8 10 293 https://olive-civet.lnx.warwick.ac.uk/files/original/9cb658f48f70b625e2b00ab45854f84b.jpg fb71c9e1bc825931149e28075bd1f98d Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Lord Robert Cecil, 1919. Source: ©Lafayette/Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Person (Campaigner) A record of a person related to the Mapping Women's Suffrage project Occupation Politician Age The age of this person at the time of the 1911 UK Census 47 Marital Status The marital status of this person at the time of the 1911 UK Census Married Address The address of this person at the time of the 1911 UK Census Gale, Chelwood Gate, Danehill, Sussex Suffrage Society The suffrage society this person was affiliated with at the time of the 1911 UK Census MLWS Census This person's response to the 1911 UK Census Complies Biographical Text Before entering Parliament in 1906 as MP for East Marylebone, Lord Robert Cecil practised as a lawyer, and in 1909, as a member of the Men’s League for Women’s Suffrage (MLWS) unsuccessfully defended Evelina Haverfield when she was arrested with Emmeline Pankhurst and other WSPU members for trying to enter the House of Commons to petition Prime Minister Herbert Asquith. Lord Robert Cecil took part in CWFA meetings in London and the Home Counties, and in 1911 and early 1912 spoke across Sussex - at Horsted Keynes, at the Horsham Suffrage Society’s first AGM, at a Central Sussex Women’s Suffrage Society public meeting in Burgess Hill, and at Forest Row - to promote the Conciliation Bill. This would only give the vote to single women householders, who had been able to vote in local elections since1869, but Lord Robert Cecil argued that the principle of votes for women could later be extended. He was against women MPS: they would be physically unable to endure the ‘exhausting exertions’ in the House of Commons! When the Conciliation Bill was rejected by the House of Commons in March 1912, Lord Robert Cecil sympathised with women’s anger, and expressed vehement objections to harsh prison sentences and forced feeding. He continued, however, to advise the avoidance of militancy and to advocate a ‘moderate and conservative admission of women to the franchise’. In March 1913, the East Grinstead branch of the MLWS was founded, with Lord Robert Cecil and Charles Corbett among its members. In 1916 and 1917, in answer to deputations asking about provision for women’s suffrage in proposed electoral reform legislation, Lord Robert Cecil insisted that he would not assent to any substantial increase in the number of men voters unless this Bill included some measure of enfranchisement for women. Following the enfranchisement in February 1918 of women over 30 who were already local electors or the wives of local electors, Lord Robert Cecil introduced a Bill to make women eligible to stand for Parliament. Passed in November 1918, in time for the General Election the following month, this created the anomaly that women Parliamentary candidates need only be 21. When the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Bill, to enable women to enter such professions as the law, was debated in the House of Commons in 1919, Lord Robert Cecil argued that it should include equal voting rights with men, enfranchising all women over 21, but the Government refused to grant this. In 1922, therefore, Lord Robert Cecil introduced a Bill to extend the franchise to women on the same terms as men, but it would take until 1928 for this to be achieved. Meanwhile, in 1925, as the newly installed Rector of Aberdeen University, Lord Robert Cecil’s first official duty was, appropriately, to open the hall of the new University Women’s Union. He told his cheering audience that he had always been in favour of the enfranchisement of women: women should take their full share of citizenship, as electors for Parliament and as members of the House of Commons. Sources: Hansard; Marylebone Mercury; Westminster Gazette; Mid Sussex Times; Kent and Sussex Courier; Sussex Express; West Sussex County Times; Scotsman. Researched & contributed by independent writer and researcher Frances Stenlake. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Robert Cecil (Lord) Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant ||||osm POINT(1762.0762195214445 6631570.650800052) MLWS https://olive-civet.lnx.warwick.ac.uk/files/original/98132d1d38b568be9b07d73a0fd1af37.jpeg bd819316f58931ecdd24abb8e22c2a46 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Lady Eleanor Cecil. Source: Danehill Parish Historical Society Archive. Person (Campaigner) A record of a person related to the Mapping Women's Suffrage project Occupation None Age The age of this person at the time of the 1911 UK Census 43 Marital Status The marital status of this person at the time of the 1911 UK Census Married Address The address of this person at the time of