Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence, Baroness Pethick-Lawrence (; 21 October 1867 – 11 March 1954) was a British
women's rights activist and
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 ...
.
Early life
Pethick-Lawrence was born 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, and was sent away to
boarding school
A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...
at the age of eight. Her younger sister, Dorothy Pethick (the tenth child), was also a suffragette.
Career and marriage
From 1891-95, Pethick worked as a "sister of the people" for the
West London Methodist Mission at
Cleveland Hall, near
Fitzroy Square. She helped
Mary Neal
Mary may refer to:
People
* Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name)
Religious contexts
* New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below
* Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...
run a girls' club at the mission. In 1895, she and Mary Neal left the mission to co-found the
Espérance Club
The Espérance Club, and the Maison Espérance dressmaking cooperative, were founded in the mid-1890s by Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence and Mary Neal in response to distressing conditions for girls in the London dress trade. The club was based at 50 ...
, 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. Pethick also started Maison Espérance, a dressmaking cooperative with a minimum wage, an
eight-hour day and a holiday scheme.
Pethick married
Frederick Lawrence in 1901 after he changed his political views to be more Liberal. The couple took the joint name Pethick-Lawrence and kept separate bank accounts to give them autonomy.
[Brian Harrison, 'Lawrence, Emmeline Pethick-, Lady Pethick-Lawrence (1867–1954)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]
Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, May 2006
Accessed 17 November 2007.
Activism
Pethick-Lawrence was a member of the Suffrage Society and was introduced to
Emmeline Pankhurst
Emmeline Pankhurst ('' née'' Goulden; 15 July 1858 – 14 June 1928) was an English political activist who organised the UK suffragette movement and helped women win the right to vote. In 1999, ''Time'' named her as one of the 100 Most Impo ...
in 1906. She became treasurer of the
Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), which Pankurst had founded in 1903, and raised £134,000 over six years.
Pethick-Lawrence attended a number of events with Pankhurst including the aborted visit to the Prime Minister in late June 1908, along with
Jessie Stephenson
Sara Jessie Stephenson (1873–1966) was a British suffragette and a member of the WSPU who organised census boycott in Manchester.
Early life
Sara Jessie Stephenson was born in Louth, Lincolnshire in 1873 the daughter of a farmer in Lincol ...
,
Florence Haig
Florence Eliza Haig (1856–1952) was a Scottish artist and suffragette who was decorated for imprisonments and hunger strikes.
Biography
Haig was born in 1856. Her father was a Berwickshire barrister and she had two sisters, Cecilia and Evelyn. ...
,
Maud Joachim and
Mary Phillips after which there was some violent treatment of women protestors, and a number of arrests.
Pethick-Lawrence founded the publication ''
Votes for Women'' with her husband in 1907. 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. ''
The Irish Times'' noted mordantly "This step does not mean that Mr Pethick-Lawrence is insolvent, because he is a wealthy man.''
After being released from prison, the Pethick-Lawrences were unceremoniously ousted from the
WSPU by Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughter
Christabel, because of their ongoing disagreement over the more radical forms of activism that the Pethick-Lawrences opposed. Her sister
Dorothy Pethick
Dorothy may refer to:
*Dorothy (given name), a list of people with that name.
Arts and entertainment
Characters
*Dorothy Gale, protagonist of ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' by L. Frank Baum
* Ace (''Doctor Who'') or Dorothy, a character playe ...
also left the WSPU in protest at their treatment, having previously taken part and been imprisoned for militant action.
The Pethick-Lawrences then joined
Agnes Harben and others starting the
United Suffragists
The United Suffragists was a women's suffrage movement in the United Kingdom.
History
The group was founded on 6 February 1914, by former members and supporters of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU). In contrast to the WSPU, it ad ...
,
which took over the publication of ''Votes for Women'' and was open to women and men, militants and non-militants alike.
In 1938 Pethick-Lawrence published her memoirs, which discuss the radicalization of the suffrage movement just before the
First World War. She was involved in the setting up of the
Suffragette Fellowship
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 women's suffrage, the right to vote in public elections in the United Kingdom. The term refers in part ...
with
Edith How-Martyn to document the movement.
In 1945, she became Lady Pethick-Lawrence when her husband was made a baron.
Posthumous recognition
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.
A blue plaque was unveiled in Pethick-Lawrence's honour by Weston 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).
Foundations, organisations and settlements
*
Espérance Club
The Espérance Club, and the Maison Espérance dressmaking cooperative, were founded in the mid-1890s by Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence and Mary Neal in response to distressing conditions for girls in the London dress trade. The club was based at 50 ...
*
Guild of the Poor Brave Things
*
Independent Labour Party
*
Kibbo Kift
*
West London Methodist Mission
*
Women's International League
The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) is a non-profit non-governmental organization working "to bring together women of different political views and philosophical and religious backgrounds determined to study and make kno ...
*
Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU)
See also
*
Hugh Price Hughes
*
List of suffragists and suffragettes
*
List of women's rights activists
*
Mark Guy Pearse, whom Lady Pethick-Lawrence described as "the greatest influence upon the first half of my life".
[
* Women's suffrage organisations
]
References
External links
Kibbo Kift official history
West London Mission
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pethick-Lawrence, Emmeline
1867 births
1954 deaths
Journalists from Bristol
British feminists
English pacifists
British baronesses
Politicians from Bristol
Women of the Victorian era
Labour Party (UK) parliamentary candidates
British socialist feminists
Women's Social and Political Union