Edith How-Martyn (''née'' How; 17 June 1875 – 2 February 1954) 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 ...

and a member 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). She was arrested in 1906 for attempting to make a speech in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

. This was one of the first acts of suffragette militancy. She met

Margaret Sanger Margaret Higgins Sanger (born Margaret Louise Higgins; September 14, 1879September 6, 1966), also known as Margaret Sanger Slee, was an American birth control activist, sex educator, writer, and nurse. Sanger popularized the term "birth control ...

in 1915 and they created a conference in Geneva. How-Martyn toured India talking about

birth control Birth control, also known as contraception, anticonception, and fertility control, is the use of methods or devices to prevent unwanted pregnancy. Birth control has been used since ancient times, but effective and safe methods of birth contr ...

. She had no children and died in Australia.

Life

Edith How was born in London in 1875 to Edwin and Ann How. Her father was a grocer and her elder sister became the lawyer Florence Earengey. Edith attended the

North London Collegiate School North London Collegiate School (NLCS) is an independent school with a day school for girls in England. Founded in Camden Town, it is now located in Edgware, in the London Borough of Harrow. Associate schools are located in South Korea, Jeju I ...

. She went to University College, Aberystwyth where she took Physics and Mathematics, gaining an external degree from the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

in 1903. She married George Herbert Martyn in 1899. She had radical political opinions and was a member of 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 ...

before becoming an early member of the WSPU in 1905. The following year she was appointed joint secretary of the WSPU with

Charlotte Despard Charlotte Despard (née French; 15 June 1844 – 10 November 1939) was an Anglo-Irish suffragist, socialist, pacifist, Sinn Féin activist, and novelist. She was a founding member of the Women's Freedom League, Women's Peace Crusade, and the ...

and it was in Oct 1906 that she was arrested in the lobby of the House of Commons trying to give a speech. She was one of the first WSPU members to go to jail when she was given a two-month sentence. However, the future direction of the WSPU under the Pankhursts was a matter of some concern to her, as it was to other members at this time. In 1907, together with

Alice Abadam Alice Abadam (2 January 1856 – 1940) was a Welsh suffragette, feminist and public speaker. Early life Abadam was born in London in 1856 to Edward Abadam and his wife, Louisa ( Taylor) Abadam. Her father was the eldest son of Edward Hamlin A ...

, Theresa Billington-Greig, Marion Coates-Hansen, Irene Miller,

Bessie Drysdale Bessie is a feminine given name, often a diminutive form (hypocorism) of Elizabeth, Beatrice and other names since the 16th century. It is sometimes a name in its own right. Notable people with the name include: People *Bessie Abott (1878-19 ...

, Maude Fitzherbert) were signatories to a letter 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 ...

explaining their disquiet on 14 September 1907. This group to formed the

Women's Freedom League The Women's Freedom League was an organisation in the United Kingdom which campaigned for women's suffrage and sexual equality Gender equality, also known as sexual equality or equality of the sexes, is the state of equal ease of access ...

(WFL), which abandoned the violent tactics of the WSPU group in favour of non-violent illegal acts to convey their message.How-Martyn was honorary secretary of the new group, whose motto was 'Dare to be Free' from 1907 to 1911, when she became head of the Political and Militant section. However, she resigned in Apr 1912, disappointed with the WFL's progress after the defeat of the

Conciliation Bill Conciliation bills were proposed legislation which would extend the right of women to vote in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland to just over a million wealthy, property-owning women. After the January 1910 election, an all-party Con ...

. How-Martyn together with

and Emma Sproson made a delegation to the British Prime Minister. She had also refused to pay taxes that were only voted for by men. How-Martyn's next political act was to stand as an independent candidate in

Hendon Hendon is an urban area in the Borough of Barnet, North-West London northwest of Charing Cross. Hendon was an ancient manor and parish in the county of Middlesex and a former borough, the Municipal Borough of Hendon; it has been part of Great ...

in the 1918 general election, an attempt in which she was unsuccessful. She held public office for the first time In 1919, when she became a member of the

Middlesex County Council Middlesex County Council was the principal local government body in the administrative county of Middlesex from 1889 to 1965. The county council was created by the Local Government Act 1888, which also removed the most populous part of the coun ...

, a post she held until 1922. From then on, her interests were mainly directed to the issue of birth control. She met the American family planning leader

in 1915 and had been impressed by her ideas, subsequently organising the 1927 World Population Conference in

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

with Sanger and becoming honorary director of the Birth Control International Information Centre in London in 1930. Between November 1934 and Mar 1935 How-Martyn travelled through

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

campaigning for birth control, then accompanied Sanger on her trip to Asia the following year. How-Martyn returned to the sub-continent several times in the following years to continue the work started there at this point. However, her past campaigning for women's suffrage was not forgotten: in 1926 she also established the Suffragette Fellowship that began the process of documenting the movement. She continued this work in the following decades through a local branch in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

which she established after she moved there with her husband at the outbreak of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Norman Haire Norman Haire, born Norman Zions (21 January 1892, Sydney – 11 September 1952, London) was an Australian medical practitioner and sexologist. He has been called "the most prominent sexologist in Britain" between the wars. Life When Norman was b ...

, who had returned to Australia, informed

that How-Martyn hoped to 'join forces with him' to do something for

despite the war. Haire wrote to Sanger again on 9 September 1948, asking her to send money to support How-Martyn who was old, sick and poor. She had a stroke and died in an Australian nursing home

Posthumous recognition

Her 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 c ...

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 ...

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.

References

External links

Spartacus article on How-Martyn
''Margaret Sanger Papers Project Newsletter'' #5, Spring 1993
Edith How-Martyn archive
at

The Women's Library The Women's Library is England's main library and museum resource on women and the women's movement, concentrating on Britain in the 19th and 20th centuries. It has an institutional history as a coherent collection dating back to the mid-1920s, ...

at th
Library of the London School of Economics
{{DEFAULTSORT:How-Martyn, Edith 1875 births 1954 deaths British feminists British socialist feminists People educated at North London Collegiate School Women's Social and Political Union Members of Middlesex County Council English tax resisters Women councillors in England

Life

Posthumous recognition

See also

References

External links