the 1911 UK Census Gale, Chelwood Gate, Danehill, Sussex. Suffrage Society The suffrage society this person was affiliated with at the time of the 1911 UK Census CUWFA & NUWSS Census This person's response to the 1911 UK Census Complies Biographical Text Lady Eleanor Lambton, a daughter of the Earl of Durham, married Lord Robert Cecil, a son of the Marquess of Salisbury, in 1899. When the formation of the Conservative and Unionist Women’s Franchise Association (CUWFA) was announced in November 1908, ‘Lady Robert Cecil’ was one of its titled Vice-Presidents. A few weeks later, she was among the ‘influential ladies’ who signed a protest, published widely in the Press, against the WSPU disruption of the Women Liberals Federation meeting in the Albert Hall on 5th December at which Chancellor Lloyd George was to make a statement about women’s suffrage. In London, Eleanor as chair of the committee of the Marylebone and Paddington branch of the CUWFA, introduced a scheme to canvass municipal women voters in the interests of women’s suffrage and induce those who were Conservative to join the CUWFA. On 17th June 1911 Eleanor marched under the CUWFA banner in the ‘Coronation’ suffrage procession from the Embankment to the Albert Hall. In the autumn of 1911, to promote the formation of a Hitchin, Stevenage and District branch of the CUWFA, she addressed a meeting in Hitchin, where her husband would soon be elected MP. She also became a Vice-President of the Letchworth and District Women’s Suffrage Society. Chelwood Gate, Danehill, was the Cecils’ Sussex home from 1899, and in May 1911 and November 1912 Eleanor led Central Sussex Women’s Suffrage Society deputations to the East Grinstead constituency Conservative MP Henry Cautley. She chaired NUWSS branch meetings at Crowborough and Heathfield, was one of the patrons of the Sweated Industries Exhibition staged in Haywards Heath by the Central Sussex Women’s Suffrage Society in February 1912, and opened the corresponding East Grinstead Women’s Suffrage Society exhibition a few months later. The Cecils took part in the inauguration of the North Sussex branch of the CUWFA in Lindfield in April 1913. Eleanor continued to appear on Central Sussex Women’s Suffrage Society platforms however, presiding over the historic visit of NUWSS President Millicent Garrett Fawcett, to Cuckfield’s Queen’s Hall on 20th July 1914, and chairing the East Grinstead Women’s Suffrage Society AGM in January 1915. The welfare of women being of paramount interest, in 1916 Eleanor and other leading suffragists formed the Women’s Local Government Society to promote the appointment of women to committees and sub-committees concerned with the care of mothers and young children. Active in the National Council of Women, she was on the committee that organised its four-day conference at the Brighton Dome in 1924. After the War she resumed her travels to Canada and other ‘British dominions’ to study the living conditions of girls brought out by the Society for the Overseas Settlement of British Women. Eleanor wrote regularly for the monthly CUWFA Review and other periodicals. In an article in the Quarterly Review of January 1913 on the training of the notoriously anti-suffrage Queen Victoria, she concluded, ‘How the Queen herself reconciled her active exercise of authority with her views about feminine duty is a problem before which curiosity must remain unsatisfied.’ Sources: Mid Sussex Times; Kent and Sussex Courier; West Sussex Gazette; Worthing Herald; Worthing Gazette; Conservative Women’s Franchise Association Review; Votes for Women; Common Cause; Women’s Franchise; Marylebone Mercury; The Queen; Illustrated London News. Researched & contributed by independent writer and researcher Frances Stenlake. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Eleanor Cecil (Lady) Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant ||||osm POINT(1762.0762195214445 6631570.650800052) CUWFA https://olive-civet.lnx.warwick.ac.uk/files/original/f92dc5e70363a1db9f7e055fba166d46.jpg 573fdffdf6f2c08c4b735cce6c4bcd7c Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Photograph by Douglas Miller 'Suffragists at Clayton'. Source: courtesy of www.sussexpostcards.info. https://olive-civet.lnx.warwick.ac.uk/files/original/ea86fba8b6ccfc86136008dcdd5991a9.jpeg 740f4016602874bb16500c74919fe18b Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Photograph by Douglas Miller 'Suffragists at Burgess Hill'. Source: Mid Sussex Times Archive. https://olive-civet.lnx.warwick.ac.uk/files/original/47f2ad5bf4b8fec560f2c293b186255f.jpeg 3d034e5d8689fbf1039be9b77beb0f15 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Photograph Douglas Miller, 'Suffragists on road to Hassocks'. Source: courtesy of Mid Sussex Times archive https://olive-civet.lnx.warwick.ac.uk/files/original/83d4d86e23bc701787b890c2f5aeae0e.jpg 