Adelaide Knight, also known as Eliza Adelaide Knight, (1871–1950), was a British

suffragette A suffragette was a member of an activist women's organisation in the early 20th century who, under the banner "Votes for Women", fought for the right to vote in public elections in the United Kingdom. The term refers in particular to members ...

Biography

Born in

Tower Hamlets The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a London borough covering much of the traditional East End. It was formed in 1965 from the merger of the former metropolitan boroughs of Stepney, Poplar, and Bethnal Green. 'Tower Hamlets' was originally ...

in 1871, Eliza Adelaide ("Addy") Knight was a frail child, born with deformed thumbs, who had two accidents in childhood which led to her enduring poor health. Due to her childhood injuries, she used a stick or crutches.

Arrest

In 1906 suffragettes Knight,

Annie Kenney Ann "Annie" Kenney (13 September 1879 – 9 July 1953) was an English working-class suffragette and socialist feminist who became a leading figure in the Women's Social and Political Union. She co-founded its first branch in London with Minnie ...

, and Mrs.

Jane Sbarborough Jane Sbarborough (Sbarabara) (1842 — 1925) was born in Quebec, Canada but is known as a British suffragette. Along with Annie Kenney, and Adelaide Knight she was one of the Canning Town Three, according to the press. She was one of the early ...

were arrested along with

Teresa Billington-Greig Teresa Billington-Greig (15 October 1876 – 21 October 1964) was a British suffragette who helped create the Women's Freedom League in 1907. She had left another suffrage organisation – the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) – as s ...

when they tried to obtain an audience with

H. H. Asquith Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith, (12 September 1852 – 15 February 1928), generally known as H. H. Asquith, was a British statesman and Liberal Party politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom f ...

, a prominent member of the Liberals. Offered either six weeks in prison or giving up campaigning for one year, despite her poor health Knight chose prison, as did the other women. Annie Kenney, in her book autobiography, describes Knight as 'extraordinarily clever'.

Later life

In 1905 Knight joined the

Women's Social and Political Union The Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) was a women-only political movement and leading militant organisation campaigning for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom from 1903 to 1918. Known from 1906 as the suffragettes, its membership and ...

and worked as secretary for the organisation's first East London branch in

Canning Town Canning Town is a district in the London Borough of Newham, East London. The district is located to the north of the Royal Victoria Dock, and has been described as the "Child of the Victoria Docks" as the timing and nature of its urbanisation ...

, established by Annie Kenney and

Minnie Baldock Lucy Minnie Baldock (née Rogers; 20 November 1864''1939 England and Wales Register'' – 10 December 1954)''England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966, 1973-1995'' was a British suffragette. ...

. She was co-opted onto the Central Committee of the WSPU, but resigned from the organisation in 1907 due to its lack of democracy, and having witnessed a false claim made by

Christabel Pankhurst Dame Christabel Harriette Pankhurst, (; 22 September 1880 – 13 February 1958) was a British suffragette born in Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bord ...

in order to promote enfranchisement for propertied women only. Following this, Knight joined the

Adult Suffrage Society The Adult Suffrage Society was one of several organisations formed in the United Kingdom during the Victorian and Edwardian eras, with the objective of campaigning for the extension of voting rights to women. Unlike bodies such as the Pankhursts' ...

and became the branch secretary for

. She also served as a

Poor Law Guardian Boards of guardians were ''ad hoc'' authorities that administered Poor Law in the United Kingdom from 1835 to 1930. England and Wales Boards of guardians were created by the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834, replacing the parish overseers of the poor ...

for

West Ham West Ham is an area in East London, located east of Charing Cross in the west of the modern London Borough of Newham. The area, which lies immediately to the north of the River Thames and east of the River Lea, was originally an ancien ...

. She developed a friendship with

Dora Montefiore Dorothy Frances Montefiore (; 20 December 1851 – 21 December 1933), known as Dora Montefiore, was an English-Australian women's suffragist, socialist, poet, and autobiographer. Early life Born Dorothy Frances Fuller at Kenley Manor near Cou ...

with whom she travelled to France in 1908 to address meetings there. In March 1909 Knight resigned as branch secretary, due to illness through pregnancy, and received letters of thanks. She moved from Plaistow to

Abbey Wood Abbey Wood is an area in south east London, England, straddling the border between the Royal Borough of Greenwich and the London Borough of Bexley. It is located east of Charing Cross. Toponymy The area takes its name from Lesnes Abbey Woo ...

later that year with her family. In 1920 she joined the

Communist Party of Great Britain The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was the largest communist organisation in Britain and was founded in 1920 through a merger of several smaller Marxist groups. Many miners joined the CPGB in the 1926 general strike. In 1930, the CPG ...

as a foundation member with Dora Montefiore but declined an invitation to join a delegation to the Soviet Union due to poor health. In Abbey Wood she joined the

Women's Cooperative Guild A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardl ...

and, together with her husband, the

Independent Labour Party The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was a British political party of the left, established in 1893 at a conference in Bradford, after local and national dissatisfaction with the Liberals' apparent reluctance to endorse working-class candidates ...

and the

Workers Educational Association The Workers' Educational Association (WEA), founded in 1903, is the UK's largest voluntary sector provider of adult education and one of Britain's biggest charities. The WEA is a democratic and voluntary adult education movement. It delivers lea ...

Family

Adelaide and her husband, Donald Adolphus Brown, had four children between 1895 and 1901, three of whom died in a smallpox outbreak in 1902. Adelaide gave birth to another son in 1904 and a daughter in 1909. Brown (1874-1949) was a mixed-race sailor, the son of a Guyanese father and English mother, who eventually worked as a foreman at the Woolwich Arsenal, where he received a medal for bravery for tackling a fire there. Adelaide Knight died in 1950; her husband died a year earlier. Her daughter,

Winifred Langton Winifred is a feminine given name, an anglicization of Welsh ''Gwenffrewi'', from ''gwen'', "fair", and ''ffrew'', "stillness". It may refer to: People * Saint Winifred * Winifred Atwell (1914–1983), a pianist who enjoyed great popularity in Br ...

, wrote a memoir of her parents edited by Addy's granddaughter,

Fay Jacobsen A fairy (also fay, fae, fey, fair folk, or faerie) is a type of mythical being or legendary creature found in the folklore of multiple European cultures (including Celtic, Slavic, Germanic, English, and French folklore), a form of spirit, ...

, entitled, "Courage".https://www.grahamstevenson.me.uk/index.php/biographies/j-l/l/337-winifred-langton-accessed=21/12/2018

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Knight, Adelaide 1871 births 1950 deaths British people with disabilities English people with disabilities English suffragists Women's Social and Political Union