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Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence

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The Right Honourable
The Lady Pethick-Lawrence
Pethick-Lawrence, c. 1910s
Born
Emmeline Pethick

21 October 1867
Clifton, Bristol, England
Died11 March 1954(1954-03-11) (aged 86)
Gomshall, Surrey, England
EducationGreystone House
EmployerWest London Methodist Mission
Organization(s)Espérance Club, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, No More War Movement, The Suffragette Fellowship, Women's Freedom League
Known forCampaign for women's suffrage, co-founder of Votes for Women.
Political partyWomen's Social and Political Union, United Suffragists, Labour Party UK
SpouseFrederick Pethick-Lawrence, 1st Baron Pethick-Lawrence (m. 1901)

Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence, Baroness Pethick-Lawrence (née Pethick; 21 October 1867 – 11 March 1954[1]) was a British women's rights activist, suffragist and pacifist.

Early life

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Pethick-Lawrence was born in 1867 in Bristol as Emmeline Pethick. Her father, Henry Pethick, was a businessman, a merchant of South American hide, who became owner of the Weston Gazette, and a Weston town commissioner. She was the second of 13 children, five who died in infancy,[2] and her younger sister, Dorothy Pethick (the tenth child), was also a suffragist.[3]

Pethick was sent away to the Greystone House boarding school at the age of eight.[2] She was then educated at private schools in England, France and Germany.[4]

Early career

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From 1891 to 1895, Pethick worked as a "sister of the people" for the West London Methodist Mission at Cleveland Hall, near Fitzroy Square. She helped Mary Neal run a girls' club at the mission and the friends lived together.[5] In 1895, she and Mary Neal left the mission to co-found the Espérance Club, a club for young women and girls that would not be subject to the constraints of the mission, and could experiment with dance and drama.[6] Pethick also started Maison Espérance, a dressmaking cooperative with a minimum wage, an eight-hour day and a holiday scheme,[4] and was founder of the Social Settlement for Girls from the East End of London.[7]

Marriage

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Pethick met wealthy barrister Frederick William Lawrence in 1899.[5] She initially feared that a conventional marriage would curtail her independence and prevent her from her social service work, so turned down his marriage proposal.[2] After a second proposal, they married on 2 October 1901, three weeks before her 34th birthday.[2]

After the marriage, the couple took the hyphenated joint surname Pethick-Lawrence as a gesture of equality,[4] and kept separate bank accounts to give them financial autonomy.[8] They moved to Holmwood, near Dorking and also shared a London flat.[7] On their first wedding anniversary, Frederick gave her the key to a private flat on the roof of Clement's Inn for her own private use.[2]

Women's suffrage activism

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Signed postcard of Pethick-Lawrence from 1907

During a visit to South Africa with her husband, Pethick-Lawrence read about Christabel Pankhurst and Annie Kenney's protest and unfurling a banner declaring "Votes for Women" at the Manchester Free Trade Hall in October 1905, and their subsequent arrest.[9] Back in Britain, Pethick-Lawrence became a member of the Suffrage Society and was introduced to Emmeline Pankhurst by Keir Hardie in 1906.[10][11] She became treasurer of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU),[12] which Pankurst had founded in 1903, and raised £134,000 over six years.[13] Her husband and Keir Hardie also donated funds to pay off the organisations debts and she insisted that her friend and chartered accountant Alfred Sayers be appointed to audit the WSPU finances.[2]

Votes for Women, the suffragette newspaper founded by the Pethick-Lawrences

Christabel Pankhurst lived with the Pethick-Lawrences for five years in London and in Surrey.[7] Lawrence attended a number of protests and events with the Pankhursts. In October 1906, she was arrested with Emmeline Pankhurst for "causing a disturbance" outside the House of Commons. As they both refused to pay the £10 fine they were sent to HM Holloway Prison.[14] She also participated in the aborted visit to the Prime Minister in late June 1908, along with Jessie Stephenson, Florence Haig, Maud Joachim and Mary Phillips, after which there was some violent treatment of women protestors, and a number of arrests.[10]

In 1908, together with Beatrice Sanders and Mrs Knight, Pethick-Lawrence organised WSPU's first Week of Self-Denial, where supporters of the suffragette movement were asked to go without certain necessities for a week, donating the money saved to the WSPU.[15] She was arrested again in November 1911.[14]

Emmeline Pankhurst, Annie Kenny and Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence c. 1912

Pethick-Lawrence founded and edited the publication Votes for Women with her husband from 1907.[16] It was adopted as the official newspaper of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), already the leading militant suffragette organisation in the country.[17] The couple was arrested and imprisoned in 1912 for conspiracy following demonstrations that involved breaking windows, even though they had disagreed with that form of action.