9bcb2dfaa535fd028b7bd43b44272d14 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Photograph by Douglas Miller, 'Suffragists at Cuckfield'. Source: Courtesy Frances Stenlake. Person (Campaigner) A record of a person related to the Mapping Women's Suffrage project Occupation Photographer Age The age of this person at the time of the 1911 UK Census 37 Marital Status The marital status of this person at the time of the 1911 UK Census Married Address The address of this person at the time of the 1911 UK Census 9 Boltro Road, Haywards Heath, West Sussex Suffrage Society The suffrage society this person was affiliated with at the time of the 1911 UK Census NUWSS Census This person's response to the 1911 UK Census Complies Biographical Text Photographer Douglas Miller (1874-1961) was a prominent member of the Mid Sussex progressive Congregationalist community, and secretary of the Haywards Heath Liberal and Radical Club. He, his wife Kate, and her sister Lillian Peerless, were among the ‘principal workers’ named in the Mid Sussex Times report of the celebration of the election to Parliament in January 1906 of Liberal suffragist (see) Charles Corbett. The Liberal and Radical Club did not always live up to its name. When, in March 1913, Douglas Miller proposed, in a Club debate conducted exclusively by men, that the Parliamentary franchise be extended to women and men on equal terms, ‘everyone voted against the motion except the mover’. A few months later the NUWSS Great Suffragist Pilgrimage, converging on London from starting points across the country, was Douglas Miller’s opportunity to contribute to the documentation of suffrage activity in this part of Sussex. On Monday 21 July 1913, Kate Miller, a committee member of the Haywards branch of the Cuckfield and Central Sussex Women’s Suffrage Society, joined Brighton and Hove, Worthing, Littlehampton and Seaford suffragists to set off up the Brighton Road, marching with them as far as Burgess Hill. Douglas Miller met them at Clayton where he took the first of a series of four photographs, showing the marchers sporting NUWSS sashes, haversacks and hat decorations, and carrying the drum used to accompany the singing of stirring suffrage songs. Could his wife Kate be the foreground figure on the left? Bringing up the rear is the horse-drawn covered van that carried the Pilgrims’ luggage and campaign literature to be distributed en route. The Pilgrims then paused for lunch and waiting for them were Cuckfield and Central Sussex members led by (see) Edith Bevan. Douglas Miller’s second photograph shows them all gathered in front of the van, its slogan NATIONAL UNION OF WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE SOCIETIES NON-PARTY NON-MILITANT, now visible. Among the cyclists is (see) Flora de Gaudrion Merrifield, of the Brighton and Hove Women’s Franchise Society. Two policemen are present: Police Superintendent Anscombe of Haywards Heath is taking over as escort from his Brighton colleague. The third photograph shows the meeting held later that afternoon at the Reformers’ Tree in Burgess Hill. From the lorry used as a platform, the crowd was addressed by Alys Russell and Rica Timpany of the NUWSS. Chairman was Thomas Meates at whose home the Pilgrims had just stopped for tea. They had now been joined by the Eastbourne contingent whose banner is propped against the tree. The last photograph was taken in Cuckfield High Street on the Tuesday morning after the Pilgrims’ overnight stop in the town and an 8am service in its Congregational Church. Edith Bevan is in front, immediately behind Superintendent Anscombe, looking back to check that all are ready to continue up the road to London. Specially named by the Mid Sussex Times among ‘the upwards of 70’ present are (see) Marie Corbett, (see) Louisa Martindale and Flora de Gaudrion Merrifield. ‘Many Cuckfield residents accompanied them for a short distance, despite the wet weather.’ Researched & contributed by independent writer and researcher Frances Stenlake. Sources: Mid Sussex Times Brighton Gazette (archive). Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Douglas Miller Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant ||||osm POINT(-11862.538895752332 6621954.426668265) NUWSS https://olive-civet.lnx.warwick.ac.uk/files/original/7e8c5ed722f852f366512a30f3ba47f7.jpg d36e41b09163720123bca4e93b8a5a45 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Laura Ridding 1900 (Photo: Ernest H Mills) Source: image ref NTGM012018 courtesy Nottingham City Council (www.picturethepast.org.uk). https://olive-civet.lnx.warwick.ac.uk/files/original/66f1d6e31101e921f702b7c13af50fce.jpg 63f40256ea18a1401f4f99b70af36242 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Source: The National Archives Person (Campaigner) A record of a person related to the Mapping Women's Suffrage project Occupation