Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence, Baroness Pethick-Lawrence (; 21 October 1867 – 11 March 1954) was a British
women's rights
Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...
activist and
suffragette.
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 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
The West London Methodist Mission was established in 1887 under the leadership of Hugh Price Hughes, a leading voice in Methodism and in Non-Conformity, and has a long track record as a Methodist ministry and as a spiritual home for "good works". ...
at
Cleveland Hall, near
Fitzroy Square
Fitzroy Square is a Georgian square in London. It is the only one in the central London area known as Fitzrovia.
The square is one of the area's main features, this once led to the surrounding district to be known as Fitzroy Square or Fitzro ...
. She helped
Mary Neal run a girls' club at the mission. 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. Pethick also started Maison Espérance, a dressmaking cooperative with a minimum wage, an
eight-hour day
The eight-hour day movement (also known as the 40-hour week movement or the short-time movement) was a social movement to regulate the length of a working day, preventing excesses and abuses.
An eight-hour work day has its origins in the ...
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
The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...
Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, May 2006
Accessed 17 November 2007.
Activism
![Peace Delegates on NOORDAM 18848v](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/Peace_Delegates_on_NOORDAM_18848v.jpg)
Pethick-Lawrence was a member of the Suffrage Society and was introduced to
Emmeline Pankhurst in 1906. She became treasurer of 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 an ...
(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,
Florence Haig,
Maud Joachim
Maud Joachim (1869 – 1947) was born in 1869 and was educated at Girton College., she was one of the groups of suffragettes that fought to grant women the right to vote in the U.K., she was jailed several times for her protests.
Activism
She ...
and
Mary Phillips after which there was some violent treatment of women protestors, and a number of arrests.
![Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence, Baroness Pethick-Lawrence 1921](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/18/Emmeline_Pethick-Lawrence%2C_Baroness_Pethick-Lawrence_1921.png)
Pethick-Lawrence founded the publication ''
Votes for Women
A vote is a formal method of choosing in an election.
Vote(s) or The Vote may also refer to:
Music
*''V.O.T.E.'', an album by Chris Stamey and Yo La Tengo, 2004
*"Vote", a song by the Submarines from ''Declare a New State!'', 2006
Television
* " ...
'' 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
''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...
'' 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
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 an ...
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 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
Agnes Helen Harben (née Bostock; 15 September 1879 – 29 October 1961) was a British suffragist leader who also supported the militant suffragette hunger strikers, and was a founder of the United Suffragists.
Family and life
Harben was bor ...
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 admit ...
,
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
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. She was involved in the setting up of the
Suffragette Fellowship with
Edith How-Martyn
Edith How-Martyn (''née'' How; 17 June 1875 – 2 February 1954) was a British suffragette and a member of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU). She was arrested in 1906 for attempting to make a speech in the House of Commons. This was ...
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
A pedestal (from French ''piédestal'', Italian ''piedistallo'' 'foot of a stall') or plinth is a support at the bottom of a statue, vase, column, or certain altars. Smaller pedestals, especially if round in shape, may be called socles. In ...
of the
statue of Millicent Fawcett
The statue of Millicent Fawcett in Parliament Square, London, honours the British suffragist leader and social campaigner Dame Millicent Fawcett. It was made in 2018 by Gillian Wearing. Following a campaign and petition by the activist Caroline ...
in
Parliament Square
Parliament Square is a square at the northwest end of the Palace of Westminster in the City of Westminster in central London. Laid out in the 19th century, it features a large open green area in the centre with trees to its west, and it contai ...
, 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
Weston-super-Mare, also known simply as Weston, is a seaside town in North Somerset, England. It lies by the Bristol Channel south-west of Bristol between Worlebury Hill and Bleadon Hill. It includes the suburbs of Mead Vale, Milton, Oldmix ...
(known as 'Trewartha' when she lived there for fourteen years as a child).
Foundations, organisations and settlements
*
Espérance Club
*
Guild of the Poor Brave Things
The Guild of the Brave Poor Things was a British charity for disabled children. It was established in 1894 by Dame Grace Kimmins (1871–1954) ''et al.'' to provide resources for disabled boys to enable them to make a productive place for themselv ...
*
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 ...
*
Kibbo Kift
The Kindred of the Kibbo Kift was a camping, hiking and handicraft group with ambitions to bring world peace. It was the first of three movements in England associated with the charismatic artist and writer John Hargrave (1894–1982). The Kindred ...
*
West London Methodist Mission
The West London Methodist Mission was established in 1887 under the leadership of Hugh Price Hughes, a leading voice in Methodism and in Non-Conformity, and has a long track record as a Methodist ministry and as a spiritual home for "good works". ...
*
Women's International League
*
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 an ...
(WSPU)
See also
*
Hugh Price Hughes
Hugh Price Hughes (8 February 1847 – 17 November 1902) was a Welsh Protestant clergyman and religious reformer in the Methodist tradition. He served in multiple leadership roles in the Wesleyan Methodist Church. He organised the West London M ...
*
List of suffragists and suffragettes
This list of suffragists and suffragettes includes noted individuals active in the worldwide women's suffrage movement who have campaigned or strongly advocated for women's suffrage, the organisations which they formed or joined, and the public ...
*
List of women's rights activists
This article is a list of notable women's rights activists, arranged alphabetically by modern country names and by the names of the persons listed.
Afghanistan
* Amina Azimi – disabled women's rights advocate
* Hasina Jalal – women's empowerm ...
*
Mark Guy Pearse
Mark Guy Pearse (3 January 1842 – 1 January 1930) was a Cornish people, Cornish Methodism, Methodist preacher, lecturer and author who, during the last quarter of the 19th century and the first of the 20th, was a household name throughout Brit ...
, 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