Lydia Ernestine Becker (24 February 1827 – 18 July 1890) was a leader in the early

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

suffrage Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in representative democracy, public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally i ...

movement, as well as an amateur scientist with interests in

biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...

and

astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies astronomical object, celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and chronology of the Universe, evolution. Objects of interest ...

. She established Manchester as a centre for the suffrage movement and with

Richard Pankhurst Richard Marsden Pankhurst (1834 – 5 July 1898) was an English barrister and socialist who was a strong supporter of women's rights. Early life Richard Pankhurst was the son of Henry Francis Pankhurst (1806–1873) and Margaret Marsden (180 ...

she arranged for the first woman to vote in a British election and a court case was unsuccessfully brought to exploit the precedent. Becker is also remembered for founding and publishing the ''

Women's Suffrage Journal The ''Women's Suffrage Journal'' was a magazine founded by Lydia Becker and Jessie Boucherett in 1870. Initially titled the ''Manchester National Society for Women's Suffrage Journal'' within a year its title was changed reflecting Becker's desir ...

'' between 1870 and 1890.

Biography

Born in Cooper Street,

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, the oldest daughter of Hannibal Becker, whose father, Ernst Becker had emigrated from

Ohrdruf Ohrdruf () is a small town in the district of Gotha in the German state of Thuringia. It lies some 30 km southwest of Erfurt at the foot of the northern slope of the Thuringian Forest. The former municipalities Crawinkel, Gräfenhain an ...

Thuringia Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million. Erfurt is the capital and larg ...

. Becker was educated at home, like many girls at the time. Intellectually curious, she studied

botany Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...

and

from the 1850s onwards, winning a gold medal for an 1862 scholarly paper on horticulture. An uncle, rather than her parents, encouraged this interest. Five years later, she founded the Ladies' Literary Society in

. She began a correspondence with

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended fr ...

and soon afterwards convinced him to send a paper to the society. In the course of their correspondence, Becker sent a number of plant samples to Darwin from the fields surrounding Manchester. She also forwarded Darwin a copy of her "little book", ''Botany for Novices'' (1864). Becker is one of a number of 19th-century women who contributed, often routinely, to Darwin's scientific work. Her correspondence and work alike suggest that Becker had a particular interest in bisexual and hermaphroditic plants which, perhaps, offered her powerful 'natural' evidence of radical, alternative sexual and social order. She was also recognised for her own scientific contributions, being awarded a national prize in the 1860s for a collection of dried plants prepared using a method that she had devised so that they retained their original colours. She gave a botanical paper to the Biology Section (D) at the 1868 meeting of the

British Association The British Science Association (BSA) is a charity and learned society founded in 1831 to aid in the promotion and development of science. Until 2009 it was known as the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BA). The current Chie ...

about the effect of fungal infection on sexual development in a plant species. Botany remained important to her, but her work for women's suffrage took over the central role in her life. Her involvement in promoting and encouraging scientific education for girls and women brought these two aspects together.

Role in women's suffrage

In autumn 1866 Becker attended the annual meeting of the National Association for the Advancement of Social Science, where she was excited by a paper from Barbara Bodichon entitled "Reasons for the Enfranchisement of Women". She dedicated herself to organising around the issue, and in January 1867 convened the first meeting of the Manchester Women's Suffrage Committee, one of the first organisations of its kind in England.Liddington and Norris, p. 70; Fulford, pp. 54–55. She got to know there Dr.

, known as 'the red Doctor' whom Becker described as 'a very clever little man with some extraordinary sentiments about life in general and women in particular'. He married

Emmeline ''Emmeline, The Orphan of the Castle'' is the first novel written by English writer Charlotte Smith; it was published in 1788. A Cinderella story in which the heroine stands outside the traditional economic structures of English society and ...

in 1879. Several months later, a widowed shop owner, Lilly Maxwell, mistakenly appeared on the register of voters in Manchester. She was not the first but she was a good opportunity for publicity. Becker visited Maxwell and escorted her to the polling station. The

returning officer In various parliamentary systems, a returning officer is responsible for overseeing elections in one or more constituencies. Australia In Australia a returning officer is an employee of the Australian Electoral Commission or a state electoral c ...

found Maxwell's name on the list and allowed her to vote. Becker immediately began encouraging other women heads of households in the region to petition for their names to appear on the rolls. Their claims were presented in court by Sir John Coleridge and

in ''Chorlton v. Lings'', but the case was dismissed. On 14 April 1868, the first public meeting of the

National Society for Women's Suffrage The National Society for Women's Suffrage Manchester Branch The National Society for Women's Suffrage was the first national group in the United Kingdom to campaign for women's right to vote. Formed on 6 November 1867, by Lydia Becker, the organis ...

was held in the

Free Trade Hall The Free Trade Hall on Peter Street, Manchester, England, was constructed in 1853–56 on St Peter's Fields, the site of the Peterloo Massacre. It is now a Radisson hotel. The hall was built to commemorate the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846. T ...

in Manchester. The three main speakers were Agnes Pochin, Anne Robinson and Becker.The Struggle for Suffrage
English Heritage The meeting was presided over by

Priscilla Bright McLaren Priscilla Bright McLaren (8 September 1815 – 5 November 1906) was a British activist who served and linked the anti-slavery movement with the women's suffrage movement in the nineteenth century. She was a member of the Edinburgh Ladies' Emanci ...

