militant methods had disgusted all nicely feeling people etc. I turned his attention to my two badges – constitutional societies, as I told him – and asked ‘What help have you ever given us?’ He walked away. Not one man did I hear speak on the women’s side. There may have been some, but not near me.
I saw Captain Gonne led off & heard afterwards of his doings. Many women there were of the WSPU – and a few London Society [ie members of the constitutional NUWSS society] – all standing about perfectly wretched & green – cheering them on to battle and off to Cannon Row when arrested. One poor lady in her wheel chair [probably Rosa Billinghurst]– propelled by hand – followed in the wake of a deputation – generally 6 to a dozen people – she rang her bell violently and the crowd gave way before her – it was a funny but dreadfully tragic sight.
As the crowd grew and the crowd kept being pressed back – I moved away and once, seeing some fighting women & policemen on the pavement coming my way, I stood back to the railing expecting them to go by. But, oh no – a burly policemen, taking me for one of a deputation, caught hold of me with an ‘Out you come’ and for some minutes I was tossed about like a cork on an angry sea, turning round and round – sometimes bumped on to a policeman – sometimes on a hospital nurse, who was fighting for all she was worth – pale to the lips but determined (and I afterwards saw her led off arrested ) – until I was with the others pushed out of the danger zone.
The others went back but I sat down by the railing for a few minutes. I can’t say the man actually hurt me and I was too excited to realise quite what was happening and I was so thickly dressed as not to feel the bumps much – but it wasn’t nice. I don’t know I could have spoken if I had wished to – but I didn’t wish and I didn’t speak. What I felt was – I am not going to get out of the trouble by saying I am not one of them for I am in heart and anyway he will probably think I am trying to trick him and it will do no good and if these women can stand so much I can stand this little. And of course it was nothing really – only a new experience.
Two ladies – one quite elderly came out of their first battle determined not to go back into it. They were a pitiable spectacle – their nerve had gone. One felt so sorry – they were beside themselves and were not aware they had in fact turned ‘coward’. A little lady – evidently there to plead with the faint hearted – spoke quietly to them, urging them to go when they felt rested. ‘But we couldn’t’, they said, ‘we have been half killed’. ‘Oh, but you must – you must go back again and again and again’ and so on. And I spoke to them – thinking an outsider’s word might turn their attention. Their eyes were brimming. They told me that they were supposed to go on till their strength was exhausted – they thought theirs was – but it wasn’t. But poor souls – their fight – of course they had never realised the awfulness of the business and what they would have to endure until they should fall fainting or injured. I wonder if they went back. Perhaps courage did come back to them but who could blame them – they were very saddening.
On the next page of the diary entry Kate laid in the WSPU’s pamphlet prepared as a result of ‘Black Friday’
I couldn’t seem to leave even when I had crossed to the station side. I stood and watched the arrested being led off – & gave them a send off – but soon after 2 I gave it up and, leaving the horrid spectacle, went in to Westminster Bridge station. They were beginning to clear the Square of people. Hundreds of policemen were arriving and one could less than ever see the plan of it all. A lot of Yankee sailors had been mystified but delighted and a lot of people were frankly puzzled by it all – and it was a sad business explaining to them. I got back cold to the bone – fetched my lunch on a tray – and was glad of hot soup.
After a visit to friend for tea on way home] grabbed up some evening papers then home. Couldn’t keep my mind off the morning’s experience and we talked of little else. 105 have been arrested. It was about the most bitterly cold night I have ever been out in.’
As a result of what she had witnessed on ‘Black Friday’ Kate Frye joined the WSPU
Campaigning for the Vote: Kate Parry Frye’s Suffrage Diary edited by Elizabeth Crawford. Now, alas, out of print
- ‘Campaigning for the Vote’ – Front and back cover of wrappers
Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Gallery At The UNISON Centre
Posted by womanandhersphere in The Garretts and their Circle on March 28, 2013
The Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Gallery at the UNISON Centre tells the story of Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, of the hospital she built, and of women’s struggle to achieve equality in the field of medicine.
Elizabeth Garrett Anderson
Elizabeth Garrett Anderson (1836-1917) was determined to do something worthwhile with her life. In 1865 she qualified as a doctor. This was a landmark achievement. She was the first woman to overcome the obstacles created by the medical establishment to ensure it remained the preserve of men.
Elizabeth Garrett Anderson then helped other women into the medical profession, founding the New Hospital for Women where women patients were treated only by women doctors.
Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, by her example, demonstrated that a woman could be a wife and mother as well as having a professional career.
Elizabeth Garrett Anderson worked to achieve equality for women, being especially active in the campaigns for higher education and ‘votes for women’.
In the early 1890s the New Hospital for Women (later renamed the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital) was built on the Euston Road and continued to treat women until 2000. For some years this building then lay derelict until a campaign by ‘EGA for Women’ won it listed status. UNISON has now carefully restored the building, bringing it back to life as part of the UNISON Centre.
Two important rooms in the original 1890 hospital building have been dedicated to the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Gallery. One is the
ORIGINAL ENTRANCE HALL
of the hospital which has been carefully restored to its original form. Here you can study an album, compiled specially for the Gallery, telling the history of the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital in words and pictures, while, in the background you can listen to a soundscape evocative of hospital life. This is interwoven with the reminiscences of hospital patients, snippets from the letters of Elizabeth Garrett Anderson and sundry other sounds to stimulate your imagination.
The main gallery
The other Gallery room is what was known when the hospital opened as
THE MEDICAL INSTITUTE
This was a room, running along the front of the hospital, parallel to Euston Road, set aside for all women doctors, from all over the country, at a time when they were still barred from the British Medical Association. It was intended as a space in which they could meet, talk and keep up with the medical journals.
Here you can use a variety of media to follow the story of women, work and co-operation in the 19th and 20th centuries.
A BACK-LIT GRAPHIC LECTERN RUNS AROUND THE MAIN GALLERY:
allowing you to see in words and pictures a quick overview of the life of Elizabeth Garrett Anderson and of her hospital.
AT INTERVALS ARE SET SIX INTERACTIVE TOUCH-SCREEN MONITORS
-named – Ambition, Perseverance, Leadership, Equality, Power in Numbers and Making Our Voices Heard – allowing you to access more information about Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, about the social and political conditions that have shaped her world and ours, and about the building’s new occupant – UNISON..
Each monitor contains:
TWO SHORT VIDEO SEGMENTS.
‘Elizabeth’s Story’. Follow the video from screen to screen. Often speaking her own words, the video uses images and voices to tell the story of Elizabeth Garrett Anderson’s life.
‘UNISON Now’ UNISON members tell you what the union means to them.
and four
INTERACTIVES
‘Campaigns for Justice’ and ‘Changing Lives’.
Touch the screen icons to discover how life in Britain has changed since the birth of Elizabeth Garrett Anderson.
AMBITION
Campaigns for justice
Victorian Britain: a society in flux
Victorian democracy: who could vote, and who couldn’t
Did a woman have rights?
Workers organised
Changing lives
The people’s lives in Victorian Britain
The medical profession before Elizabeth Garrett
Restricted lives, big ambitions: middle-class women in the Victorian era
Women workers in the first half of the 19th century
PERSEVERANCE
Campaigns for justice
The changing political landscape
Widening the franchise: can we trust the workers?
Women want to vote: the beginnings of a movement
Trade unions become trade unions
Changing lives
A new concept of active government: Victorian social reform
Women as nurses and carers
Living a life that’s never been lived before: women attempt to enter medicine
International pioneers: women study medicine abroad
LEADERSHIP
Campaigns for justice
Contagious Diseases Acts
Trade unions broaden their vision
Women and education
Women trade unionists
Changing lives
The middle-class century
Working women in the second half of the 19th century
Social reform, philanthropy and paternalism
Women doctors for India
EQUALITY
Campaigns for justice
The women’s suffrage movement
The Taff Vale decision hampers the unions
The founding of the Labour party
The People’s Budget
Changing lives
Work and play
Marylebone and Somers Town
Did the working classes want a welfare state?
1901 – Who were the workers in the NewHospital for Women?
POWER IN NUMBERS
Campaigns for justice
The General Strike – 1926
The first Labour governments
Feminist campaigns between the wars
1901: The lives of working women in London
Changing lives
Work of women doctors in the First World War
Can we afford the doctor? Health services before the NHS
Wartime demand for social justice
The creation of the National Health Service 1945-1948
MAKING OUR VOICES HEARD
Campaigns for justice
Equality campaigns
Public sector unions before UNISON
UNISON brings public service workers together
Are trade unions still relevant?
Changing lives
The National Health Service becomes sacrosanct
Did the welfare state change the family?
Women’s equality today
Women in medicine now
IN THE CENTRE OF THE GALLERY YOU WILL FIND:
ENTERPRISING WOMEN
an interactive table containing short biographies of over 100 women renowned for their achievements in Britain in the 19th-21st centuries. Up to four visitors can use the table at any one time. Drag a photograph towards the edge of the table to discover details of that individual’s life. Or search by name or vocation, using the alphabetical or subject lists.
ON THE WALLS OF THE GALLERY
PROJECTIONS
show a changing display of pictures of the hospital as it was and of Elizabeth Garrett Anderson and some of the other women whose stories the Gallery tells.
THE GARRETT CORNER
is designed in the style associated with the work of Elizabeth Garrett Anderson’s sister, the architectural decorator Agnes Garrett, who was in charge of the original interior decoration of the hospital in 1890. The Gallery’s fireplace is the only surviving example of Agnes Garrett’s work. Next to this hangs a length of wallpaper, ‘Garrett Laburnum’, re-created from one of her designs.
In the Garrett Corner a display case and a low table contain a small collection of objects relevant to Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, the hospital and early women doctors.
While here do sit down and browse the library of books. These relate to the history of women – in society, in medicine, in the workplace, and in trade unions – and to the Somers Town area.
Plaque commemorating a substantial donation to the hospital by Henry Tate, industrialist and philanthropist
ACROSS FROM THE GARRETT CORNER IS A DISPLAY OF CERAMIC PLAQUES
Decorative plaques that used to hang beside patients’ beds, each commemorating a donor’s generosity.
You can read in detail about the work of the Garrett family in the fields of medicine, education, interior design, landscape design, citizenship and material culture in Elizabeth Crawford, Enterprising Women: the Garretts and their circle, published by Francis Boutle Publishers, £25. The book can be bought direct from womanandhersphere.com or click here to buy from the publisher
DO VISIT:
Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Gallery at the UNISON Centre
130 Euston Road
London NW1 2AY
Telephone: 0800 0 857 857
Open Wednesday to Friday 9.00am to 6.00pm
and the third Saturday of every month 9.00am to 4.00pm
Admission Free
Suffrage Stories: ‘From Frederick Street to Winson Green’: The Birmingham Women’s Suffrage Campaign
Posted by womanandhersphere in Suffrage Stories on March 22, 2013
On 13 October 2008 I gave the following talk in King’s Norton, Birmingham. It was part of a series of lectures to commemorate the restoration of the Old Grammar School and the Saracen’s Head, which in 2004 had won the BBC’ ‘Restoration’ television series.
I chose the title ‘From Frederick Street to Winson Green’ because it is interesting to trace the growth of the women’s suffrage movement in Birmingham through the streets and buildings in which the men and women of the city conducted their campaign. We will see that this campaign moved slowly from a domestic environment, from the villas (particularly the drawing rooms) of its main protagonists – into the public buildings and then the streets of Birmingham. And it was in Winson Green, the city’s castellated jail, that in 1909 the campaign which had begun 43 years earlier, took on a completely different and very much more dangerous aspect, that for which it has become notorious, when it was in there that suffragettes were forcibly fed for the first time in Britain.
