Dorothy Layton (born Eleanor Dorothea Osmaston; 4 October 1887 – 18 March 1959) was an English suffragist and politician.

Life

Layton was born in

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from Watling Street, the A5 road (Roman Watling Street) to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the Lon ...

in 1887. She was the first of three children born to the suffragist Eleanor Margaret and Francis Plumptre Beresford Osmaston. Her father was a barrister and they lived in Limpsfield, Surrey. Her parents arranged her education at varios places until a bequest enabled her to attend Julia Huxley's

Prior's Field School Prior's Field is an independent girls' boarding and day school in Guildford, Surrey in the south-east of England. Founded in 1902 by Julia Huxley, it stands in 42 acres of parkland, 34 miles south-west of London and adjacent to the A3 road, w ...

where she made friends with

Julian Julian may refer to: People * Julian (emperor) (331–363), Roman emperor from 361 to 363 * Julian (Rome), referring to the Roman gens Julia, with imperial dynasty offshoots * Saint Julian (disambiguation), several Christian saints * Julian (give ...

and Aldous Huxley. She went on to attend

Newnham College, Cambridge Newnham College is a women's Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sid ...

, in 1906 where she continued her suffragism by joining the non-militant National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS). She also joined the Fabian Society, captained the cricket team, played piano and studied history and economics. She was a member of a group of friends that

Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer, considered one of the most important modernist 20th-century authors and a pioneer in the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device. Woolf was born i ...

called the "neo-pagans". The group included

Rupert Brooke Rupert Chawner Brooke (3 August 1887 – 23 April 1915)The date of Brooke's death and burial under the Julian calendar that applied in Greece at the time was 10 April. The Julian calendar was 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar. was an En ...

, Helen Verrall,

Noël Olivier Hon. Noël Olivier Richards (25 December 1892 – 11 April 1969) was an English medical doctor. She was born on Christmas Day 1892, hence her name, as the daughter of Sydney Olivier, 1st Baron Olivier and Margaret Cox. A cousin was the actor Sir ...

, Margery Olivier, Bill Hubback, Eva Spielman, Jerry Pinsent and Dolly Rose. She graduated and she would have gained a Cambridge degree in 1909 if she had been a man. In 1910 she married one of her economics lecturers. They had three children in three years and during those years Dorothy sold the NUWSS paper "

Common Cause Common Cause is a watchdog group based in Washington, D.C., with chapters in 35 states. It was founded in 1970 by John W. Gardner, a Republican, who was the former Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare in the administration of President L ...

" each week in Cambridge. She took to public speaking in 1913 during the

Great Pilgrimage The Great Pilgrimage of 1913 was a march in Britain by suffragists campaigning non-violently for women's suffrage, organised by the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS). Women marched to London from all around England and Wales a ...

as suffrage supporters travelled from across the UK to meet in Hyde Park on 26 July. As they walked one of the eight NUWSS routes she would speak in villages as they passed. Her husband was an active member of the Liberal Party but Dorothy refused to join until 1918 because of their poor support for the suffrage cause.

Lloyd George David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922. He was a Liberal Party (United Kingdom), Liberal Party politician from Wales, known for lea ...

considered her the more radical member of their marriage and their house did not have alcoholic drinks because of her objection to them. In 1959 she died of cancer and her husband wrote an account of her life. It was published in 1961 with the simple title of ''Dorothy''. He would die in 1966.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Layton, Dorothy 1887 births 1959 deaths People from Hampstead English women in politics Alumni of Newnham College, Cambridge English suffragists British baronesses