In April 1913, Frederick Pethick-Lawrence was made bankrupt after he refused to pay the £900 costs of the prosecutions of Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence, himself and Emmeline Pankhurst in the Old Bailey for conspiracy to commit property damage.[18] The Irish Times noted that "this step does not mean that Mr Pethick-Lawrence is insolvent, because he is a wealthy man.[19] Whilst the Pethick-Lawrences were imprisoned, Evelyn Sharp briefly assumed the editorship of the Votes for Women.[20]

After being released from prison, the Pethick-Lawrences recuperated with Emmeline’s brother in Canada.[7] They were then ousted from the WSPU by Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughter Christabel Pankhurst, because of their ongoing disagreement over the more radical forms of activism that the Pethick-Lawrences opposed.[21] Her sister Dorothy Pethick also left the WSPU in protest at their treatment, having previously taken part and been imprisoned for militant action.[3]

The Pethick-Lawrences then joined Agnes Harben and others starting the United Suffragists,[13] which took over the publication of Votes for Women and was open to women and men, militants and non-militants alike.[17] The Suffragette replaced Votes for Women as the paper of the WSPU.[22]

Pacifism and election campaigns

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Pethick-Lawrence, left, with Women at the Hague in 1915, including Jane Addams and Annie E. Molloy

The Pethick-Lawrences and the Pankhurts also had opposing views on war.[23] Pethick-Lawrence described peace as "the highest effort of the human brain applied to the organisation of the life and being of the peoples of the world on the basis of cooperation."[24] In 1914, she embarked on a speaking tour in America, speaking on the outbreak of World War I, the impact of war on women and feminist pacifism.[25] In April 1915, Aletta Jacobs, a suffragist in the Netherlands, invited suffrage members from around the world to an International Congress of Women in The Hague. At the conference, the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) was formed and Pethick-Lawrence became a member.[12][26] As a pacifist, Pethwick-Lawrence was amongst the women who encouraged Jane Addams to take leadership over the peace movement in America, along with Carrie Champan Catt and Rosika Schwimmer.[27] When back in England, she lead a campaign against the naval blockade on Germany,[7] whilst her husband Frederick worked on a farm in Sussex as a conscientious objector and was a founding member of the Union of Democratic Control (UDC).[18]

Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence, 1921

When the American activist Alice Paul visited England in 1921, she met with Pethick-Lawrence and Lady Margaret Rhondda to form an Internal Advisory Committee for the National Women's Party, before travelling on to France.[28]

In 1919, when women were first permitted to stand in elections, Pethick-Lawrence stood as a Labour candidate for Rusholme in Manchester.[4] She called for "better houses, better food, pure milk, a public service of health, provision of midwives and also pensions for widowed mothers."[29] She was not elected.[4] Her husband was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for Leicester West in 1923.[18]

Later years

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Emmeline and her husband Frederick Pethick-Lawrence in 1925

In 1938, Pethick-Lawrence published her memoirs, My Part in a Changing World,[30] which discuss the radicalization of the suffrage movement just before the First World War[31] and how the women's and peace movements were closely allied in England.[32]

She was involved in the setting up of the Suffragette Fellowship with Edith How-Martyn to document the women's suffrage movement.[33] Pethick-Lawrence was also involved with the Women's League of Unity, alongside Flora Drummond, which attempted to establish a women's newspaper in 1938-1939.[34] She was also the president of the Women's Freedom League (WFL) and was elected its president in honour in 1953.[4]

In 1945, she became Lady Pethick-Lawrence when her husband was made a baron.[35] Pethick-Lawrence died in 1954 following a heart attack.[36]