But to begin at the beginning – it is worth bearing in mind that the campaign for women’s enfranchisement was just one among many in which liberal-minded men and women of the mid-19th century were interested. The campaigns for, example, land reform, anti-vaccination, compulsory education, early closing, and the Sunday opening of museums and art galleries were ones to which equal attention was devoted by their adherents. In 1866 the country was aware that parliamentary reform was in the air. It was over 30 years since the last attempt at reform and those who had industrialised Britain were determined that their exclusion from the franchise should be remedied. John Bright, who from 1858 had been Birmingham’s Radical MP, was at the forefront of this agitation. It was not, however, around Bright, who, unlike the rest of his remarkable family, was never in favour of giving any women the vote, but around another Radical MP, John Stuart Mill, that the campaign to include women in this potentially enlarged electorate was to centre. When Mill was elected to the Westminster seat in 1865 it was on a manifesto that included women as a category in a proposed enlarged franchise
A year later, in June 1866, he presented to Parliament a petition, signed by 1499 women, asking that the vote should be given to women on the same terms as it was given to men. This did not, of course, mean that all women should have a vote – any more than it meant all men – the capacity to vote was still to be determined by a property qualification. This petition includes only three names definitely from the Birmingham area – one woman lived at King’s Heath and two in Hockley. None of these women played any significant part in the ensuing campaign and it is likely that they were each asked to give their signature by a friend or relation from outside the area. There was clearly not yet an existing ‘feminist network’ in Birmingham, although this situation was soon to be remedied by the arrival at 10 Chad Road,
10 Chad Road (with thanks to Carole McKeown)
Edgbaston in c. 1867 of William Taylor and his young family. He was a member of a family that was closely involved both by business and marriage with the Courtaulds, manufacturers in Essex of that most eminently Victorian material – crape. Courtauld and Taylor fortunes were built on the backs, literally, of mourning Britons. William’s brother, Peter Alfred Taylor, was the very wealthy and very radical MP for Leicester. P.A. Taylor’s wife, Clementia, had been very active in the campaign to abolish slavery – as well as in numerous other radical causes – and was a member of the committee that organised that first women’s suffrage petition. William Taylor’s wife, Caroline, had signed the petition while they were living in Bridgwater. The family was Unitarian (as were so many others of their fellow campaigners of this period) and William is described in the 1871 census as an iron merchant and manufacturer.
The 1867 Reform Bill, when passed, did not, of course, include women in the enlarged franchise and groups of men and women in London and Manchester slowly formed themselves into the nuclei of a continuing campaign to put further petitions before parliament. At the time this was seen as the correct way in which to exert pressure on parliament; methods were to change over the years.
A committee of this National Society for Women’s Suffrage was formed in Birmingham on 21 April 1868 ‘in accordance with the request of Mrs P. Taylor, the Secretary of the London Suffrage Society, who had urged Mrs William Taylor, of Birmingham, and Miss Johnson to take up the matter’. A month later the committee held its first public meeting at the Exchange Rooms in New Street. William and Caroline Taylor were from the first members of the Birmingham executive committee and in 1868 Caroline was its treasurer. The first secretary was Mary Johnson, who had already been subscribing to the main London suffrage society in 1867. She lived with her parents, George and Fanny Johnson, at 90 Wheeley’s Road in Edgbaston. George Johnson is described in the 1871 census as an Independent minister. Lydia Becker, who was secretary of the very influential women’s suffrage society in Manchester, acted as Mary Johnson’s mentor, giving her guidance in setting up and running the society.
However in 1870 after her marriage, Mary Johnsonmoved to West Bromwich and was succeeded as secretary by Eliza Mary Sturge who lived at 17 Frederick Street (long ago renamed ‘Frederick Road’). She was the 28-year-old daughter of Charles Sturge, alderman of the city, brother of Joseph Sturge. The latter was by then dead, but very much alive in the Birmingham municipal memory. In the 1820s he had been one of the most vociferous campaigners against slavery and had been secretary of the Birmingham Anti-Slavery Society – even going out to the West Indies to inspect conditions there for himself. In the 1840s Joseph Sturge had been a leading campaigner in favour of the repeal of the Corn Laws, had throughout his life been an ardent supporter of free trade, peace and temperance, an advocate of manhood suffrage, founder of the Complete Suffrage Union, but, like John Bright, was not prepared to include women in any proposed enlarged franchise.
Sturge statue
After his death, in 1862 a fountain and statue had been dedicated to his memory at Five Ways, in Edgbaston and it is still there, despite all the road alterations. His brother, Charles, who worked in business with him as a corn merchant, was also involved in Joseph’s philanthropic endeavours but, unlike him gave practical, financial, support to the women’s suffrage movement. In 1871 he lived with his two daughters, Eliza and Maria, at 17 Frederick Street and it was from her home that Eliza conducted the business of the Birmingham Women’s Suffrage Society. The Sturges were Quakers and were related to the Clark family – the Quaker shoe makers – of Street in Somerset, who with other Sturge cousins were influential in the Bristol women’s suffrage society.
Having taken over the role of secretary in Birmingham, Eliza quickly became an active speaker in the suffrage cause. It was the policy of the suffrage societies around the country to attempt to influence both the existing, male, electorate and the women of the country by holding public meetings, using both local and imported speakers to lay out the arguments for women’s right to a vote in pithy speeches. In December 1871 there had been such a meeting in Birmingham, held in the Masonic Hall and described as crowded and highly successful.
Millicent Fawcett
Millicent Garrett Fawcett came from London to speak at it. Eliza Sturge herself also took to the road as a suffrage speaker. In 1872, for instance, she was a speaker at suffrage meetings in both Bristol and Rochdale. A speech she gave on 6 December that year at BirminghamTown Hall was reprinted as a pamphlet. In the course of this speech she mentions that ‘I know that I can go and return from public meetings alone at night without experiencing the slightest difficulty or annoyance’, which says something about the streets of Birmingham at the time and gives us an idea of how Eliza Sturge occupied her evenings! Millicent Garrett Fawcett was again a speaker and her speech was also reprinted. In it she made the point that ‘I can scarcely imagine that the Birmingham politicians, who took so prominent part in the reform agitation for the extension of the suffrage to working men, can be blind to the patent fact that all the most convincing arguments used during that agitation in favour of admitting the working classes to representation apply with equal cogency to the case of women.’ In 1873, very soon after women became eligible to stand, Eliza Sturge was elected as a member of the Birmingham School Board, of which Joseph Chamberlain was then the chairman. She was a Liberal supporter but in the 1870s despaired at the Liberal Party’s lack of interest in the woman’s cause.
As well as holding public meetings, members of the Birmingham society also undertook personal canvassing and the distribution of pamphlets in some of the wards of the city. However they were always at this time hampered by a lack of funds. At the beginning of the 1870s the society had a subscribing membership of about 30 and had only slightly increased its numbers by the end of the decade. The society’s annual reports are notably brief in comparison with those of, for instance, the Manchester or Edinburgh societies, But in March 1873 the society did manage to move its affairs out of Frederick St and into an office in central Birmingham, at 4 Broad Street Corner and spent £3 13s on its furnishing.
In 1872, the executive committee of the society also included the Rev Henry Crosskey and his wife, who, like the Taylors, were also recent arrivals in Birmingham. He was a Unitarian minister and had previously been living in Glasgow.
Church of the Messiah
In Birmingham he became minister of the congregation of the Church of the Messiah in Broad Street, a large Gothic building which reflected, as Pevsner put it, ‘the importance of Unitarians in Birmingham in the second half of the 19th century’. Under Crosskey the Church of the Messiah became an intellectual centre, a place where ideas about society were openly and critically discussed. Crosskey had long been associated with such radical causes as the Young Italy movement (Garibaldi and Mazzini were heroes to all the early supporters of women’s suffrage) and in Birmingham found a comrade in George Dawson, another independent nonconformist minister. Dawson had been a Baptist but in 1847 had opened his own church, the Church of the Saviour, in the middle of the city. His congregation included many people – Kenricks, Martineaus and Chamberlains -who were to become influential in the civic life of Birmingham. Dawson’s message was that the church should eschew fixed creeds and work towards the greater good, urging citizens to give all their talents for the service of the city. Dawson, thus, was a promoter of the ‘civic gospel’ that led Birmingham, in the 1870s and 1880s, to acquire the reputation for being the best-governed city in the world. Dawson had as early as the 1840s made clear that he was concerned about the position of women in society. It is unsurprising, therefore, to discover that his wife was also a member of the executive committee of the suffrage society at this time.
By 1878 Eliza Sturge had moved with her father and sister to Bewdley, from where, for a time she continued to act as secretary to the suffrage society. But by 1885 the honorary secretaryship had been taken over by Catherine Osler, who was finally to retire, as president of the society, 35 years later in 1920. As Catherine Courtauld Taylor, daughter of William and Caroline Taylor of 10 Chad Road, she had subscribed 1/- to the Birmingham Women’s Suffrage Society when it was founded in 1868; she was then 14. In 1873 she had married, in Crosskey’s Church of the Messiah, Alfred Clarkson Osler, a member of the wealthy Birmingham family of glass manufacturers. From both their families Catherine and Alfred Osler inherited a radical liberal tradition and from about 1884 Catherine was president of the Birmingham Women’s Liberal Association. All 4 of their children were to become active in the women’s suffrage movement. With increasing prosperity the Oslers moved to a large house in Edgbaston, ‘Fallowfields’, in Norfolk Road, the scene of a plethora of drawing-room meetings at which the question of women’s suffrage was discussed.
Mrs Osler (c) Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery, Supplied by the Public Catalogue Foundation
When Catherine Osler became secretary of the suffrage society her unmarried sister, Edith, became treasurer. It will have become clear that the 19th-century suffrage campaign in Birmingham, as in the rest of the country, was very much a middle-class affair – indeed very much an Edgbaston affair. With the vote firmly allied to a property qualification, it would only be householders and ratepayers who would benefit from any extension of the vote. There were, however, even within the middle-class pro-suffragists, degrees of liberalism. The 19th-century campaign split in 1888 along the lines of the split in the Liberal Party over Home Rule for Ireland. In Birmingham, as in the country at large, Joseph Chamberlain was one of the most prominent of the Liberal Unionists (those against Home Rule); the Oslers, unlike most of the Birmingham industrial families, who followed Chamberlain, were members of the more radical wing – followers of Gladstone in supporting Home Rule. This schism was reflected in a split in the national suffrage society so that for most of the 1890s the suffrage movement rather lost its focus, although individual members and societies were extremely active.
In 1892 Birmingham was chosen as the venue for a national conference organized by one of the splinter societies, the Women’s Emancipation Union, perhaps the most radical of these societies, with an agenda that demanded equality with men in every aspect of life. Although it is doubtful that Catherine Osler was actually a member of this society she did chair one session of this conference and proposed a resolution supporting the inclusion of women in any reformed scheme of local government. One of the leading members of the Women’s Emancipation Union was an interesting Birmingham woman. She was Caroline Smith, the sister of George Jacob Holyoake, Chartist and secularist, the last man in England to be sentenced on a charge of atheism. They were the eldest children in a large family, living in the 1820s in comparative poverty at 1 Inge Street in central Birmingham. As a child George Holyoake worked as a whitesmith alongside his father in the Eagle Foundry. Their mother had a small home workshop making horn buttons, before being put out of work by the growth of larger manufacturers. The Holyoakes were obviously an able family. However nothing is known about Caroline’s early life except that at some point she married a William Benjamin Smith, who had been born in Kings Norton around 1822. When the 1871 census was taken they were living at 19 Carpenter Road, Edgbaston. Although the Smiths’ house has now disappeared, it was presumably not unlike those that do remain – that is to say a large stucco Regency villa – a far cry from the house cum workshop in Inge Street where Caroline grew up. She was a member of the executive committee of the Birmingham Women’s Suffrage Society in 1885 but had clearly been attracted to the more radical movement and by 1892 was the national treasurer of the Women’s Emancipation Union.
It was doubtless its central position in the country that made Birmingham a popular venue for national conferences because again it was here, in 1896, that the main suffrage societies made a concerted effort to regroup. It was proposed that past differences be put aside and that they should unite as the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies, it being recognised that, after 30 years of campaigning – and the goal little nearer achievement – there was a need to present a common front from the centre. Although no parliamentary bill in favour of women’s suffrage was presented between 1897 and 1904 the suffrage movement did benefit from a more effective central organisation and this enthusiasm permeated down to the local societies. In October 1900 the minutes of the Birmingham society record that one of its best ever drawing-room meetings had been held in a private house at which 100 ladies were present and 26 new members enrolled. In 1902 the annual meeting of the Birmingham society – held in the Grand Hotel – was addressed by Sir Oliver Lodge, principal of Birmingham University. His speech was published as a pamphlet‘ so that today we can read that he thought, ‘The vote itself is a trivial affair, but its artificial withholding is a gratuitous insult: I am not surprised that the arbitrary withholding on that small function is one that galls out of all proportion to its importance. I recognize the desirability of doing away with artificial obstacles, and giving to everyone a clear field and an equal chance – a fair share in education, an open entrance to the professions, and a fair and reasonable opportunity of service in every direction.’