. Becker moved the resolution that women should be granted voting rights on the same terms as men. Becker subsequently commenced a lecture tour of northern cities on behalf of the society. In June 1869, Becker and fellow campaigners were successful in securing the vote for women in

municipal elections In many parts of the world, local elections take place to select office-holders in local government, such as mayors and councillors. Elections to positions within a city or town are often known as "municipal elections". Their form and conduct vary ...

. Having campaigned for the inclusion of women on

school board A board of education, school committee or school board is the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or an equivalent institution. The elected council determines the educational policy in a small regional are ...

s, in 1870 she was one of four women elected to the Manchester School Board on which she served until her death. In the same year Becker and her friend Jessie Boucherett founded the ''

'' and soon afterward began organising speaking tours of women – a rarity in Britain at the time. At an 1874 speaking event in Manchester organised by Becker, fifteen-year-old

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 ...

experienced her first public gathering in the name of women's suffrage. On 24 March 1877 Lydia appeared at a public meeting alongside J.W White,

Henry Birchenough Sir John Henry Birchenough, 1st Baronet, (7 March 1853 – 12 May 1937) was an English businessman and public servant. Early life and education Birchenough was born in Macclesfield, Cheshire, the second son of John Birchenough, a silk manufact ...

Alice Cliff Scatcherd Alice Cliff Scatcherd (1842–1906) was an early British suffragist who in 1889 founded the Women's Franchise League,Holton, Stanley (2002), ''Suffrage Days: Stories from the Women's Suffrage Movement'', Routledge, with Harriet McIlquham, Ursula ...

(subsequently one of the co-founders of the

Women's Franchise League The Women's Franchise League was a British organisation created by the suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst together with her husband Richard and others in 1889, fourteen years before the creation of the Women's Social and Political Union in 1903. The Pr ...

) and other early suffragists to discuss women's access to the vote in Macclesfield. The ''Journal'' was the most popular publication relating to women's suffrage in 19th-century Britain.

Roger Fulford Sir Roger Thomas Baldwin Fulford (24 November 1902 – 18 May 1983) was an English journalist, historian, writer and politician. In the 1930s, he completed the editing of the standard edition of the diaries of Charles Greville. From the 1930s t ...

, in his study of the movement ''Votes for Women: The Story of a Struggle'', writes: "The history of the decades from 1860 to 1890 – so far as women's suffrage is concerned – is the history of Miss Becker." The ''Journal'' published speeches from around the country, both within and outside of Parliament. Becker published her correspondence with her supporters and her opponents, notably in 1870, when she chastised the MP for Caernarvonshire after he voted against a proposal offering women the vote. In 1880, Becker and co-workers campaigned in the

Isle of Man ) , anthem = "O Land of Our Birth" , image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg , image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg , mapsize = , map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe , map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green) in Europe ...

for the right of women to vote in the

House of Keys The House of Keys () is the directly elected lower house of Tynwald, the parliament of the Isle of Man, the other branch being the Legislative Council. History The oldest known reference to the name is in a document of 1417, written in ...

elections. Unexpectedly, they were successful and they secured for women voting rights in the Isle of Man for the first time in the elections of March 1881. Becker became the chair of the

Central Committee of the National Society for Women's Suffrage Central Committee of the National Society for Women's Suffrage was a committee formed in 1872 in London to lobby parliament. It was initially led by activists from Manchester. History Jacob Bright suggested in 1871 that it would be useful to cre ...

. This organisation had been formed in 1871 to lobby parliament. Other committee members included

Helen Blackburn Helen Blackburn (25 May 1842 – 11 January 1903) was a feminist, writer and campaigner for women's rights, especially in the field of employment. Blackburn was an editor of the ''Englishwoman's Review'' magazine. She wrote books about women work ...

Millicent Fawcett Dame Millicent Garrett Fawcett (née Garrett; 11 June 1847 – 5 August 1929) was an English politician, writer and feminist. She campaigned for women's suffrage by legal change and in 1897–1919 led Britain's largest women's rights associati ...

, Jessie Boucherett,

Eva McLaren Eva Maria McLaren (née Müller; 1852 – 16 August 1921) was an English suffragist, writer and campaigner. She served as Superintendent of the Franchise department of the World's Woman's Christian Temperance Union. She was actively associated wit ...

Margaret Bright Lucas Margaret Bright Lucas (14 July 1818 – 4 February 1890) was a British temperance activist and suffragist Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although th ...

and

Frances Power Cobbe Frances Power Cobbe (4 December 1822 – 5 April 1904) was an Anglo-Irish writer, philosopher, religious thinker, social reformer, anti-vivisection activist and leading women's suffrage campaigner. She founded a number of animal advocacy group ...