Suffrage interviews

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In 1976 the historian, Brian Harrison, conducted various interviews related to the Pethwick-Lawrence's as part of the Suffrage Interviews project, titled Oral evidence on the suffragette and suffragist movements: the Brian Harrison interviews.[36] Elizabeth Kempster was employed as their housekeeper in 1945 following an interview at Lincoln's Inn, and worked at their home, Fourways, in Surrey, where Sylvia Pankhurst was a frequent visitor. She talks about Pethick-Lawrence's character, appearance, interests and frailty. Gladys Groom-Smith, interviewed in June and August 1976, was secretary to the Pethick-Lawrence's, working alongside Esther Knowles who trained her. She talks about Pethick-Lawrence's role as a speaker in the No More War Movement, and the Pethick-Lawrence's work and marriage, lifestyle and friendships, including with Henry Harben and Victor Duval. Harrison also interviewed the niece of Esther Knowles, who recalled her Aunt's relationship with the Pethick-Lawrence's and her work for them.

Posthumous recognition

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Pethick-Lawrence's name and picture (and those of 58 other women's suffrage supporters) are on the plinth of the statue of Millicent Fawcett in Parliament Square, London, unveiled in 2018.[37][38][39]

A blue plaque was unveiled in Pethick-Lawrence's honour by Weston-super-Mare Town Council and Weston Civic Society in March 2020. It was placed on a wall Lewisham House, Weston-super-Mare (known as 'Trewartha' when she lived there for fourteen years as a child).[40]