Private means Age The age of this person at the time of the 1911 UK Census 62 Marital Status The marital status of this person at the time of the 1911 UK Census Widowed Address The address of this person at the time of the 1911 UK Census 20 Bryanston Square, London. Suffrage Society The suffrage society this person was affiliated with at the time of the 1911 UK Census NUWSS Census This person's response to the 1911 UK Census Complies Biographical Text Lady Laura Palmer was born in London in 1849 the daughter of the First Earl of Shelbrooke. In 1876, she married George Ridding, who in 1884 became Bishop of Southwell, Nottingham so the couple moved there. Laura was a keen suffragist though this was something she had to downplay because of her husband’s prominent role in the church. Nonetheless, she was very active in social projects for women and girls in Nottingham, for example, founding a rescue home - Southwell House in Broad Marsh and Hope Lodge - for girls in prostitution. She was also involved in campaigning for better factory conditions and reduced hours helping set up in 1895 the National Union of Women’s Workers, and was involved in the Girls’ Evening Home Movement – clubs to keep young working women off the streets and out of pubs. She was responsible for founding Family Care, an organisation still helping families today. She was also a Poor Law Guardian and rural district Councillor for Southwell Union from 1895 – 1904 at which time her husband died. In 1911, she spent some time with her sister and brother-in-law, the Earl, and Countess Waldergrave in London, where she can be found on the census. She later appears as one of the patrons of a fete held in aid of the East Midlands Federation of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies in 1912, though by this time she had moved back to live at a former residence the Rectory in Wonston, Hampshire. Laura among her other activities, wrote for various periodicals and the Times newspaper on subjects such as women’s education. She wrote three biographies of her husband, sister, and nephew. She also wrote a historical novel ‘By Weeping Cross’ in 1899. During WWI she remained active in the Soldiers and Sailors Family Association, the Women’s War Agricultural Committee, and the YWCA (Young Women’s Christian Association). Laura died in 1939 and is buried alongside her husband in Southwell where she did so much good work. Source: No Surrender: Women's Suffrage in Nottinghamshire - NWHG. Contributed by Nottingham Women's History Group www.nottinghamwomenshistory.org.uk. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Laura Ridding Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant ||||osm POINT(-17920.768222860555 6713507.751168351) NUWSS https://olive-civet.lnx.warwick.ac.uk/files/original/661f020a74ed4d9134f1ee377b63541f.JPG 641cfadf0b68ead562cda1442e247e92 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The Hutchinson family are absent likely evading. Source: The National Archives. Person (Campaigner) A record of a person related to the Mapping Women's Suffrage project Occupation Not known Age The age of this person at the time of the 1911 UK Census Not known Marital Status The marital status of this person at the time of the 1911 UK Census Single Address The address of this person at the time of the 1911 UK Census 5 Cavendish Crescent South, The Park, Nottingham Suffrage Society The suffrage society this person was affiliated with at the time of the 1911 UK Census WSPU Census This person's response to the 1911 UK Census Evades Biographical Text In May 1911, Sarah and her mother gave the Nottingham WSPU a banner to be carried the following month in the Women’s Coronation Procession in London. Earlier in April, Sarah and her parents had been ‘absent’ from home when the government census survey was taken and so only their servants were recorded. Likely they were all evading as part of the wider census boycott encouraged by the WSPU. By 1913, Sarah was secretary of the Nottingham branch of the Friends’ League for Women’s Suffrage. The society aimed to secure the Parliamentary Franchise for women on the same basis as it is or may be granted to men. Source: Jill Liddington, Vanishing for the Vote: Suffrage, Citizenship and the Battle for the Census (Manchester, 2014); Elizabeth Crawford, The Women's Suffrage Movement in Britain and Ireland: A Regional Survey (London, 2006). Contributed by Nottingham Women's History Group www.nottinghamwomenshistory.org.uk. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Sarah Hutchinson Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant ||||osm POINT(-129424.60407736634 6973624.738112884) WSPU Person (Campaigner) A record of a person related to the Mapping Women's Suffrage project Biographical Text Fanny Gladys was born in Bradford. She is sometimes referred to as Fanny, sometimes Gladys, and sometimes as Miss F G Roberts. She was a former solicitor’s clerk who had taken a typing course in Bradford and was the Secretary of Bradford WSPU in 1908 where she chalked caricatures and rhymes on blackboards placed on the street following the Bradford Corporation’s forbidding of pavement chalking to advertise meetings. In the summer of 1909, she was helping Helen Watts in Nottingham and was based at 6 Carlton Street – an address also given by Nelly Crocker in an advert for underwear to be sold at a WSPU Christmas Fair. Fanny was imprisoned in 1909 and 1911 for breaking Post Office windows and her name is on an embroidered suffragette handkerchief held in the Sussex Museum. She cannot be traced on the 1911 census so may have been an evader. She and Nellie Crocker took over at the Nottingham WSPU office in about mid-1911. In 1912, Nelly Crocker and Fanny were both imprisoned for three months in Holloway Prison for breaking windows with hammers at the Post Office on the King’s Road Chelsea, London. They went on hunger strike and were forcibly fed. The two returned to Nottingham in June 1912 and were given a celebratory supper. Fanny then disappears until 1939 when she is recorded as secretary to an Orthopaedic Surgeon, Professor Garthorne Robert Girdlestone, in Oxfordshire. By then Fanny was living in Oxfordshire with Dorothy Vincent Carey. She died in 1975. Source: No Surrender :Women's Suffrage in Nottinghamshire - NWHG. Researched and contributed by Nottingham Women's History Group www.nottinghamwomenshistory.org.uk. Occupation Solicitors clerk Age The age of this person at the time of the 1911 UK Census 23 Marital Status The marital status of this person at the time of the 1911 UK Census Single Address The address of this person at the time of the 1911 UK Census 6 Carlton Street, Nottingham Suffrage Society The suffrage society this person was affiliated with at the time of the 1911 UK Census WSPU Census This person's response to the 1911 UK Census Evades Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Fanny Roberts Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant ||||osm POINT(-127473.06208454112 6974395.7622567285) WSPU https://olive-civet.lnx.warwick.ac.uk/files/original/e83571895d1622ac8f3ce27eeec92d29.jpg 9a8012c7486c34b54a619982da9c0eea Person (Campaigner) A record of a person related to the Mapping Women's Suffrage project Occupation Teacher Age The age of this person at the time of the 1911 UK Census 37 Marital Status The marital status of this person at the time of the 1911 UK Census Single Address The address of this person at the time of the 1911 UK Census 21 Chaucer Street, Nottingham Suffrage Society The suffrage society this person was affiliated with at the time of the 1911 UK Census WSPU Census This person's response to the 1911 UK Census Evades Biographical Text May, as she was known, was born in Berkshire and was one of 10 siblings. Her father died when she was aged 26. May was a teacher and worked in a private school. It seems that May moved to Nottingham in about 1901 where she worked for the Education Committee for twenty-nine years. She was involved with the NUWSS but became active in Nottingham's WSPU branch in about 1907 and was elected Honorary secretary in 1908 until a paid organiser Rachel Barrett was appointed later that year. May was present in London on 24th of February,1909, when (see) Helen Kirkpatrick Watts was arrested outside the House of Commons. She wrote to Helen warmly supporting her action, saying she had ‘suffered terribly for the Cause’ while May herself felt a 'desperate coward' as she had escaped the worst of the conflict. In April 1911, May evaded the government census survey as part of a wider suffragette boycott, but her mother and sisters Hannah and Kate and brother George, were home at 21 Chaucer Street - unfortunately no longer there. May went on to teach at Mundella Grammar School for some years becoming Head of the Clarendon School for Girls in 1925. She died at home at 4 Whittingham Road in Mapperley after a short illness. The Nottingham Evening Post reported her death and funeral which was attended by Aldermen, Councillors, and Education Committee members. Source: No Surrender :Women's Suffrage in Nottinghamshire - NWHG. Researched and contributed by Nottingham Women's History Group www.nottinghamwomenshistory.org.uk. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource May (Catherine Mary) Burgis Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant ||||osm POINT(-128684.3294636941 6975082.596230316) WSPU https://olive-civet.lnx.warwick.ac.uk/files/original/92fe00d66d8d06f52f9208424d581986.jpg b0bdc2499fc21a15112c61a0e7d63b37 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource May is absent and likely evading the census. Source: courtesy The National Archives. Person (Campaigner) A record of a person related to the Mapping Women's Suffrage project Occupation None known Age The age of this person at the time of the 1911 UK Census 35 Marital Status The marital status of this person at the time of the 1911 UK Census Married Address The address of this person at the time of the 1911 UK Census 445 Mansfield Road, Redhill, Nottingham Suffrage Society The suffrage society this person was affiliated with at the time of the 1911 UK Census WSPU Census This person's response to the 1911 UK Census Evades Biographical Text Leonora was married to University College science Professor, Philip Shaw. She joined the Nottingham WSPU branch in 1908 and may have been a founding member. She also acted as some time Treasurer and President and was also a member of the Church League for Women’s Suffrage. She was absent from her home on census night (see image) suggesting that she was evading as part of the WSPU census boycott. Later that year, she was present at the violent struggle that took place during the Black Friday demonstration in Parliament Square in November 1911. Source: Elizabeth Crawford, The Women's suffrage Movement: A Reference Guide, 1866-1928 (London, 1999); Crawford, The Women's Suffrage Movement in Britain and Ireland: A Regional Survey (London, 2006). Contributed by Nottingham Women's History group www.nottinghamwomenshistory.org.uk. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Leonora Shaw Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant ||||osm POINT(-127885.05551990966 6978908.659918798) WSPU https://olive-civet.lnx.warwick.ac.uk/files/original/97dec7281d5d9dfca154788ba3f0188d.tif ae4f6e66a7a9e9bce519098055565ec4 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Helena Dowson, circa 1926. Source: image courtesy of University of Nottingham Manuscripts and Special Collections UMP/4/1 https://olive-civet.lnx.warwick.ac.uk/files/original/b2dabd987463365dfdb5ae4f9a0420a3.jpg 4c4330c0c6f12923268ded48a9a9b3be Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Source: courtesy The National Archives https://olive-civet.lnx.warwick.ac.uk/files/original/2c5688b9c7c2b1c390d79e62f9050f48.jpg 355af8ff140f922718529781a0e6c47c Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource East side of Helena's home 'Felixstowe' before demolition. Source: Photo taken by Philip Potter, son of Helena's housekeeper. https://olive-civet.lnx.warwick.ac.uk/files/original/0ddcfe1db1ee4cfa25e884dabb3b3b85.jpg b28349257992a1d3e202262d917a6b20 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Citation made to Helena 'Nellie' Dowson. Source: Dame Alix Meynall's book 'Public Servant, Private Woman' (1988 Victor Gollancz). Person (Campaigner) A record of a person related to the Mapping Women's Suffrage project Occupation Secretary Women's Suffrage Society Age The age of this person at the time of the 1911 UK Census 44 Marital Status The marital status of this person at the time of the 1911 UK Census Married Address The address of this person at the time of the 1911 UK Census 'Felixstowe' , Clumber Road West, The Park, Nottingham Suffrage Society The suffrage society this person was affiliated with at the time of the 1911 UK Census NUWSS Census This person's response to the 1911 UK Census Complies Biographical Text Helena, or Nellie as she preferred to be known, was born at Chestnut House on Chestnut Grove, the only daughter of Alderman Anderson and Jane Brownsword, both active in charity and social works. She married Will Dowson in 1894, first son of Benjamin and Alice Dowson and from 1906 lived in Felixstowe in the Park (previously they had lived at 10 Mapperley Road). The couple also had a bungalow on the Trent. Helena worked with her mother and sisters in law on various issues including women’s suffrage. She took over the lead secretary role from her mother in 1895, affiliating to the National NUWSS and attending the executive meetings in London. She attended and organised demonstrations and meetings, held garden parties and stalls to fundraise, went on marches and events including some organised by the East Midlands Federation of NUWSS as well as some WSPU events. Helena also worked in Nottingham’s suffrage shop in Regent’s Chambers at 54 Long Row - now gone. In 1911, Helena was at home and complied with the April 2nd Census recording her occupation as secretary of the local women’s suffrage society. In 1913, she and Maud - her sister-in-law - joined the Great Suffrage Pilgrimage held by the NUWSS as it passed through Nottingham, on route to London. Nellie picked up Millicent Fawcett and took her to speak at Chesterfield and Southwell; the only region in the shire where Mrs Fawcett spoke. They returned home after the East Midlands events and re-joined the final Hyde Park pilgrimage event on 26th July. Once the vote was won, Helena’s work was commended with an illuminated address by fellow suffragists in Nottingham