By this time Catherine Osler had become president of the Birmingham society and in 1903-4, with help from paid organizers (the movement was definitely moving away from involvement on a purely voluntary basis), she had supervised the opening of new branches in Coventry, Warwick, Redditch, and Leamington. At this time the Birmingham Women’s Suffrage Society thought it advisable to undertake work among working women, as was being done in Lancashire among the women textile workers. The Birmingham society began with the women chain makers of Cradley, paying for an organizer to go around from yard to yard, talking to the women about the suffrage issue.
Women chainmakers at Cradley Heath
In early 1904 they conducted another campaign amongst the Cradley nail makers. During 1907 the society held 30 meetings in Birmingham and the surrounding district and in 1908 drew in £8 6s 3d in subscriptions – making it the second largest society (after London) in England.
The increasing activity of the Birmingham Women’s Suffrage Society was not only due to better central organization but doubtless owed something to the impetus provided by the arrival on the suffrage scene of a new ginger group. This was the Women’s Social and Political Union, which had been founded in October 1903 in Manchester by Mrs Emmeline Pankhurst, but which had only really begun to make an impact with the arrest and imprisonment in October 1905 (in Manchester) of Mrs Pankhurst’s eldest daughter, Christabel, and of Annie Kenney on charges of obstructing the police.
The WSPU determined to win the vote by what they termed ‘militant methods’, that is, in order to bring pressure to bear on the Cabinet they were prepared to do more than hold orderly public meetings and present petitions to parliament through MPs. The political process itself had evolved since the 1860s; it was clear that individual members of parliament had little real power (that now resided in the Cabinet) and that no bill in favour of women’s suffrage would have a chance of passing into law unless it was presented as a government measure. What actually were ‘militant methods’ was never clearly defined by the WSPU – members more or less set their own limits, and that militancy escalated as the years passed. Initially WSPU strategy was to hold large meetings at the beginning of each session of parliament in a hall, such as Caxton Hall, close to the House of Commons, and for a deputation, often led by Mrs Pankhurst herself, to attempt to present a petition to the Prime Minister, who would invariably refuse to see them. The police would attempt to prevent them reaching Parliament and brawling would ensue.
Mrs Pankhurst arrested while leading a deputation to Parliament
This all attracted marvellous publicity, in a way in which drawing-room meetings in Edgbaston never had. The WSPU provided newspapers with ‘news’, that is, spectacle that was recorded in the photographs that had only lately superseded the engravings with which newspapers had been illustrated, and with the kind of behaviour that, because it was considered ‘extreme’, was, therefore, ‘news’.
Although the WSPU opened branches around the country it was increasingly autocratically controlled from Clement’s Inn, its London centre, by the Pankhursts and their fellow leaders, Emmeline and Frederick Pethick-Lawrence. The WSPU did not, like the NUWSS societies, foster local centres run by local women, Instead organizers were appointed by Clement’s Inn to the main cities and were expected to work to orders. These organizers were moved frequently around in order that they might not develop too close local attachments.
The Pankhursts’ autocratic system was not put in place without difficulty. In the autumn 1907 one group, which perhaps might be roughly characterized as a more left-wing element, broke away from the WSPU. When first founded in Manchester the WSPU had drawn support from the local Labour party and women had been drawn into it through their interest in furthering the cause of Labour as well as of women. When it became clear that, as well as forbidding any democracy within their own society, the Pankhursts were not interested in supporting the Labour party at parliamentary elections, a group, under the leadership of Charlotte Despard, withdrew and formed the Women’s Freedom League.
Thus in Edwardian Britain there were three main suffrage groupings, the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies, which sought the vote using constitutional methods, the Women’s Social and Political Union that employed militant methods, and the Women’s Freedom League that was prepared to use militant methods against the political process (such as attacking the ballot box and picketing parliament) but would not countenance harm to people or property. Interestingly, although by 1913 the WFL had 59 branches, it only had two in the West Midlands, in Wolverhampton and the Potteries, and never supported a branch in Birmingham, although on occasion, during general election campaigns, for instance, WFL speakers, such as its leader, Charlotte Despard, did come to speak in Birmingham.
Emma Sproson
The most active member of the WFL in the West Midlands was Emma Sproson, who had been a member of the WSPU in 1906, but joined the WFL after the 1907 split. She was a keen supporter of the Labour Party. Mrs Pankhurst had stayed with Emma Sproson when she visited Wolverhampton in 1906 to speak to local members of the Labour Party.
In keeping with their practice, by November 1907 the WSPU had appointed as their organizer in Birmingham Annie Kenney’s younger sister, Nell, who was based at 22 Belgrave Road, Edgbaston. She had worked from the age of 10 in an Oldham mill, until forced by ill health to leave and become a shop assistant. Now in her mid- twenties she set about organizing Birmingham. She calmly notes in her report for the WSPU newspaper, Votes for Women, in November 1907, ‘I am visiting most of the influential people in Birmingham and surrounding districts’. She was also holding a series of drawing-room, open-air and factory-gate meetings, besides addressing different religious societies and women’s co-operative guilds. She notes that ‘Our meetings are being run on strictly economical lines. The outdoor meetings are being advertised by chalking the pavements or ringing the bell, and the audiences so far have been orderly and sympathetic’. On 20 November 1907 a well-publicized WSPU meeting was held at Birmingham Town Hall, with both Mrs Pankhurst and Mrs Pethick-Lawrence as speakers, and Christabel Pankhurst taking the chair. Regular, women-only meetings were held at this time on Thursdays at the Bristol Street Schools. In February 1908 a contingent of women travelled from Birmingham to London to take part in what was called ‘The Women’s Parliament’, a meeting held in Caxton Hall on the occasion of the opening of a new session of the ‘the men’s parliament’. In the ensuing fracas four women from Birmingham were among the 50 or so arrested and subsequently sent to Holloway.
Mrs Pankhurst arrested while leading a deputation to Parliament
Another Birmingham woman was arrested the next day while taking part in the deputation led by Mrs Pankhurst that attempted to approach the House of Commons.
In June 1908 the WSPU organized an extravagant demonstration in Hyde Park to which women from all over the country came. Birmingham was on the line from Wolverhampton along which travelled on the day a Special Train bringing Birmingham supporters to take part in the rally. Tickets for the train cost seven shillings return and could be bought from Stanford and Mann, booksellers in New Street, from James Pass’s music warehouse at 48 Cherry Street, or from Combridge at 4 and 5 New Street. The train left Birmingham at quarter to eight in the morning. When they got off the train at Euston the women lined up with thousands of others to process to Hyde Park.
One of the main speakers in Hyde Park, with her own platform from which to address the vast crowds, was Gladice Keevil,
Gladice Keevil
considered one of the prettiest and most effective of WSPU speakers. She was a Londoner and was then 24 years old – she had already spent six weeks that year in Holloway. The Daily News report of the Hyde Park rally singled her out : ‘Miss Keevil was a particularly striking figure. Robed in flowing white muslin, her lithe figure swaying to every changing expression, and the animated face that smiled and scolded beneath the black straw hat and waving white ostrich feather, was the centre of one of the densest crowds’, showing that then, as now, it is the messenger rather than the message that captures the attention of the reporter. It was around this time that Gladice Keevil came to Birmingham, appointed WSPU National Organizer in the Midlands. She had already played her part in the conducting of the WSPU campaign at a by-election in Wolverhampton in May. WSPU election policy was to oppose the government (that is the Liberal) candidate in order, as they hoped, to bring pressure to bear on the government. At this Wolverhampton election the Liberal retained his seat with a majority of only eight (reduced from over 2800); the WSPU of course claimed that it was their campaign that had produced this close call. By the end of October 1908 Gladice Keevil had opened a WSPU office in Birmingham at 14 Ethel Street, which was to act as the headquarters for the Midlands. Evening At Homes were held there at 7.30 on Tuesdays, presumably attracting women who were working during the day, while afternoon
Edgbaston Assembly Rooms
meetings were held for the leisured at the Edgbaston Assembly Rooms. Working closely with Gladice Keevil at this time was Bertha Ryland, the daughter of Mrs Alice Ryland, of 19 Hermitage Road,
19 Hermitage Road (thanks to Carole McKeown)
Edgbaston, who in the mid 1870s had been a member of the executive committee of the Birmingham Women’s Suffrage Society and who had, with her daughter, transferred allegiance The Birmingham WSPU took its campaign into the Bourneville works and reported that many of the girls there wore the WSPU ‘Votes for Women’ badges. In February 1909 Christabel Pankhurst was the speaker at a meeting at the Town Hall and, as Votes for Women reported, ‘received an ovation the like of which no woman has ever experienced in Birmingham’.
A month later Mrs Pankhurst addressed a reception at the Midland Hotel, and a month after that Mrs Pethick-Lawrence led another Town Hall meeting. Birmingham was certainly not allowed to forget the women’s Familiar names appear in the list of WSPU activists; Miss Mathews and Miss Saxelby, for instance, have the same surnames as married women members of the 19th-century suffrage society, presumably attracted by the opportunity of more direct action offered by the WSPU. Catherine Osler’s daughters, Nellie and Dorothy, remained active members of the constitutional society and their brother, Julian was by this time a member of the Men’s League for Women’s Suffrage, the male counterpart of the NUWSS. Their other brother, John, was running the London side of the glass business and his wife was secretary of the Hampstead NUWSS society.
Gladice Keevil had introduced plenty of amusement for the young women of Birmingham; they could join the Votes for Women Corps and take to the street, standing in the gutter and attempt to persuade passers by to buy the WSPU newspaper. Again this activity seems to have been aimed at the leisured because quarter to 12 on a Friday morning was the rendevous time for the Corps to meet. Those sufficiently active could join the Cycling Scouts who, covering a 10-mile radius around Birmingham, took the suffrage message to out of the way places. There was also a Midlands WSPU horse-drawn caravan which in the summer toured the surrounding countryside.
Throughout the spring of 1909 there was also rather more sedentary activity that could be dedicated to the cause; the WSPU held in London a vast fund-raising bazaar, to which each district was encouraged to contribute goods for sale. The Midland group supported two stalls, one presided over by Mrs Kerwood, who had been one of the WSPU prisoners in March 1908, and the other by Mrs Gertrude Howey of Malvern, who had donated the campaigning caravan and whose daughter, Elsie, was one of the most active of the younger WSPU members. Women were encouraged to come from all over the country to visit the Exhibition, which was beautifully decorated by Sylvia Pankhurst, another of that remarkable family. Parties came down from Birmingham for the occasion on special excursion tickets. Birmingham women jewellers, including a Miss Myers and Annie Steen (of Woodfield Cottage, Woodfield Road, King’s Heath) contributed jewellery for sale on the Midland stall. Annie Steen was a regular advertizer in the pages of Votes for Women. In the 1901 census she had been described as an Art Teacher living at Mayfield Road, Kings Norton. Some of this jewellery would have been rendered with enamelling or stones in the WSPU ‘colours’; Annie Steen advertised in October 1909 ‘Handwrought jewellery in gold and silver set with stones in the colours’. Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence had introduced the colours, purple, white, and green, as ‘favours’ to be worn at the Hyde Park rally the previous year and WSPU branding had taken off in Birmingham. In a May 1909 report Gladice Keevil reminded members that hats, ties etc in the colours could be obtained from Romney, a milliner at 150 Broad Street and noted that one member was having the colours introduced into her wedding in every possible way, including the bouquets and the cake. Besides supplying jewellery to the cause Annie Steen also volunteered her drawing room for WSPU At Homes. Such meetings were also held at this time in the Women’s Hospital and in Queen’s College.
Mary Leigh in her uniform as leader of the WSPU Fife and Drum Band
Birmingham hit the headlines in September 1909 when suffragettes (as WSPU members had been nicknamed in order to be differentiated from members of the non-militant societies, the suffragists) dramatically interrupted a meeting that Asquith was attempting to hold in the Bingley Hall. Birmingham had tried to protect itself against any likely outrage; nine-foot high barricades had lined the station platform and the main streets along which the prime minister had travelled. However one intrepid suffragette had penetrated the defence and had reached the roof of the hall, from where she proceeded to hurl down slates to the ground. The five suffragettes, only one of whom (Evelyn Hilda Burkitt, a secretary who lived at 214 Wellington Road, Perry Barr) was native to Birmingham, were arrested. Four were sentenced to three months’ imprisonment and the fifth, Mary Leigh, who was regarded as a repeat offender, was sentenced to four months’ imprisonment with hard labour in Winson Green. There they went on hunger strike. Mary Leigh had used the tactic, both in Holloway and in Walton jail, Liverpool, and on both occasions had starved herself out of prison before the end of her sentence. However by late September the Home Office, whose officials had been giving advice to the prison medical officers, decided that enough was enough and Winson Green staff were instructed to institute a regime of forcible or, as the Home Office preferred to call it, ‘artificial’ feeding.
