Grace Oakeshott (born Grace Cash, later Joan Reeve; 1872–1929) was a British activist for women's rights who faked her own death in 1907 and emigrated to New Zealand with her lover, Walter Reeve. Grace Cash was born in 1872. She married Harold Oakeshott and both were active in socialist circles. Grace wrote a paper in 1900 on ''Women in the Cigar Trade in London'', published in ''

The Economic Journal ''The Economic Journal'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal of economics published on behalf of the Royal Economic Society by Oxford University Press. The journal was established in 1891 and publishes papers from all areas of economics.The edito ...

''. She was involved in the foundation of the first Trade School for Girls in 1904, and in the Women's Industrial Council. In 1907 a pile of her clothes was found on a beach in

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, Historical region, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known ...

where she was on holiday, giving the impression that she had drowned. In fact she had made plans to emigrate to New Zealand with her lover Dr Walter Reeve, apparently with the knowledge of her husband, at a time when divorce was difficult and scandalous. The supposed widower, Harold Oakeshott, later married again, bigamously. In New Zealand Oakeshott used the name Joan Reeve, and had three children with Walter Reeve. She died of

multiple sclerosis Multiple (cerebral) sclerosis (MS), also known as encephalomyelitis disseminata or disseminated sclerosis, is the most common demyelinating disease, in which the insulating covers of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord are damaged. This d ...

in 1929 in New Zealand.

Legacy

Oakeshott was the subject of the play ''Grace'', written and directed by her great-granddaughter Sophie Dingemans, which was performed at Wellington's

BATS Theatre BATS Theatre is a theatre venue in Wellington, New Zealand. Initially founded as the Bats Theatre Company in 1976, then established in its current form in 1989. BATS Theatre has seen the development of many performing arts talents of New Zeala ...

in 2008. Her life has been extensively researched by British author Jocelyn Robson, who published ''Radical Reformers and Respectable Rebels: How the Two Lives of Grace Oakeshott Defined an Era'' (2016, Palgrave Macmillan ).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oakeshott, Grace 1872 births 1929 deaths 19th-century British women writers 20th-century British women writers 20th-century British women 20th-century New Zealand women British emigrants to New Zealand British women's rights activists Deaths from multiple sclerosis People who faked their own death