as follows: “NOTTINGHAM SUFFRAGE LEADER HONOURED. To mark their appreciation of her services to the cause, the object of which has now been secured, friends of the women's suffrage movement in the city and county yesterday [18th July 1918] presented Mrs. W. E. Dowson, of Nottingham, with two large volumes of Japanese painters, with an illuminated address suitably inscribed, and a bronze statuette entitled “Sorrow." The ceremony took place at the residence of Mrs. W. R. Hamilton, Eastdene Alexandra Park, Nottingham, and was witnessed by a considerable gathering” (Nottingham Evening Post, 19 July 1918). During WW1, Helena organised various fundraising and support for women; she was the Honorary Secretary of Queen’s Work for Women; a member of the Anti-Profiteering committee; and set up two Baby Welcomes and a day nursery at the request of the Ministry of Health. She became the first woman JP in 1920 after the Sex Disqualification Removal Act and inaugurated the women’s police court work – being Chair and secretary. Helena also stood unsuccessfully as a Liberal candidate in 1919 and then became the first woman Liberal Councillor in 1920-24 representing the Meadows Ward. She campaigned to improve housing and sanitation and to extend the vote to women over 21 (on an equal footing to men) and for their access to representation on civic bodies. The NUWSS became the National Union of Societies for Equal Citizenship (NUSEC) in 1919 and in 1924 it became the Nottingham Women’s Service Association later becoming the Townswomen’s Guilds. Helena remained a member. She was also related by marriage to Eleanor Rathbone, who started the first Guilds. She maintained her house in The Park throughout her life, but from 1961 bought Northfield, a house in Newby Bridge, Ulverston now in Cumbria in the Lake District on the edge of Lake Windermere. It is here that she died at the age of 98. Her former home Felixstowe was demolished after her death in the 1960’s. A plaque celebrating her role as the first Liberal woman Councillor was unveiled on 8 March 2020 on the Council House and on 20 July 2020 on the Justice Centre in commemoration of her as one of the first JP’s. In 2021, a blue plaque will be mounted at the Justice Centre to celebrate all of Helena’s incredible achievements. Sources: Miriam Jackson, 'A Tribute to Life: Helena Brownsword Dowson 1866-1964' in No Surrender: Women's Suffrage in Nottinghamshire, NWHG; Elizabeth Crawford, The Women's Suffrage Movement: A Reference Guide, 1866-1928 (London, 1999). Contributed by Nottingham Women's History group www.nottinghamwomenshistory.org.uk. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Helena Brownsword Dowson Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant ||||osm POINT(-129799.4168028151 6973897.073154525) NUWSS https://olive-civet.lnx.warwick.ac.uk/files/original/aaf87348c12031b0ca7ea93622a9ea4d.jpg bb19e9a3f94fd08932a1d0811218482c Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Helen Watts circa 1911. Source: Col Linley Blathwayt collection (www.bathintime.co.uk). https://olive-civet.lnx.warwick.ac.uk/files/original/a1ac7ac090069841a1eff48e2f572b7a.jpg e4c464b68c6bcb4a335c2021f63b0d4c Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Helen in prison uniform: Source & copyright: family album courtesy of The Watts family. https://olive-civet.lnx.warwick.ac.uk/files/original/3ac98ea99fb9788e2494c33a309b3580.jpg c2657ac38a32f8c418a2f29df8081a15 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Source: Nottinghamshire Archives DD993/4 https://olive-civet.lnx.warwick.ac.uk/files/original/af84dfe579fab3bed800ca4f98aa2534.jpg 8adf68baada24eb433ee4271dfd1b90a Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Helen planting a tree at Eagle House, suffragette refuge. Source: Col Linley Blathwayt collection (www.bathintime.co.uk). https://olive-civet.lnx.warwick.ac.uk/files/original/d1c398e2ddcda872c895f2a4b9e0b4a6.jpg 0dcb8fefb2868358daee6eeb6ab25aeb Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Source: courtesy The National Archives. Person (Campaigner) A record of a person related to the Mapping Women's Suffrage project Occupation None given Age The age of this person at the time of the 1911 UK Census 29 Marital Status The marital status of this person at the time of the 1911 UK Census Single Address The address of this person at the time of the 1911 UK Census Chilcompton, Somerset Suffrage Society The suffrage society this person was affiliated with at the time of the 1911 UK Census WSPU Census This person's response to the 1911 UK Census Complies Biographical Text Helen was born in Co Durham the eldest child of Rev Alan Hunter Watts who became the Vicar of Holy Trinity Church, Lenton in 1893. The family lived at Lenton Vicarage now Unity House, 35 Church Street. She had seven younger siblings and was particularly close to her brother