The minutes of the Prison Visiting Committee for this period make interesting reading. Unlike the issues of Votes for Women in which the suffragettes told their story, the Committee minutes give a dispassionate account of the procedure, recording that attempts were first made to feed Mary Leigh with a spoon, and when she resisted, resort was made to feeding by a nasal tube, but that by the end of the month she was taking food from a feeding cup. The WSPU brought a case on her behalf against the Home Office and the Governor of Winson Green, to the effect that a prisoner had a right to refuse such ‘treatment’ as feeding, However, the Lord Chief Justice eventually ruled that it was a medical officer’s duty to prevent prisoners committing suicide. A statement made by Mary Leigh, ‘Forcible Feeding in Prison’, based on her experiences in Winson Green, was published by the WSPU. The Birmingham WSPU did what they could to capitalise on the prison’s notoriety; parades were organised to march around outside, the women singing to offer encouragement to the inmates, I have seen a postcard sent at the time by a certain Arthur Lewis, who wrote to his correspondent ‘No doubt you have heard of the Birmingham suffragettes being forcibly fed in the prison.. It is occurring only about 3 minutes walk from our house and nearly every night the suffragettes who are at liberty ride to the prison in sometimes wagonettes and sometimes a fruitier’s cart and blow bugles. There are always some policemen there and do not let the conveyance stop. One suffragette Mrs Leigh was released yesterday, Saturday.’ Indeed Much had been made of the release of Mrs Leigh who was taken to the Ethel Street office in a cab and then straight to a nursing home.
The sight, as it were, of the Liberal government forcibly feeding suffrage prisoners was too much for Catherine Osler and at the end of the year she resigned as president of the Birmingham Women’s Liberal Association, a position she had held for most of her adult life. She did not, however, condone militancy, as she made clear in a pamphlet, ‘Why Women Need the Vote’.
By January 1910, when the general election that resulted from the House of Lord’s rejection of Lloyd George’s budget was held, Gladice Keevil had been moved on from Birmingham to Exeter, a very marginal Liberal seat, which went, with an equally small majority to the Conservatives; obviously Gladice’s winning ways were thought an essential tool in this aspect of the campaign. Liberalism was presumably too entrenched in Birmingham for it to be thought worth more than the usual measure of campaigning. The new organiser was Dorothy Evans and a new office, which stayed open until 8 in the evening, was opened at 33 Paradise Street. Throughout 1910, with the Liberal government dependent on a greatly reduced majority, the WSPU put militancy on hold, taking at face value Asquith’s assurance that if a reform bill were to be introduced the government would make the question of a women’s suffrage amendment open to a free vote. Activity therefore in the country concentrated on keeping the issue in front of the electorate. Bertha Ryland and Hilda Burkitt were still active WSPU workers, attracting a range of high- profile WSPU speakers to Birmingham. Through the pages of Votes for Women the minutiae of the campaign can be traced; it certainly involved an incredible amount of organisation. By the end of the year the WSPU activists were even able to employ electricity to advertize a meeting at which Mrs Pankhurst was speaking in the Town Hall; lanterns were ‘fitted with electric light which shone through’ throwing up the words ‘Mrs Pankhurst, Town Hall, November 15’ and were carried around the streets. The lanterns had been made by members of the local Men’s Political Union – the WSPU’s male counterpart. Women might agitate for the vote but they obviously didn’t mess with electricity.
The Birmingham NUWSS society had reopened an office c 1908 at 10 Easy Row – it was apparent that they had been without a central office for several years. Catherine Osler had by now an extremely competent secretary to run the society – Mrs Florence Carol Ring. I have been unable to find out anything about Mrs Ring – perhaps some local researcher can – but believe she was a most efficient organizer. A notebook in the Archives is labelled ‘Town Hall Meetings: Method of organizing and procedure’ and is full of the most detailed notes of how to organize and advertize the suffrage society’s meetings. All the items are costed and this notebook highlights the orderliness and forward planning that went into NUWSS meetings in this period.
In the summer of 1910 the country’s NUWSS and WSPU societies jointly staged in London a grand rally, wonderfully decorated with banners. There would have been trainloads of participants from Birmingham.
MRs Aubrey Dowson (ed), The Women’s Suffrage Cookery Boook
The Birmingham Women’s Suffrage Society was behind the production of one of the NUWSS’s most appealing fund-raising projects, the Women’s Suffrage Cookery Book, edited by Mrs Aubrey Dowson, whose husband was a nephew of Catherine Osler. The recipes were gathered from suffragists all over the country – the first in the book, for Egg Croquettes is from Mrs Julian Osler, Catherine’s daughter-in-law.
The suffrage peace came to an end in November 1910 when it was announced that parliament was to be dissolved without women being any closer to getting the vote. This was not the outcome for which the suffrage societies, both constitutional and militant, had been working; the WSPU put in place prepared plans for a deputation to the House of Commons. This met with firm police resistance in Parliament Square.
‘Black Friday’, Parliament Square, November 1910
Women were assaulted and the occasion went down in suffrage history as ‘Black Friday’. Dorothy Evans was among the women arrested but, because the Home Office realised that the occasion would be used as a wonderful source of propaganda by the WSPU, no charges were brought against her or any of the many others. However women who, a couple of days later, protested about the Parliament Square debacle by throwing stones at government offices, were arrested and charged. One of these, who was sentenced to two weeks’ imprisonment, was a Mrs Pattie Hall, who although originally from Manchester, where she and her husband had been very close associates of the Pankhursts in their Labour Party days, now lived in Edgbaston, at 56 Hagley Road. Her young daughter, Nellie, had taken part the previous year in the parades outside Winson Green and was to remain a supporter of Mrs Pankhurst until the latter’s death. A wonderful collection of Nellie Hall’s suffrage papers and ephemera (including a suffragette tea service and her hunger strike medal) is on loan to the Birmingham Museum. By mid 1911 the WSPU office had moved again – to 97 John Bright Street.
In April 1911 some members of the Birmingham WSPU joined in the boycott called on the census. One of these was Mrs Ethel Adair Impey, a Quaker, of Cropthorne, Middletonhall Road, King’s Norton. She was described on the census form, filled in by the registrar, as a ‘Suffragette, Information Refused’. In fact information was refused not only by her, but also by her husband, her son, her servant and about 6 nameless females.
In November 1911 after yet another long period of truce, Asquith announced that the government planned to introduce a manhood suffrage bill, which might, if the House of Commons desired, be amended to include women. An unlikelihood. This was the signal for women to take to the streets in London with stones, breaking more windows of government offices. Amongst the many arrested was Bertha Brewster, a young Birmingham woman whose mother had also long been a suffrage supporter. She was sentenced to 21 days’ imprisonment and on her release, with other Birmingham prisoners, she was given a hero’s welcome, in a room in Queen’s College, by the local WSPU. Dorothy Evans was among the many women arrested in London in March 1912 after smashing windows in the West End; Mrs Pankhurst had told the WSPU that ‘the argument of the broken pane of glass is the most valuable argument in modern politics’. Dorothy Evans was sentenced to two month’s imprisonment and a Miss Grew took over as organizer in Birmingham. Because there were too many suffragette prisoners to be accommodated in Holloway many were farmed out to prisons around the country. Twenty-five ordinary prisoners were moved from Winson Green in order to make way for suffragettes, who then went on hunger strike and were forcibly fed. Miss Grew organized members to go each night to stand outside the prison and cheer them on.
The prisoners appear to have made the most of their incarceration. They produced a hand-written, illustrated magazine, entitled The Hammerer’s Magazine – ‘for private circulation only’, its cover showing a hammer striking a pane of glass. One of the sketches, drawn on toilet paper, shows the 25 suffragettes in two rows seated on chairs, backs to the artist, with the prison gallery above, one warder at the front and another on the first-floor gallery. This is quite an important sketch, giving a rare view of life inside Winson Green..
The best poem in the magazine is probably one entitled ‘Winson Green in April & May 1912’ which appears to be written on the back of a Robertson’s Golden Shred marmalade wrapper! It begins:
Cling, clang of prison keys,
Slam bang of doors,
Wash slosh – Monday morn,
Water on the floors –
Tramp, tramp of prison feet,
Ring, rang of bells,
Clash smash of prison bars,
Suffragettes in cells.
Among the women imprisoned at this time was Maude Kate Smith from Birmingham, with whom Professor Brian Harrison recorded an excellent interview now held in the Women’s Library. Besides giving very graphic detail of her experience of forcible feeding, during the course of the interview Miss Smith reveals that there were plans afoot to blow up a Birmingham canal – for during 1912 and 1913 WSPU militancy escalated as the government’s intractability became more apparent.
Pillar boxes were fired – here is one comical comments on this method of militancy. More seriously, property (always at least intended to be empty) was also targeted. The actions of the government contributed towards what might now be seen as ‘terrorism’. In April 1913 parliament passed ‘The Cat and Mouse Act’, by which women prisoners who were being forcibly fed were to be released for a few days to recover their health and were required to return to prison to resume their sentence. Most of those released – the mice – did not bother to return to prison and in many instances the police did not bother to look for them. This ‘underground’ life did, however, have a momentum of its own. Mice, already branded as criminals, thought nothing of repeating their acts of arson (or, as they called it, ‘work’) and much of the damage, which was really quite extensive, was carried out by a dedicated few, travelling around the country, given shelter by well wishers.
For instance, on Christmas Day 1913 one young suffragette, Lilian Lenton, who had been arrested on a charge of setting fire to a house in Cheltenham, was released from prison after going on a hunger-and-thirst-strike – into the care of Mrs Edith Impey of King’s Norton. In April 1913 suffragettes were suspected of setting fire to a boathouse in Handsworth Park. In the same month the Morning Post reported that the suffragettes had planned to set fire to the Old Grammar School at Kings Norton, but had changed their minds when they saw its beauty. In June 1913 a house in Solihull was destroyed and in July one in Perry Bar and another in Selly Park was set on fire. Nellie Hall was charged on suspicion of having been involved with this last arson attack; she had been caught on 13 July after throwing a brick at Asquith’s car when he visited Birmingham and was sentenced to three weeks’ imprisonment. In October 1913 two local railway stations -Northfield (not far from here) and
Hagley Road Station c 1913
Hagley Road were fired and in February 1914 Northfield Library was destroyed – the damage was estimated at £1000 – and on the same day a bomb exploded at Moor Hall Green. Soon after there were several other serious arson attempts in Birmingham; two houses and two cricket pavilions were set alight – at Smethick and Harborne. The slogan left at Harborne was ‘Down with sport, up with fair play for women’ – and there was a fire on the Midland railway at Kings Norton. .In March 1914 the Cathedral was defaced by suffrage slogans – including ‘Stop Forcible Feeding’ –which were daubed on much of its interior in white enamel paint. ‘Votes for Women’ was painted across the middle of the Burne- Jones window. On the vestry door was painted ‘The clergy must rise on our behalf’ Edgbaston Parish Church and St Stephen’s Selly Hill were also attacked.
On 17 May a grandstand at Bromford Bridge racecourse was destroyed and on 8 June Bertha Ryland, cleaver in hand, slashed a picture, ‘Master Thornhill’ by Romney, in Birmingham Art Gallery . She carried a letter giving an explanation of her conduct, saying ‘I attack this work of art deliberately as a protest against the government’s criminal injustice in denying women the vote, and also against the government’s brutal injustice in imprisoning, forcibly feeding, and drugging suffragist militants, while allowing Ulster militants to go free..’ The gallery was immediately closed for six weeks. After that it was not open after 5 in the afternoon and was closed all day Sunday; presumably the level of security had to be increased and the gallery could not afford to open for so many hours. A rule of ‘No muffs, wrist-bags or sticks’ was subsequently enforced.. Bertha Ryland, the presumably gently-nurtured daughter of Edgbaston (whose mother had 30 years earlier been intent on bringing art to the working-classes), had already spent a week in Holloway in November 1911 and, after taking part in the March 1912 window-smashing campaign in London, had been sentenced to six months’ imprisonment. She had spent four months in Winson Green prison, had gone on hunger strike and been forcibly fed.