. Becker differed from many early

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

s in her disputation of essentialised femininity. Arguing there was no natural difference between the intellect of men and women, Becker was a vocal advocate of a non-gendered education system in Britain."Lydia Becker – The Life and Times"
''Famous Chaddertonians''. Chadderton Historical Society. 25 May 2008. Accessed on 6 August 2008. She also differed with many suffrage activists in arguing more strenuously for the voting rights of unmarried women. Women connected to husbands and stable sources of income, Becker believed, were less desperately in need of the vote than widows and single women. This attitude made her the target of frequent ridicule in newspaper commentary and editorial cartoons.

Death and legacy

In 1890 Becker visited the

spa town A spa town is a resort town based on a mineral spa (a developed mineral spring). Patrons visit spas to "take the waters" for their purported health benefits. Thomas Guidott set up a medical practice in the English town of Bath in 1668. H ...

Aix-les-Bains Aix-les-Bains (, ; frp, Èx-los-Bens; la, Aquae Gratianae), locally simply Aix, is a commune in the southeastern French department of Savoie.

, where she fell ill and died of

diphtheria Diphtheria is an infection caused by the bacterium '' Corynebacterium diphtheriae''. Most infections are asymptomatic or have a mild clinical course, but in some outbreaks more than 10% of those diagnosed with the disease may die. Signs and s ...

, aged 63. Rather than continue publishing in her absence, the staff of the ''Women's Suffrage Journal'' decided to cease production.

Memorials

A book collection by women, with books from

's collection, her friends and from second hand sources, was placed in two bookcases decorated with paintings of Becker and

Caroline Ashurst Biggs Caroline Ashurst Biggs (23 August 1840–4 September 1889) was an advocate for women’s rights and a third generation member of the Ashurst family of radical activists. Born in Leicester on 23 August 1840, she was the second child of Matilda As ...

, who had been chairs of the Central Committee of the

before Blackburn. These bookcases were given to

Girton College Girton College is one of the Colleges of the University of Cambridge, 31 constituent colleges of the University of Cambridge. The college was established in 1869 by Emily Davies and Barbara Bodichon as the first women's college in Cambridge. In 1 ...

and are extant. Becker's name is listed on the south face of the Reformers Memorial in

Kensal Green Cemetery Kensal Green Cemetery is a cemetery in the Kensal Green area of Queens Park in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London, England. Inspired by Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, it was founded by the barrister George Frederic ...

in London. Her name is also listed on her father's gravestone (Hannibal Becker) in the churchyard of the Parish Church of St James, Altham in Lancashire. A plaque commemorating her life is situated adjacent to the Moorfield Colliery Memorial on Burnley Road, Altham, (A678) at the junction with Moorfield Way. Becker's name and image, alongside those of 58 other women's suffrage supporters, are etched 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. In Paris, France, a street is named after her, the allée Lydia-Becker (Lydia Becker Lane), near

Montmartre Montmartre ( , ) is a large hill in Paris's northern 18th arrondissement. It is high and gives its name to the surrounding district, part of the Right Bank. The historic district established by the City of Paris in 1995 is bordered by Rue Ca ...

, close to the rue Eva-Kotchever. In Chadderton, Manchester, UK a street is named after her, Lydia Becker Way.

Works

''Botany for Novices''
(1864) * "Female Suffrage" in ''The Contemporary Review'' (1867) * "Is there any Specific Distinction between Male and Female Intellect?" in ''Englishwoman's Review of Social and Industrial Questions'' (1868) * "On the Study of Science by Women" in ''The Contemporary Review'' (1869) * "The Political Disabilities of Women" in ''The Westminster Review'' (1872)

Notes

References

* Blackburn, Helen. ''Women's suffrage: a record of the women's suffrage movement in the British Isles, with biographical sketches of Miss Becker''. Charleston: Nabu Press, 2013. (originally published 1902 by Williams & Norgate.) * Fulford, Roger. ''Votes for Women: The Story of a Struggle''. London: Faber and Faber Ltd, 1957. . * Herbet, Michael. ''Up Then Brave Women: Manchester's Radical Women 1819 – 1918''. North West Labour History Society, 2012. * Holton, Sandra Stanley. ''Suffrage Days: Stories from the Women's Suffrage Movement.'' London: Routledge, 1996. . * Liddington, Jill and Jill Norris. ''One Hand Tied Behind Us: The Rise of the Women's Suffrage Movement''. London: Virago Limited, 1978. . * Phillips, Melanie. ''The Ascent of Woman: A History of the Suffragette Movement and the Ideas Behind It.'' London: Abacus, 2004. . *

External links

Lydia Becker at Spartacus Educational

"Lydia Becker: Pioneer Orator of the Women's Movement"
by Joan Parker in the ''Manchester Region History Review'' Vol. 5, No. 2: Autumn/Winter 1991/1992.
Radical Manchester: Lydia Becker
Manchester Central Library, Archives. {{DEFAULTSORT:Becker, Lydia 1827 births 1890 deaths 19th-century British writers 19th-century British women writers British women activists British feminists British suffragists British women's rights activists Deaths from diphtheria Infectious disease deaths in France Respiratory disease deaths in France People from Chadderton Victorian writers Women of the Victorian era National Society for Women's Suffrage