Nevile with whom she published 'Poems by a Brother and Sister' in 1906. As a girl Helen contributed to The Girl's Realm magazine an enlightened periodical supporting women's education and entry into the professions although where Helen herself was educated it unclear. Her parents were known supporters of the East Midlands Federation of the NUWSS and some suffrage meetings were held in the church hall. Helen seems to have attended various suffrage meetings before joining the city branch of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) in 1907 after hearing Christabel Pankhurst speak at a volatile meeting in Nottingham mechanics on 2nd December that year. The speakers there were unable to make themselves heard and so a follow-up meeting was held a week later, on the 9th of December and after this Helen joined the WSPU. On the 24th of February 1909, she joined a protest in London and was arrested for willful obstruction. At her appearance at Bow Street Police Court, she refused to be bound over and was sentenced to one month in jail. She wrote to her parents to tell them about her arrest and arranged that her sisters, Alice and Ethel, would receive weekly copies of the WSPU’s 'Votes for Women' newspaper. On release, she was greeted at Nottingham station by many local suffragettes and a celebration supper was held at Morley's cafe on Wheeler Gate. On the 27th of July 1909, the WSPU attempted to disrupt a meeting at the Albert Hall in Nottingham and were ejected; so held a separate meeting in the Market Place where Helen and several others were arrested but released without charge. On the 4th of September along with Mary Rawson and (see) Nelly Crocker - the local WSPU paid organiser- she attended a meeting in Leicester where Winston Churchill was speaking. This time Helen was charged with 'disorderly conduct' and in Leicester jail went on hunger strike for 90 hours. During that time, she was threatened with force feeding, but this did not happen. She did however, smash two windowpanes in her cell to let in the fresh air. Helen was released after 5 days and spoke about her experiences at Morley's cafe on the 17th of September, remarking, ‘Votes for Women’ will not be won by drawing-room chatter’. She was awarded the Holloway prison medal and the Hunger strike medal and was much in demand as a speaker; there are notes of several of her speeches in the Nottingham archives. Helen was arrested again but does not appear to have been involved with militancy after 1910. By March 1911 was at Eagle House, Batheaston where the (see) Blathwayt family welcomed recovering suffragettes. On the 17th of March she planted a juniper tree in the Suffragettes wood there (see image). By the 2nd of April 1911 - census night - she was boarding at the home of her brother Nevile in Chilcompton, Somerset, where she complied with the census. We are not certain where the house was in Chilcompton, so have temporarily placed it at a generic location in the town. If anyone local can discern the name of the house from the census record and identify its precise location, please contact the Mapping Women's Suffrage project. By 1912, Helen was training as a nurse at the Royal National Hospital in Bath and working with the Women’s Freedom League by 1914. Later, she worked as a Civil servant in the Ministry of Pensions. After her retirement she lived in Hassocks in Sussex where she was involved with the Unitarian church. On the 18th of May 1962, she gave an interview in Bath where she had come to see the remains of the Suffragette’s Wood. She said that she had carried a sprig of the juniper tree she planted there in her purse since. In October 1965, she went to Canada to visit her sister Ethel, but ill health forced her to return to Somerset where she died aged 91. She is buried in St Vigor's churchyard at Stratton-on-the-Fosse. In the 1970s, an unaccompanied trunk arrived from Canada at Bristol Docks and remained unclaimed there for several years. Eventually, a dock worker opened it and it was found to contain Helen's letters and suffragette memorabilia. Fortunately, this was shown to a local teacher who made copies and sent these to Nottinghamshire archives - without which we would know a great deal less. The Nottingham Women’s History Group planted a Juniper tree in 2017 and in 2019 installed a commemorative plaque to Helen in the Arboretum. Sources: Helen Kirkpatrick watts Suffragette a Piecemeal Pamphlet by Rowena Edlin White Feb 2016 No Surrender: Women's Suffrage in Nottinghamshire NWHG; Elizabeth Crawford, The Women's Suffrage Movement: A Reference Guide (London, 1999). Contributed by Nottingham Women's History group www.nottinghamwomenshistory.org.uk. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Helen Watts Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant ||||osm POINT(-278791.20437164535 6667434.494858074) WSPU