Bertha Ryland’s WSPU hunger-strike medal (together with her Coronation medal) courtesy of Christie’s
After her arrest in the Art Gallery she went on hunger strike while held on remand. She then accepted bail, was too ill to stand trial at the July assizes, and still had not been sentenced when war broke out. She suffered permanent kidney damage as a result of her treatment in prison.
With Mrs Pankhurst in and out of prison under the Cat and Mouse Act and Christabel based in Paris, to where she had fled to escape the police, the WSPU leadership was
Christabel Pankhurst relaxing in France
increasingly out of touch with day-to-day reality and the campaign was ricocheting out of control. It is my contention that the WSPU was only saved from real disaster by the outbreak of war. The Pankhursts then dropped all suffrage activity and rallied to the flag leaving many, but by no means all, of their supporters dumbfounded. Some of the latter group founded the United Suffragists, to carry on campaigning. In 1915 Bertha Brewster founded a Birmingham branch of the United Suffragists, with an office at 15 New Street.
The NUWSS had, of course, eschewed all the pre-war violence and concentrated on spectacle and politicking. The constitutional or ‘law-abiding’, as they termed themselves, societies had organised themselves into Federations to concentrate their efforts. Birmingham played a leading part in the Midlands (West) Federation and in June 1913 joined with the other societies in The Pilgrimage, a grand attempt to bring a dignified campaign to the country and the prime minister. The Birmingham society travelled along the route that brought pilgrims, with cockleshell badges pinned to their hats, from Carlisle to London. On 14 July 1913 the Birmingham Daily Mail carried a report of the arrival of the pilgrims in Birmingham. ‘At 5 o’clock a strong contingent of the Birmingham Women’s Suffrage Society marched from Easy Row to meet the pilgrims who had started early in the afternoon from Wolverhampton. At Great King St, Hockley, the visitors were joined by the local suffragists, and a procession was formed, headed by the Baskerville Band. Banners bearing the legends ‘Law Abiding’ and ‘By Reason, Not Force’ were prominently displayed’. The pilgrims that passed through Birmingham would have been among those who continued on to Oxford.
As far as politics was concerned, the NUWSS entered into an electoral alliance with the Labour party in order to support Labour candidates at by-elections and thereby subject Liberal candidates to rather more opposition that the usual lone Conservative – that is, they were prepared to turn by-elections into three-cornered fights. Catherine Osler supported the national executive in this, although by no means all local societies did. Birmingham was still radical. By 1913 the society had enrolled 1600 ‘Friends of Women’s Suffrage’, mainly working-class women who could not afford to pay the annual membership fee but were prepared to sign pledges of support. The society at this time suggested founding ‘Women’s Study Circles’ at which working women could meet in each others homes to discuss the suffrage issue; Mrs Osler’s pamphlet ‘Why Women need the Vote’ was one of the suggested texts, as was John Stuart Mill’s Subjection of Women. At this time the Society had over 700 full members.
Unlike the WSPU, the NUWSS societies carried on campaigning during the First World War, as well as supporting the war effort. There was a split in the NUWSS; a majority of its committee wished to withdraw this support and to join in a Women’s Peace Conference to be held at The Hague and it was in Birmingham in June 1915 that at a national conference this move was defeated.
Whether it was because of women’s contribution to the war effort, matters were at last reaching a resolution. In March 1917 Catherine Osler presided over a meeting held in the Midland Institute in support of the move to include women in the proposed Electoral Bill. When the first installment of enfranchisement (that is, to women over the age of 30) was granted in 1918 the NUWSS’s work was ostensibly finished. Catherine Osler was in the chair at the meeting in which the proposed amalgamation of the Birmingham Women’s Suffrage Society and the local branch of the National Union of Women Workers (‘workers’ in this usage were not working-class women but women workers in a cause – in a 19th-century sense – philanthropists). The amalgamated society became the Birmingham Society for Equal Citizenship. Catherine Osler, radical to the end, was keen that the lack of representatives of women’s labour organizations on the new body should be rectified, suggesting that the Women’s Co-operative Guild should be given three representatives. She finally resigned as president in 1920; a portrait of her was commissioned and was presented to the ArtGallery (see above). The surplus of the money raised to pay for the portrait was used to fund a scholarship in her name at Birmingham University, to allow women graduates to read for a postgraduate degree in the Faculty of Arts. It is still awarded from time until very recently.
As well as all this activity from the two main suffrage societies, Birmingham also had other smaller but active suffrage groups. In 1913 the Birmingham branch of the Church League for Women’s Suffrage operated from the home of Miss Griffiths at 34 Harborne Road, Edgbaston; that of the Conservative and Unionist Women’s Franchise Association from the home of Miss Adams at 56 Carlyle Road, Edgbaston, the Birmingham branch of the Men’s League for Women’s Suffrage was run by Mr Evans from 382 Moseley Road, and that of the Friends League for Women’s Suffrage from the home of Miss Joyce at 12 Frederick Road, Edgbaston (a few doors from where Eliza Sturge, also a Quaker, had campaigned nearly 45 years previously).
Mrs Margery Corbett Ashby
At the 1918 general election, the first at which women (albeit only those over 30 years of age) could both vote and stand as candidates, the main attention was focused on Smethwick where Christabel Pankhurst stood as a coalition candidate; she was defeated. At that election Birmingham’s first woman candidate (at Ladywood) was Mrs Margery Corbett Ashby, who stood as a Liberal, again unsuccessfully. The Women’s Library archive includes a 1975 interview with Dame Margery, as she had then become, in which she says that the idea of her standing against a Chamberlain in Birmingham was greeted by her family with hoots of laughter. She goes on to say that she didn’t have ‘the faintest idea of getting in – which would have been very inconvenient – but did so in order to get people used to the idea of a woman standing. That she did as well as other Liberal candidates around. And her candidature was greeted with surprise but with no ridicule.
Dame Elizabeth Cadbury
The first woman to stand as a candidate for King’s Norton’s at a general election – in 1923 – was Elizabeth Cadbury, widow, by then, of George Cadbury, the chocolate manufacturer. She was a Liberal and was also unsuccessful. She lived at Manor House, Northfield, and was a city councillor for Kings Norton from 1919 to 1924. In 1928, 60 years after Birmingham’s campaign had been launched at the meeting in the Exchange Rooms, New Street, all women were given the vote on the same terms as men. However Birmingham did not have a woman MP until after the Second World War – with Mrs Edith Wills elected as Labour member for Duddeston in 1945 and Mrs Edith Pitt (Conservative) elected for Edgbaston in 1953 – the culmination of the campaign that had begun in 1866 with a mere three Birmingham names on that very first ‘women’s suffrage’ petition.
See also:
Birmingham Stories: Votes for Women
Fight for the Right: the Birmingham Suffragettes
Suffragette Acts in Birmingham: Parliament UK
Suffrage Stories: Radio 4 ‘Document’: Votes For Victorian Women
Posted by womanandhersphere in Suffrage Stories on March 19, 2013
On Monday, 18 March 2013 Radio 4 broadcast, in the series ‘Document, an interesting programme to which I made a small contribution. Below is the description of the programme that appears on the BBC website. The programme is available on iPlayer for a year – that is until March 2014 – click here to listen.
‘Votes for Victorian Women
- Duration:
- 28 minutes
- First broadcast:
Monday 18 March 2013
Popular history tells us that women did not get the vote until 1918.
Though they could technically vote in local elections before that, many historians have argued that in practice they had no vote until the 1860s at the earliest. And evidence that they ever did vote has proved almost impossible to find.
But now a poll book, discovered in a box of papers in a local record office, clearly shows 25 women voting in elections for important local posts in Lichfield in 1843.
In this week’s Document, the historian Sarah Richardson follows the trail of these women, to reveal a picture of Victorian women’s involvement in politics which challenges many of our assumptions.
She discovers that they represented a surprising cross-section of society – old and young, poor and prosperous – and attempts to trace their descendants today.
She finds out how, when even universal manhood suffrage was seen as a radical, dangerous idea, these women may have been just a few of many more who could vote at a local level.
Coronation Procession 1911: The Historical Pageant
And she explores how, decades later, campaigners for Votes for Women at the Westminster level had to contend with this complex legacy.’
[Left – the photograph that Sarah and I are looking at when discussing the way in which 20th-century suffrage campaigners were keen to legitimise their claim to the franchise by looking to the power, occasionally electoral, exercised by women in the past.]
Suffrage Stories: Suffragettes and Tea Rooms: Suffragette Tea from Suffragette China
Posted by womanandhersphere in Collecting Suffrage, Suffrage Stories on September 11, 2012
WSPU china – ‘Angel of Freedom’ design, 1909A week of posts on ‘Suffragettes and Tea Rooms’ cannot end without looking at the tea rooms that the suffragette societies themselves ran – in their shops and at their fund-raising bazaars – and the china they commissioned in which to serve that tea .
The best known of the fund-raising events is probably the WSPU exhibition held at the Prince’s Skating Rink at Knightsbridge in May 1909. There the tea room was run by Mrs Henrietta Lowy, with help from her four daughters and another young upper-class suffragette, Una Dugdale. In the spirit of exuberance and professionalism that marked this the first of the WSPU’s fund-raising bazaars, a decision was taken – presumably reasonably well in advance of the Exhibition – to commission a Staffordshire pottery – H.M. Williamson of Longton – to make the china from which the tea would be served in the Exhibition’s Tea Room.
The white china has strikingly clean, straight lines, rimmed in dark green and with angular green handles. The shape is, I am sure, a Williamson standard – but how very different the WSPU pieces look from, say, Williamson’s Rosary design–in which pink and grey ribbons and roses are applied to the same shape and every edge is gilded. In contrast, the WSPU china design is pared back, almost stark.
It is more than likely that, from the range offered by Williamson, Sylvia Pankhurst chose this shape, keeping the design simple so that the ‘angel of freedom’ motif that she had designed specifically for the Exhibition should be shown to best effect. Each piece of the tea service carries this motif; behind the angel and accompanying banner and trumpet, are the initials ‘WSPU’ set against dark prison bars, surrounded by thistle, shamrock, rose – and dangling chains. At the end of the Exhibition, the china – tea pots, cups, saucers, tea plates, sugar bowls etc – was offered for sale, made up into sets of 22 pieces. Many years ago, early in my ephemera-dealing days I bought – and, of course, immediately sold – a comprehensive service. Although I have subsequently sold individual pieces of the china, I have never again seen such a complete set. Ah well.
Pieces of this design are held in archives such as the Museum of London and the Women’s Library – but one variation design is not, as far as I know, represented in any public collection.
This cup – its design based on Sylvia Pankhurst’s ‘portcullis’ motif which, used on the WSPU’s ‘Holloway brooch’, can be dated to the spring of 1909 – came from a collection that also contained items of the ‘angel of freedom’ china. I bought this wonderful haul some years ago at auction and, although the provenance was not divulged by the auctioneer, I am pretty sure that the china had once been belonged to Mrs Rose Lamartine Yates who held fund-raising teas for the Wimbledon WSPU on the lawn of Dorset Hall, her 18th-century Merton house. This ‘portcullis’ cup does not carry any maker’s mark but, as the shape is identical to the Williamson pieces, I think we can be pretty certain that they probably also made this. As, in the early 19th-century, when women set their tea trays with ‘anti-slavery’ china, so in the early 20th, suffragettes who bought these tea services could – like Mrs Lamartine Yates – use them as propaganda tools -promoting the movement, most elegantly, in a bid to convert their ‘anti’ neighbours.
I have only ever had in stock – and that only fleetingly – this cup and saucer (see left), part of the third identifiable range of WSPU-commissioned china. I believe, however, that the People’s Palace in Glasgow holds a similar two pieces . They formed part of the Scottish version of the Prince’s Rink tea service, commissioned from the Diamond China Co, another Longton pottery, for use at the refreshment stall at the Scottish WSPU Exhibition held in Glasgow at the end of April 1910. Here the ‘angel of freedom’ is allied, on white china, with the Scottish thistle, handpainted, in purple and green, inside transfer outlines. After the exhibition this china, too, was sold – Votes for Women, 18 May 1910, noting that ‘a breakfast set for two, 11s; small tea set 15s , whole tea set £2, or pieces may be had singly’. It will hardly surprise readers to learn that WSPU china – now so very rare – commands a very high price. But what a wonderful addition a piece would make to any suffrage collection.