Foundations, organisations and settlements

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence © Orlando Project". cambridge.org. Archived from the original on 13 April 2019. Retrieved 13 March 2010.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Rosen, Andrew (17 January 2013). Rise Up, Women!: The Militant Campaign of the Women's Social and Political Union, 1903-1914. Routledge. pp. 61–64. ISBN 978-1-136-24754-5.
  3. ^ a b "Dorothy Pethick". Suffragette Stories. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Hartley, Cathy (15 April 2013). A Historical Dictionary of British Women. Routledge. p. 351. ISBN 978-1-135-35533-3.
  5. ^ a b Atherton, Kathryn (4 April 2024). Mary Neal and the Suffragettes Who Saved Morris Dancing. Pen and Sword. p. 36. ISBN 978-1-3990-6154-4.
  6. ^ Judge, Roy (1989). "Mary Neal and the Espérance Morris" (PDF). Folk Music Journal. 5 (5): 548. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 December 2011. Retrieved 28 August 2013.
  7. ^ a b c d e "Emmeline and Frederick Pethick Lawrence". Exploring Surrey's Past. Retrieved 17 February 2025.
  8. ^ a b Harrison, Brian. (24 September 2004) 'Lawrence, Emmeline Pethick-, Lady Pethick-Lawrence (1867–1954)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press. Accessed 17 November 2007.
  9. ^ Purvis, June (2 September 2003). Emmeline Pankhurst: A Biography. Routledge. p. 80. ISBN 978-1-134-34191-7.
  10. ^ a b Atkinson, Diane (105). Rise up, women!: the remarkable lives of the suffragettes. London: Bloomsbury. p. 39. ISBN 9781408844045. OCLC 1016848621.
  11. ^ Cowman, Krista (31 July 2024). The Routledge Companion to British Women’s Suffrage. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-351-36571-0.
  12. ^ a b Nelson, Carolyn Christensen (25 June 2004). Literature of the Women's Suffrage Campaign in England. Broadview Press. pp. xxxvi. ISBN 978-1-55111-511-5.
  13. ^ a b Uglow, Jennifer S. (1985). "Pethick-Lawrence, Emmeline". The International Dictionary of Women's Biography. New York: Continuum. pp. 370–371. ISBN 0-8264-0192-9.
  14. ^ a b Chandler, Malcolm (2001). Votes for Women, C.1900-28. Heinemann. pp. 9, 18. ISBN 978-0-435-32731-6.
  15. ^ "Women paint the country red". Dundee Courier. Dundee, UK. 12 February 1931. p. 3.
  16. ^ Murphy, Gillian. "Women's suffrage". London School of Economics and Political Science. Retrieved 17 February 2025.
  17. ^ a b Crawford, Elizabeth (2003). The Women's Suffrage Movement: A Reference Guide, 1866–1928. UCL Press. pp. 269–271, 460–461. ISBN 9781135434021.
  18. ^ a b c Harrison, Brian (24 September 2004). "Lawrence, Frederick William Pethick-, Baron Pethick-Lawrence (1871–1961), politician". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/35491. Retrieved 17 February 2025.
  19. ^ Irish Times, 3 May 1913
  20. ^ Scott, Bonnie Kime (2007). Gender in Modernism: New Geographies, Complex Intersections. University of Illinois Press. p. 31. ISBN 978-0-252-07418-9.
  21. ^ Cowman, Krista (9 December 2010). Women in British Politics, c.1689-1979. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-350-30703-2.
  22. ^ Tusan, Michelle Elizabeth (2005). Women Making News: Gender and Journalism in Modern Britain. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-03015-4.
  23. ^ Jorgensen-Earp, Cheryl R. (15 March 2015). The Transfiguring Sword: The Just War of the Women's Social and Political Union. University of Alabama Press. p. 148. ISBN 978-0-8173-5821-1.
  24. ^ Flint, Colin; Dempsey, Kara E. (17 November 2023). Making Geographies of Peace and Conflict. Taylor & Francis. p. 1999. ISBN 978-1-000-99894-8.
  25. ^ Knop, Karen (18 April 2002). Diversity and Self-Determination in International Law. Cambridge University Press. p. 291. ISBN 978-1-139-43192-7.
  26. ^ Holton, Sandra Stanley (18 December 2003). Feminism and Democracy: Women's Suffrage and Reform Politics in Britain, 1900-1918. Cambridge University Press. p. 138. ISBN 978-0-521-52121-5.
  27. ^ Presler, Judith; Scholz, Sally J. (2000). Peacemaking: Lessons from the Past, Visions for the Future. Rodopi. p. 212. ISBN 978-90-420-1552-4.
  28. ^ Kimble, Sara L. (2019). "Politics, Money and Distrust: French-American alliances in the International Campaign for Women's Equal Rights, 1925-1930". In Barton, Nimisha; Hopkins, Richard S. (eds.). Practiced Citizenship: Women, Gender, and the State in Modern France. University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 978-1-4962-1245-0.
  29. ^ Thackeray, David; Toye, Richard (4 August 2020). Electoral Pledges in Britain Since 1918: The Politics of Promises. Springer Nature. pp. 63–64. ISBN 978-3-030-46663-3.
  30. ^ Hannam, June; Holden, Katherine (29 June 2020). Suffrage and Women's Writing. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-000-67284-8.
  31. ^ Pethick-Lawrence, Emmeline (1938). My Part in a Changing World. London.
  32. ^ Sheldon, Sayre P. (1999). Her War Story: Twentieth-century Women Write about War. SIU Press. p. 78. ISBN 978-0-8093-2246-6.
  33. ^ Luscombe, Eileen (20 October 2023). History and Legacy of the Suffragette Fellowship: Calling all Women!. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-000-98710-2.
  34. ^ Doughan, David; Gordon, Professor Peter; Gordon, Peter (3 June 2014). Dictionary of British Women's Organisations, 1825-1960. Routledge. p. 177. ISBN 978-1-136-89770-2.
  35. ^ Rappaport, Helen (2001). "Pethick-Lawrence, Emmeline". Encyclopedia of women social reformers. 1. [A – L]. Santa Barbara, Calif. [u.a.]: ABC-CLIO. p. 548. ISBN 978-1-57607-101-4.
  36. ^ a b "The Suffrage Interviews". London School of Economics and Political Science. Retrieved 20 August 2024.
  37. ^ "Historic statue of suffragist leader Millicent Fawcett unveiled in Parliament Square". Gov.uk. 24 April 2018. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
  38. ^ Topping, Alexandra (24 April 2018). "First statue of a woman in Parliament Square unveiled". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
  39. ^ "Millicent Fawcett statue unveiling: the women and men whose names will be on the plinth". iNews. 24 April 2018. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
  40. ^ "Our Blue Plaque Journey: Emmeline-Pethick-Lawrence". Weston-super-Mare Council. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
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