Florence Wallace Pomeroy, Viscountess Harberton (''née'' Wallace Legge; 14 June 1843 – 30 April 1911) was a British campaigner for dress reform. She was born at Malone House in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

, the daughter of wealthy landowner William Wallace Legge (died 1868), a and for

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population o ...

, and his wife, Eleanor Wilkie Forster. She married James Spencer Pomeroy (1836–1912) on 2 April 1861, and in 1862 she became Viscountess Harberton when he became the 6th

Viscount Harberton Viscount Harberton, of Carbery in the County of Kildare is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created on 5 July 1791 for Arthur Pomeroy, 1st Baron Harberton, who had previously represented County Kildare in the Irish House of Commons. He h ...

. They had four children, Aline Florence, Hilda Evelyn, Ernest Arthur George (1867-1944, 7th Viscount), and Ralph Legge (1869-1956, 8th Viscount). Pomeroy became involved in the campaign for dress reform in 1880, after the death of her daughter Aline. In 1883 she became President of the

Rational Dress Society The Rational Dress Society was an organisation founded in 1881 in London, part of the movement for Victorian dress reform. It described its purpose thus: The Rational Dress Society protests against the introduction of any fashion in dress that e ...

(which she possibly co-founded in 1881), which described the attributes of "perfect" dress as: In 1893, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' mentioned her "Short Skirts League" whose members would wear skirts of at least above the ground when out walking. In 1898, she founded the Rational Dress League. She was a keen cyclist, and one of her most celebrated moments was when the landlady of the Hautboy Inn at

Ockham, Surrey Ockham is a rural and semi-rural village in the borough of Guildford in Surrey, England. The village starts immediately east of the A3 but the lands extend to the River Wey in the west where it has a large mill-house. Ockham is between Cobham ...

, refused to serve her because she was wearing her "rational dress" of baggy knickerbockers instead of a skirt. Pomeroy sued the landlady, but lost the case because she had been offered service in an alternative room, albeit one occupied by three men. The

Cycling UK Cycling UK is a trading name of the Cyclists' Touring Club (CTC), which is a charitable organization, charitable membership organisation supporting cyclists and promoting bicycle use. Cycling UK is registered at Companies House as "Cyclists’ ...

(formerly the Cycle Touring Club (CTC), which removed its badge of approval from the Hautboy at the time) says that "the case hit the national headlines, made CTC a lot of friends, led to more women's cycling groups, and was a milestone on the road to female emancipation". In later years she took up the cause of

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...

. Her obituary in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' says that she had written pieces for that newspaper to express the view that women could do more of the work currently done by men, and had also campaigned for reforms to prevent

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

. It ended by saying that: She died in

Onslow Square Onslow Square is a garden square in South Kensington, London, England. It is set back between the Old Brompton Road to the northwest and the Fulham Road to the southeast. To the north is South Kensington Underground station. To the south is ...

South Kensington South Kensington, nicknamed Little Paris, is a district just west of Central London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically it settled on part of the scattered Middlesex village of Brompton. Its name was supplanted with ...

, aged 67.

References

1843 births 1911 deaths People from Belfast

Harberton Harberton is a village, civil parish and former manor 3 miles south west of Totnes, in the South Hams District of Devon, England. The parish includes the village of Harbertonford situated on the main A381 road. In the 2001 census the parish h ...

British women activists {{UK-activist-stub