Although the china they used was probably more basic, some of the shops and offices run by both suffragette and suffragist societies offered their members – and the general public – a tea room. For instance, the Birmingham NUWSS office at 10 Easy Row included a shop at which tea could be taken and suffrage papers read. And the Glasgow WFL shop, at 302 Sauchiehall Street, as befitting the city in which Miss Cranston perfected the art of the tea room, served tea in its ‘artistic hall’, decorated in the WFL colours. (By the way, when in Glasgow do not fail to visit the De Luxe Room in The Willow Tea Rooms, also on Sauchiehall Street, originally designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh for Miss Cranston – it may be a reconstruction, but it’s lovely).
As a final thought, the WSPU not only sold their own china, but also their own tea – much advertised in Votes for Women. Unfortunately, the only reference I have ever come across to anyone buying the tea was an aside by Mary Blathwayt, who noted in her diary that she had had to return a bag that was ‘off’ to the Bath WSPU shop. But I am sure that merely reflects the fact that the hundreds of satisfied customers had no need to comment and I will end this sequence of posts by conjuring up the image of a WSPU tea party, cucumber sandwiches sitting delicately on the elegant WSPU plates, as the assembled company receive WSPU tea into their WSPU cups from the WSPU pot. How, then, could the ensuing conversation be of anything other than ‘Votes for Women’?
Suffrage Stories: Suffragettes and Tea Rooms: From ‘Sheltered Anonymity’ to Sites of Protest
Posted by womanandhersphere in Kate Frye's suffrage diary, Suffrage Stories on September 10, 2012
Advertisement for Alan’s Tea Rooms in ‘Votes for Women’.
Last week’s posts on ‘Suffragettes and Tea Rooms’ were based on the research I had done for the item that aired on Woman’s Hour on 4 September. The posts gave details of a few of the London tea rooms and restaurants – – some of them vegetarian – that we know were favoured by suffragettes. I had been curious to know more about the reality – the geographical position and the look of the interiors – of the cafes whose names are scattered through the columns of the suffragette newspapers. I had wondered ‘Why were suffragettes attracted to one place rather than another?’ ‘Whose businesses were they?’ – and hope that in last week’s posts I have, at least partially, answered these questions. In the absence of any other information, I was pleasantly surprised by how much detail could be gleaned from such superficially dull sources as rate books and the files of liquidated companies. I now have a much clearer image in my mind – as I walk around London – of the places in which militant activity was discussed – and indeed practised – by suffragettes a hundred years ago.
Corner of Alan’s Tea Rooms – as pictured in ‘The Idler’, 1910
For political movements need sheltering spaces – of all sizes – in which those involved can exchange views. In the 19th century women could attend the hundreds of formal suffrage meetings and conscious-raising talks that were held in Britain’s town halls and assembly halls – or, if suitably couth, the ‘drawing-room’ meetings held in the houses of the better-off. But until the late 1880s there were very few places outside the home in which respectable women could congregate – for refreshment – to meet their friends – or to discuss politics. The coffee houses, chop houses, ale houses and public houses that had for centuries enabled men to congregate, do business and eat and drink – had been socially barred to respectable women. It was only towards the end of the century that middle-class women were able to move independently– without any vestige of social censure – out of the home and around the streets of the metropolis. One practical element lining the path to freedom was a new type of business – the café, tea room or restaurant designed with women in mind. These were places that women could visit – either alone or in company – where their presence was not seen as an invitation to molestation – where they could eat and drink – and, most importantly, use the lavatory – without breaking any social taboos.
Kate Frye – suffrage organizer and frequenter of restaurants and tea rooms
That there were indeed still taboos around the presence of a woman in some places of public refreshment, even as late as 1911, is evident in one of the entries from Kate Frye’s diary. (My edition of her suffrage diary, Campaigning for the Vote, will be published in the autuimn). She is staying in a hotel in a small Norfolk market town, while organising meetings for a suffrage society. :
22 March 1911 ‘Came in, had my lunch [in the hotel dining room] in company with four motorists. It is funny the way men come in here and, seeing me, shoot out again and I hear whispered conversations outside on the landing with the waitress. Then they come in very subdued and make conversation one to another and try not to look at me. Awfully funny – they might never have seen a woman before – but I suppose it does seem a strange place to find one.’
For, by the 1900s, the situation in larger towns and cities had changed. When not out organising meetings in the provinces, Kate lived and worked in London and there she paid daily visits to cafes, restaurants and tea rooms where she never felt out of place. Aimed particularly at the woman shopper – or woman clerical worker – here she could feel comfortable – both physically and mentally. Some of the cafes were part of chains – such as the ABC, founded in the 1880s, and Lyons in 1894. For a rare photograph of a Lyons interior – dating from the 1920s -see here. These chains catered for upper-working-class and lower- middle-class women who could enter their premises with equanimity and sit in sheltered anonymity at separate tables – and be served, not by waiters, but by waitresses. Kate Frye, belonging to a slightly higher strata of society, favoured rather smarter chain restaurants – such as Slaters’ – or tea rooms such as Fullers’. However it was in a Lyons tea room close to Parliament Square that she sat on the evening of 21 November 1911 with a group of suffragettes who were poised to embark on the smashing of the windows of government offices.
And quite apart from the chains, the first decade of the 20thcentury saw a proliferation of small refreshment rooms – ‘Tea Rooms’ – that were even more closely aimed at a female clientele. These were likely to be run – as were Alan’s Tea Rooms and the Tea
Advertisement for The Tea Cup Inn in ‘Votes for Women’.
Cup Inn – by a woman or a couple of women friends – and allowed women, who may have had no training in anything other than ‘home responsibilities’, the possibility of running a business, while at the same time allowing other women the ability to enjoy the freedom of moving around the city – or town – by providing a space in which they could pause for refreshment.
As we have seen, a few London tea rooms and restaurants were particularly favoured by suffragettes – as, similarly, were they in provincial towns. In Newcastle, Fenwick’s cafe was the venue of choice of the group of women, including Dr Ethel Bentham and Lisbeth Simm, set up the ‘Drawing-Room Cafe’ meetings where women could meet to discuss discuss politics. In Nottingham the WSPU held meetings at Morley’s Cafe, a teetotal establishment, originally opened to provide an alternative to the pub. In Edinburgh the Cafe Vegetaria was particularly favoured by the local Women’s Freedom League society – and it was on its premises on the night of 2 April 1911 that suffragettes gathered – as they did at the vegetarian Gardenia in London – to evade the census enumerator
A year later, however, although so popular with women, tea rooms were not immune from the effects of the 1 March 1912 WSPU window-smashing campaign. Two ABC shops were attacked – one in The Strand and one in Bond Street – here is the photographic evidence.
When, from the end of 1913, the WSPU campaign became ever more desperate, the tea rooms and restaurants that women had made their own themselves became sites of protest. On December 20th a suffragette dining at the vegetarian, suffrage-sympathising, Eustace Miles restaurant was able to make a long speech castigating the government’s treatment of suffragette prisoners – and was, so The Suffragette reported, listened to with eager attention, while her companion distributed leaflets. And althougb the management did eventually ask the speaker to stop she was allowed to continue with her ‘meeting’ and, afterwards, to remain in the restaurant. However, most cafes were not so amenable. When, on the same day, at Fullers’ in Regent Street, a woman began to address the crowded restaurant from the gallery and her two companions showered down leaflets, they were very quickly asked to leave. The newspaper report reveals that the subject of the woman’s address was a comparison of the treatment by the government of Sir Edward Carson and Ulster rebels with that meted on suffragettes. A few days later, when another interruption took place at Fullers’, the management had their answering tactic in place; the orchestra immediately struck up to drown out the speaker.
Soon after, The Suffragette reported an incident at a Lyons Corner House when a woman rose and spoke for a few moments – amid both applause and criticism. When two uniformed Lyons men tried to drag her roughly from the building they met with determined opposition and she finally left, the paper reported, with quiet dignity- escorted to the exit –to murmurs of ‘Isn’t she plucky’.
These protests carried on all through the spring and summer of 1914. Although similar interruptions were made in churches and theatres, it is singularly apposite that customers in tea rooms and restaurants, as they ate their lunch or tea, should have had their attention drawn to the forcible feeding of suffragette prisoners. In fact one of the very last militant action came at the end of July 1914 when women interrupted lunch at the Criterion Restaurant, imploring customers to attend a meeting to be held by Mrs Pankhurst in Holland Park. That, I think, was the final WSPU rally, before the outbreak of war in early August put an end to militancy.
Even as restaurants came under attack there were still some establishments that felt it worthwhile to advertise in The Suffragette. One such was one I had not come across before – Molinari’s Restaurant at 25 Frith Street in Soho., which advertised (January 1914) that they would ‘donate 5 % of their takings to the Cause for suffragists who wear the badge.’ Molinari’s was still advertising in suffrage papers in 1915 and I was amused to discover that in the 1920s the Home Office reported that its proprietor, Angelo Molinari, was the proprietor of ‘doubtful’ restaurants – suspected of running brothels in upstairs rooms. Thus, although the credentials of such suffrage-sympathising refreshment rooms as Alan’s Tea Rooms, the Eustace Miles and the Gardenia are beyond reproach, there were always those commercial operators prepared to take advantage of trusting suffragettes. I suspect, though, that the atmosphere of Molinari’s was not that of Alan’s Tea Rooms Angelo Molinari was not often called to donate any percentage of their profits to the Cause.
.Here is link to Woman’s Hour ‘Suffragettes and Tea Rooms’ item aired on 4 September. It begins at c 27 mins – and is available for 2 more days only.
Suffrage Stories/Collecting Suffrage: Suffragette Jewellery
Posted by womanandhersphere in Collecting Suffrage, Suffrage Stories on August 27, 2012
Pendant made for Margaret Murphy by Ernestine Mills
‘Prison to Citizenship’ – Three pendants earned by two Irish suffragettes
In previous posts I have mentioned how necessary it is to observe the provenance of an item of jewellery in order to be able to label it with certainty as ‘suffrage’. In that way the collector is less likely of falling into the trap of buying an item – vaguely Edwardian with vaguely purple, white and green stones – that an auction house or dealer has chosen to label ‘suffragette’ In this post I will bring to your attention three items of jewellery – made for two Dublin sisters – that are indisputably ‘suffrage’.
‘Margaret’ and ‘Jane Murphy’ were the pseudonyms of two middle-class women from Dublin – whose real names were Leila (b. 1887) and Rosalind Cadiz (b. 1886). They were members of the Irish Women’s Franchise League. They both took part in the window-smashing campaign in London in March 1912 and were sentenced to two months in Holloway. They went on hunger strike (c 16 April) and were forcibly fed. They were released c 15 May. The pendant above is engraved – “Holloway Prison No. 15474, Maggie Murphy, 2 months hard Labour, E.4 Cell.12., Hunger Strike 16th April 1912, Forcibly Fed – and was made by the suffragist and enameller, Ernestine Mills. As you can see the lily motif is rendered in purple, white and green – in this case a ‘true’ use of the colours.
Margaret and Jane Murphy, top row far right and second from right, pictured in Votes for Women, 25 June 1912.
A couple of months later the Murphy sisters took part in the first window-smashing campaign in Dublin and were again sentenced to two months’ imprisonment – but in Dublin they were given the status of political prisoners.
Margaret Murphy requested to be treated by her own doctor, Kathleen Maguire, ‘as I am undergoing treatment owing to having been forcibly fed in Holloway,… Dr Maguire understands my constitution.’ To this the Medical Officer in Mountjoy replied (5 July 1912) ‘I beg to report that I regard her [Margaret Murphy] as a woman of neurotic temperament who suffers from indigestion, an ailment frequently complained of by women of this type.’
The Murphys eventually succeeded in not only getting a suffragist doctor, Kathleen Maguire, to treat them, but also in getting their own dentist. ‘Miss Jane Murphy will attend her own dentist at her own expense’ (July 1912).
The Murphys clearly had a way about them for ‘with reference to Margaret Murphy’s complaints of the possible effect of the whitewashed walls of her cell on her eyes, the governor agreed to have the walls recoloured, and to have a new gas burner fitted in lieu of the existing one, and her request for a special kind of disinfectant to be used in her cell was referred to the Medical Officer.’ 25 July 1912 Minutes of Mountjoy Prison.
