Constance Jane McAdam (1872-1951), best known under her literary pseudonym Constance Clyde, was a Scottish-born New Zealand writer and suffragette. She also published under the name Clyde Wright.

Life

Born in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

to Mary (née Couper) and William McAdam in 1872, Clyde came to New Zealand as a child, and was educated at

Otago Girls' High School , motto_translation = The Right Education Makes The Heart As Strong As Oak , type = State , grades = 9 - 13 , grades_label = Years , gender = Girls-only , established = ; years ago , address = 41 Tennyson Street ...

. She moved to

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

in 1898, and wrote for the ''

Sydney Bulletin ''The Bulletin'' was an Australian weekly magazine first published in Sydney on 31 January 1880. The publication's focus was politics and business, with some literary content, and editions were often accompanied by cartoons and other illustrat ...

''. In an essay entitled 'The Literary Woman', she urged women to continue "to make brilliant discoveries in the realm of the emotions". In 1903, Clyde returned to the United Kingdom to pursue a London literary career. Her novel ''A Pagan's Love'' was published there in 1905: the novel raised questions of women's dependence, with the heroine considering an extra-marital relationship with a man.'Clyde, Constance (1872–?)', in Claire Buck, ed., ''Bloomsbury Guide to Women's Literature'', 1992, p.428 In 1907 Clyde was imprisoned in Holloway Prison as one of the

suffragettes 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 ...

who 'caused a disturbance' in the House of Commons.Christopher Dawson
A Brisbane Suffragette in London
''Inside Boggo Road''. Accessed 2 September 2018. At some point, Clyde returned to New Zealand, and in 1925 co-authored a travel book with the journalist Alan Mulgan. In 1931 she was ejected from the New Zealand Parliament after protesting against the 1925 Child Welfare Act.Christopher Dawson
Constance Clyde of Dutton Park: Author and Suffragette
''Inside Boggo Road''. Accessed 2 September 2018. In the early 1930s she moved to

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

. In 1935 she was imprisoned in

Boggo Road Gaol Boggo Road Gaol in Brisbane, Australia, was Queensland’s main jail from the 1880s to the 1980s, by which time it had become notorious for poor conditions and rioting. Located on Annerley Road in Dutton Park, an inner southern suburb of Brisbane ...

after refusing to pay a fine for fortune-telling using tea-leaves.Christopher Dawson
A Suffragette Recalls Boggo Road Gaol
''Inside Boggo Road''. Accessed 2 September 2018. She died in August 1951, and was buried in Brisbane's

Hemmant Cemetery Hemmant is a suburb of the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , Hemmant had a population of 2,385 people. Geography Hemmant is by road east of the Brisbane CBD. Hemmant is bounded by the Brisbane River to the north and Bulimba ...

Publications

* ''A Pagan's Love''. London: Fisher Unwin, 1905 * ''Will They Never Come''. Melbourne: Australian Catholic Truth Society, n.d. * (with Alan Mulgan) ''New Zealand, Country and People: An Account of the Country and Its People'', 1925

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clyde, Constance 1872 births 1951 deaths New Zealand women novelists New Zealand journalists Scottish emigrants to New Zealand 20th-century New Zealand novelists People educated at Otago Girls' High School 20th-century New Zealand women writers Writers from Glasgow