Finally the sisters went on hunger strike for the last 92 hours of their sentence (along with 2 other Irish suffragettes) in sympathy with three English suffragettes (Mary Leigh, Gladys Evans and Jennie Baines) who had received harsh prison sentences in Dublin and who had not been given political prisoner status. The Murphys were not forcibly fed – the end of their sentence arriving before this became necessary. They were released, together, from Mountjoy Prison on 19 August, welcomed by members of the Irish Women’s Franchise League.
Here are the pendants that the sisters either commissioned for themselves or, more likely, with which they were presented after their release. Each pendant is of shield shape, surmounted by a green enamelled shamrock, hallmarked Dublin, Hopper and Hannay, 1912. One is engraved on the obverse “From Prison to Citizenship” and on reverse “J. Murphy 20.6.12 to 19.8.12” and the other “M. Murphy 20.6.12 to 19.8.12”. Thus do three items of jewellery commemorate the efforts of two Irish sisters to win ‘Votes for Women’.
Kate Frye’s Diary: ‘Paddington Pandemonium’
Posted by womanandhersphere in Kate Frye's suffrage diary on August 23, 2012
In the following diary entry Kate describes the pandemonium that occurred at a December 1907 suffrage meeting organised by the North Kensington Local Committee of the Central Society for Women’s Suffrage – the non-militant London NUWSS society – chaired by Mrs Millicent Fawcett. From Kate’s account the main culprits were medical students from nearby St Mary’s Hospital and from University College Hospital in Bloomsbury, such student having had, through the ages, a reputation for unruly behaviour. From Kate’s observation, the stories of stinkbombs and the release of mice, specifically intended to upset the genteel female audience at suffrage meetings, were all too true.
Lady Grove (1862 -1926) was a leading Liberal suffragist and author of The Human Woman, 1908. The Paddington Baths, in Queen’s Road, Bayswater, were soon to be demolished to make way for an enlarged Whiteley’s department store.
Thursday 5th December 1907 [25 Arundel Gardens, North Kensington]
‘
At 2 o’clock Agnes and I started off to Linden Gardens and called for Alexandra Wright and several of her helpers and we all walked to the Paddington Baths to help arrange the room for the meeting in the evening. There was a good bit to do – numbering the chairs – partitioning them off and hanging up banners and posters etc. Left [home again] just before 7 o’clock in a bus to Royal Oak and went to the Paddington Baths for the London (Central) Society’s meeting for Women’s Suffrage. Gladys and Alexandra have been weeks getting it up and I did no end of clerical work for it at Bourne End. We were the first Stewards to arrive after Gladys and Alexandra and were decorated with rosettes and given our directions. Lots of the women were very nervous of a row. My department was the gallery, to look after people up there and give invitations for a private meeting next week.
The people came in thick and fast and the doors were opened at 7.30 and with the first group of young men below in the free seats I knew what would happen. The place was soon hot, bubbling over with excitement, and I had my work cut out keeping gangways clear and looking after people and telling them they would be safe. We had expected an exciting evening but this realised our worst expectations. It was Bedlam let loose. A couple of hundred students from St Mary’s and University College Hospitals arrived and insisted on sitting together and never ceased all the evening singing, shouting, blowing tin trumpets, letting off crackers, letting loose mice and, what is worse, scenting the floor with a most terrible-smelling chemical.
Report from the ‘Daily Mail’ 6 December 1907, clipped by Kate and laid in her diary
From the very start they never gave a single speaker a moments hearing. Mrs Fawcett was in the Chair and Lady Groveand others spoke and they went on with the meeting to the bitter end – and bitter it must have been to the speakers. I never heard a word. I felt too angry to be frightened though I must own I did not like the fireworks and saw the most appalling possibilities in that frantic howling mob of mad animals. Agnes owns to being terrified – all the more credit to her for sticking to her place amongst them and she was with them all the evening. I felt mad at not being there in the midst of them. When I could leave I just went down and spoke to John, who I saw standing near Agnes. She had decorated him as a Steward to help in case the worst happened.
I went back to my post until I was no longer any good there and then I went into the very midst of the seething mass and talked to any of them I could get at. Just to silence them, as I did for a few minutes at a time, was a triumph. Cries of ‘Oh I think I like Suffragettes’ as I went amongst them and, then, ‘He is flirting with a Suffragette’ taken up and sung by them all. I spoke like a Mother to several and smiled at them. If they had only known my true feelings I don’t think they would have been so polite to me. Great credit to all the women in the building is due – not only the Stewards – but the audience there. There was never any excitement or panic amongst them and only one Stewardess failed us. She, poor thing, was so terrified she bolted without waiting for hat or coat – but of course we keep that dark. The men Stewards were very good but quite powerless to stop the noise and hubbub. And what could four policemen do? It was an organised ‘Rag’ and nothing but a force of police to outnumber them could have stopped them. They longed for a fight and said so – and no end of them had most terrible looking clubbed sticks which they brandished. We did the only possible thing, I consider. Kept as much order as we could and tried to avoid bloodshed. We had a little unfortunately when, after the meeting was over, they charged for the Platform, sweeping everyone before them. Very fortunately there were large exit doors each side of the platform and most of the people got out of them. I was flung aside and then followed them up. They tore down as many banners as they could and stole one and tore down all the posters. They were like wild cats. The policemen chased them round a little but we would not allow any arrests to be made. The firework ringleader was caught but allowed to go. I spoke to Mrs Wright – red with rage. Poor things, we were all either red or white. Mr Willis, Mrs and Miss Doake and several others. Mr Percy Harris was Stewarding. One man Steward got a most awful crack on the ear and was considerably blooded – he looked awful. Several of the boys had their collars torn off and became very proud in consequence. It was a great wonder and a still greater mercy that more damage was not done. I felt so responsible for the ordinary public who had paid their money. I could only hope to get over the evening safely for their sakes. Personally I wished and still wish to smash the Boys, though at times I could not help laughing. They were not nice boys – all plain and common looking – mostly undersized and no gentlemanly looking one amongst them. I was glad to notice that as I hope they are not the best we can show in our hospitals.
After the general public had gone the police sent word that it was impossible to clear the hall while there was a woman left in it so we left with Mrs and Miss Doake and all came back in the bus with Mrs Willis. Miss Doake said she had never enjoyed a night so much in her life before. I cannot say the same. It was a terrible experience. We could not lose that terrible smell from our noses and mouths. I could taste it through everything at supper. John came home with us and did not leave till after 12o’clock. Agnes and I were too excited to go to bed and sat talking of our experiences. Lots of people will be made all the keener through it, but a great many will be very disgusted I fear.’
As you can see from this note, carefully preserved by Kate, Mrs Fawcett’s meeting was re-arranged for early 1908 – to be held in the safety of Bertha Mason’s house in nearby Hyde Park Square.
Campaigning for the Vote: Kate Parry Frye’s Suffrage Diary edited by Elizabeth Crawford
For a full description of the book click here
Wrap-around paper covers, 226 pp, over 70 illustrations, all drawn from Kate Frye’s personal archive.
ISBN 978 1903427 75 0
NOW OUT OF PRINT, ALAS
KATE’S DIARIES AND ASSOCIATED PAPERS ARE NOW HELD BY ROYAL HOLLOWAY COLLEGE ARCHIVE
- ‘Campaigning for the Vote’ – Front and back cover of wrappers
Mariana Starke: Great-grandfather’s house
Posted by womanandhersphere in Mariana Starke on August 22, 2012
House similar to that lived in by Thomas Starke and his family in the late-17th century
In the late-17th century Thomas Starke, the slave trader, lived and, I think, carried on his business in Mincing Lane in a house rebuilt in the 1670s – after the Great Fire of London. Starke’s house – and all the others in that street- have long since disappeared – now replaced by a Gotham City simulacrum, politely described as a ‘post-modern gothic complex’. However a few London houses built by Mincing Lane’s post-Fire-of London developer, Nicholas Barbon, do remain, including – pictured here – 5-6 Crane’s Court, just off Fleet Street – giving a rough idea of the manner of house in which Starke and his family lived.
Fortunately for us, when Starke – a freeman of the city of London – died in early 1706 several of his children were not yet 21 years old. This meant that the London Court of Orphans was required to draw up an itemized list of his household goods, assets and debts in order to supervise the division of the estate. This inventory provides a marvellous picture of the furnishing of the Mincing Lane house – at least some of which were purchased with the profits from Starke’s slave-trading activity, as well as an insight into Starke’s complicated finances. Moreover, the inventory, made on 18 April 1706, is held in the London Metropolitan Archives, very close to my home, a short walk collapsing the centuries.
Although the inventory does not reveal who was living in the house in 1706, a 1695 tax assessment showed that besides Starke, his wife, and two daughters, the household then comprised two apprentices (both of whom were to figure in later Starke litigation) and three servants – two of them women, one a boy.
The 1706 inventory begins at the top of the house – in the fore garrett – [perhaps a bedroom for the apprentices?] which contained:
One corded bedstead and rods, printed stuff curtains and valance, and flock bed and feather bolster and pillow, 2 blankets and 2 rugs, a table, 2 chests of drawers, a pallet bedstead, 2 chairs, one box – value £2 2s
I assume that ‘corded bedstead’ meant a bed with cords to support the mattress and that ‘rods’ are curtain-type rods from which hung the printed stuff curtains that surrounded the bed to exclude draughts.
The back garrett [perhaps a bedroom for 2 servants?] contained::2 chests, a horse for clothes, a few candles, 2 little bedsteads, a feather bed, 2 flock bolsters, two blankets, two rugs, a quilt, some lumber – value £2 1s
In the room 2 pairs of stairs forwards [perhaps Stark’s daughters’ room]: One sacking bedstead and rods, camblett curtains and valance lined with silk. Feather bed, a bolster, 2 pillows, 2 blankets, a rug, one counterpane. Corded bedstead and rods, curtains, 1 feather bed, bolster, 6 pillows, 4 blankets, a rug, 7 chairs, 1 chest of drawers, a table, 2 looking glasses, 5 window curtains, 3 rods, 2 pairs of dogs [ ie for the fireplace], a fender shovel, and tongs, a pair of bellows, 4 hangings of the room – value £15 7s.
Apart from the value, we can tell that this room was used by more important members of the household than the two garrets because of the use of ‘camblett’ to make the curtains, ‘camblett’ being a fine dress fabric of silk and camel-hair, or wool and goat’s hair, which was a lighter material, replacing broadcloth and serge and quite newly fashionable.. Similarly the lining of the valance with silk was a newish and fashionable furnishing style.
Back room: 1 corded bedstead, printed stuff curtains and valance, feather bed, bolster, 1 pillow, 1 blanket, a rug, 1 chest of drawers, 1 table, 2 matted chairs, grate, fender, shovel and tongs, a warming pan, a pair of bellow, 1 boll printed stuff. Hangings of the room, 3 chairs – value £5 2s
Middle room: 1 corded bedstead and rods, a pair of old curtains and valance, 1 feather bed, bolster, 1 pillow, a blanket and rug – value £1 15
In the room 1 pair of stairs backwards: [perhaps Starke’s bedroom – to be used for entertaining as well as sleeping.] 1 sacking bedstead, silk and damask curtains and valance lined with silk, a quilt and feather bed bolster, some calico curtains, 1 table, a looking glass, 6 chairs and cushions, a slow grate, shovel, tongs and poker, a brass hearth shovel and tongs, 3 pairs of tapestry hangings – value £36 6s [Peter Earle in The Making of the English Middle Class: Business, Society and Family Life in London 1660-1730 (1989) gives the average value of the furnishings of a merchant’s bedroom as £23.3, positioning Starke’s as rather above average.]
The silk and damask curtains and the valance lined with silk were smart and fashionable, while the presence of the tapestry hangings suggest a room intended for comfort in a slightly old-fashioned style..
On the staircase: 3 pictures, clock and case, 2 sconces – value £5
In the Dining room [Earle denotes the dining room as the ‘best’ living room in a house of this type, giving the average value of the contents of such a room as £12 2s – making Starke’s furnishings a little above the average in value.]: Gilded leather hangings, 2 tables, a looking glass, 1 side table, 11 cane chairs, 12 cushions, a pallet case, 2 glass sconces, a pair of tables, brass hearth dogs, shovel and tongs – value £13 12s.
The gilded leather hangings were, by the early 18th-century, perhaps a little old fashioned, but the possession of cane chairs marked the Starkes out as a family who were prepared to buy new and fashionable styles. Cane chairs had been new in aristocratic homes in the 1660s, and were taken up by ‘middling men ’ from the 1680s. It would seem that the Starkes’ cane-bottomed chairs required cushions to make them acceptably comfortable.
In the parlour [the ‘second best’ living room]: Cane chairs, 2 cushions, a boll – value £2 10s.
In the Kitchen: An iron back grate, fender, 2 spit racks, an iron crane, 3 hooks, 2 shovells, tongs and poker, 1 gridiron, 2 iron dripping pans, 2 dish rings, 1 shredding knife, 2 frying pans, 2 box irons and heaters, jack chain and weight and pulley,. 4 spits, a beef fork, a brass mortar and pestle, 7 candlesticks, a pair of snuffers, a ladle and scummer, 2 iron bottles, 4 brass pots and covers, 1 bottle, 2 sauce pans, 1 copper stew pan, 3 chairs, 2 folding boards, 1 pair of bellows and napkin press, a table, a lanthorn, 196lbs of pewter, some tin wooden and earthenware – value £19 12s 10d .
Earle mentions that the average value of kitchen goods in this period was between £10-£20, putting the Starkes’ batterie de cuisine at the top end of the scale.
In the cellar and yard: A few coals, a beer stilling, 2 brass corks, some fire wood, a leaden cistern, 1 boll, 2 doz glass bottles – value £7 1s.
The inventory goes on to give the value of Starke’s wearing apparel (£5), household linen, and plate (292 oz, value £74 –presumably including the silver salver and caudle cup that Starke specifically mentioned in his will) – before moving on to monies owed to him and his own debts.
All in all, this is a house of a middling London merchant, one who, with his family, wished to be comfortable but was not desperate to adopt the very newest fashions. I do not think it would have been as elegant as the parlour room set, dating from 1695, that one can see at the Geffrye Museum. Here you can see the Starkes’ cane chairs, but Thomas Starke presumably preferred the older-fashioned tapestries and gilded leather hangings. which many of his fellow merchants – as in the Geffrye Museum re-creation -would have been taking down and replacing with pictures. In fact only three pictures are listed in the Starke inventory, all hanging on the stair case, alongside the household’s only clock. Similarly, the Starkes were, presumably, still eating off pewter and had not been tempted by the more newly fashionable china.
I did find two omissions interesting. The first is that no room is specifically denoted as a counting-house, although at the time of Starke’s death the sum of £245 19s 13/4 [=£32,000 purchasing power in today’s terms] was held in cash in the house. So, perhaps I was incorrect in assuming that, as he was living in Mincing Lane, in the very heart of the trading district, his business would have been done on the premises. And, secondly, I suppose I might have expected a merchant’s possessions to have included at the very least a quantity of ledgers – and, perhaps, some books and a globe.
Sometime after Thomas’ death, his widow and her daughters – Sarah, Martha, Frances and Elizabeth moved out of the City. There no longer being any necessity to live close to business, they chose Chelsea as their new home– more rural, more fashionable. It is possible that they were the first occupants of a newly-built house in Upper Cheyne Row, close to their great friend Lady Mary Rawlinson, widow of a a close associate of Thomas Starke and a former Lord Mayor of the City of London. The Survey of London suggests that this house and its immediate neighbours were built c 1716 and Lady Mary and her daughter, also Mary, lived at 16 Upper Cheyne Row between 1717 and her death in 1725. Between 1748 and 1757 Thomas Starke’s daughter, Martha, and the younger Mary Rawlinson lived together at 12 Upper Cheyne Row. They were evidently very close; in her will Martha, who died in 1758, left everything to Mary and asked to be buried with her in the same grave in Ewell parish churchyard. However, Mary Rawlinson lived on to 1765 and in a codicil to her will, made in 1764, changed her preferred place of burial from Ewell to the Rawlinson family vault in St Dionis Church Backhurch in the City (demolished 1868)..
I imagine that Thomas Starke’s tapestries and gilded leather hangings did not make the move from Mincing Lane to Chelsea and that his widow and daughters took the opportunity to furnish the new – airier and lighter – house with new china and new materials to complement the modern fireplaces and panelling. As we shall discover, in the early 18th-century the Starke family began a close association with India and goods – gifts – from the East would have travelled back to decorate these Chelsea rooms, perhaps, eventually coming into the possession of Mariana Starke.
Copyright
Book of the Week: Cairnes: Political Essays – Millicent Fawcett’s copy
Posted by womanandhersphere in Book of the Week on August 21, 2012
Cairnes, Political Essays, Macmillan, 1873.
Presentation copy to Millicent Fawcett
The Irish economist John Cairnes had long been a friend of Henry Fawcett, both part of the Blackheath circle centring on John Stuart Mill. When Millicent Fawcett (aged 23) published her ‘Political Economy for Beginners’ in 1870 Cairnes took it seriously, reviewed it and wrote to her ‘I have just finished my study of your useful little book and send you by this post my notes upon it. You will find I have some serious controversies with you.’ Three years later, when he published ‘Political Essays’ , he sent Millicent a copy – inscribing it ‘MG Fawcett from the author’.
Millicent Fawcett’s bookplate
A ‘From the Author’ slip has survived the handling of the last 140 years – and Millicent Fawcett has added her delightful bookplate to the front pastedown. However, an inquisitive inspection reveals that not all the pages are cut.
Latterly the book was in the library of O.R. McGregor (Professor Lord McGregor of Durris) author of ‘Divorce in England’ which had, for its time, 1957, an excellent bibliography – revealing the author’s wide interest in ‘women’s history’. On the spine the cloth binding is chipped – missing in parts – would benefit from rebacking. Otherwise a good copy – and a very interesting association copy £150.
To buy contact e.crawford@sphere20.freeserve.co.uk
Book of the Week: Betham, A Biographical Dictionary of Celebrated Women, 1804
Posted by womanandhersphere in Book of the Week on August 14, 2012
Matilda Betham: A Biographical Dictionary of the Celebrated Women of Every Age and Country, printed for E. Crosby, 1804..
‘I was induced to believe that a General Dictionary of Women, who had been distinguished by their actions or talents, i various nations, or at different periods of teh world, digested under an alphabetical arrangement, which had never been done in our language, might meet with a favourable reception.’
Matilda Betham (1776-18520, poet, artist and biographer, was a friend of Coleridge, Southey and the Lambs. Celebrated Women begins with an entry on ‘Abassa, an Arabian Princess of the Eighth Century’ and ends with ‘Zoe, fourth of Emperor Leo VI’ taking in on the way a hundred stars, their light now a little dimmed, only waiting the discerning eye to burst into life. ‘Authenticity, and impartiality have been my aim throughout, conceiving thsoe principles to be of most consequence in a work of this kind, than ornamental writing.’ A fascinating compilation – not only for itself, but for the thought of a young woman at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries taking the trouble to amass so much information.
First edition – 852pp – bound in half leather and marbled boards – very good – scarce – £200.
To buy contact e.crawford@aphere.20.freeserve.co.uk
Collecting Suffrage: The Hunger Strike Medal
Posted by womanandhersphere in Collecting Suffrage on August 11, 2012
One of the most iconic items to add to a suffrage collection is a WSPU hunger-strike medal.
These medals were first presented by the WSPU at a ceremony in early August 1909, given to women who had gone on hunger strike while serving a prison sentence handed down as punishment for an act of suffrage militancy.
The medals comprise a silver pin bar engraved ‘For Valour’, a hanging length of ribbon in the purple, white and green colours, and either a silver or a striped enamel bar, from which hangs a silver circle with the name of the presentee on one side and ‘Hunger striker’ on the other. If the ribbon terminates in a silver bar, this is engraved with a date denoting the day of the owner’s arrest. The enamelled purple, white and green bars are engraved on the reverse, for example sculptor Edith Downing’s medal that I once sold is engraved with ‘Fed by Force 1/3/12’. This was the date of her imprisonment that resulted in a hunger strike and forcible feeding.
The reverse side of the medal
Some medals, such as the one Emily Wilding Davison is wearing in my 6 August ‘Suffrage Stories’ post, carry more than one bar, indicating multiple hungerstrikes.
Each medal was presented in a purple box, with a green velvet lining. As can be seen in the photograph, a piece of white silk that originally went inside the lid was printed in gold with: ‘Presented to [name] by the Women’s Social and Political Union in recognition of a gallant action, whereby through endurance to the last extremity of hunger and hardship a great principle of political justice was vindicated’.
These medals were made by Toye, a well-known Clerkenwell firm, and cost the WSPU £1 each – the medals now sell for thousands of pounds. They were treasured by their recipients who , in their old age, still proudly wore them on suffrage occasions; they are treasured today by collectors who recognise the bravery of the women to whom they were awarded.
Grace Roe (right) and Leonora Cohen (centre)wearing their hunger strike medals in 1974
Collecting Suffrage: Punch cartoon
Posted by womanandhersphere in Collecting Suffrage on August 8, 2012
21 January 1912 – full page – ‘The Suffrage Split’. Sir George Askwith (the charismatic industrial conciliator), as ‘Fairy Peacemaker’, has tamed the dragon of the Cotton Strike – and Asquith, wrestling to keep a seat on the Cabinet horse turns to him ‘Now that you’ve charmed yon dragon I shall need ye to stop the strike inside this fractious gee-gee.’
In very good condition £10 plus £1 postage.
To buy contact: e.crawford@sphere20.freeserve.co.uk
Book of the Week: Bulley & Whitley, Women’s Work
Posted by womanandhersphere in Book of the Week on August 7, 2012
WOMEN’S WORK by Miss A. Amy Bulley and Miss Margaret Whitley. With a Preface by Lady Dilke. Published by Methuen in the Social Questions of the Day series, 1894.
Amy Bulley (1852-1939) was an early student at Girton, Cambridge, going from there to Manchester, where she taught at Manchester High School for Girls and was involved in the campaign that eventually, in 1883, saw women allowed to sit for Owens College degrees. She then took a very active interest in women’s employement and the labour movement, becoming chair of the council of the recently-formed Manchester, Salford and District Trades Council, 1897-1906, investigating the dire conditions of the ‘sweated’ trades.
Lady Dilke had been involved with the women’s trade union movement since the 1870s
The book affords a comprehensive coverage of the new ‘white blouse’ employment open to women – to professions – such as medicine – and to clerical work – such as typewriting and post office work – as well as the trades and vocations with which they had been associated in the past. The authors include much discussion of conditions of employment and the rise of women’s trade unions.
Women’s Work is a thorough piece of research – the authors do not shrink from using statistics and advocating the reforms they think necessary in the future.
In good condition – some marginal pencil markings, showing how involved one previous reader has been in the subject. An unblinking view of the position of working women at the end of the 19th century. £55 plus postage.
To buy: contact e.crawford@sphere20.freeserve.co.uk
Book of the Week: Frances Hays: Women of the Day
Posted by womanandhersphere in Book of the Week on July 31, 2012
Frances Hays (ed), Women of the Day: A Biographical Dictionary of Notable Women Contemporaries, published by J.B. Lippincott & Co (Philadelphia), 1885. This is a copy of the American edition, published in the same year as the London, Chatto & Windus, edition.
This is a superb biographical source on interesting 19th-century women. The first entry is on Lea Lundgren Ahlborn, a Swedish artist, and the last is on Helen Zimmern, a German-born British journalist and writer. The hundreds of entries in between give biographical details of women who were ‘notable’ – for their work rather than their position in society – in the latter half of the 19th century but who have now rather faded from view.
This books is, therefore, a very useful vademecum for those researching the period. The general reader, too, will find plenty to interest her in this biographical bran tub.
Frances Hays clearly did much of her research in the Reading Room of the British Museum, thanking both ‘Mr John P. Anderson, Assistant in the British Museum, for much valuable aid’ and noting her indebtedness to Dr Garnett (who was assistant keeper of printed books at the Museum).
This is a copy of the American edition, first published by J.B. Lippincott & Co (Philadelphia), in the same year, 1885, as the London, Chatto & Windus, edition. In fact, apart from the title page, the editions are likely to have been identical. Although the title page of this copy dates it to 1885, bound in at the back is a 32-page section listing Chatto & Windus books dated June 1891. I doubt that the book actually ever saw Philadelphia: it was presented to The City of York Public Library by C.J. [Cuthbert Joseph] Kleiser (1855-1929), a Yorkshire-born watchmaker. What an excellent choice; it makes one want to know more about Mr Kleiser.
The copy is in good conditon, in its original binding, with the City of York Public Library bookplate on the front pastedown and relatively discreet shelf mark on the spine. £75 plus postage.
To buy: email e.crawford@sphere20.freeserve.co.uk
Woman and her Sphere 
