Margaret Damer Dawson in her Women Police Service uniform, about 1917

Margaret Mary Damer Dawson OBE (12 June 1873 – 18 May 1920) was a prominent anti-

vivisection Vivisection () is surgery conducted for experimental purposes on a living organism, typically animals with a central nervous system, to view living internal structure. The word is, more broadly, used as a pejorative catch-all term for Animal testi ...

ist and

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

who co-founded the first British women's police service.

Life

Margaret Dawson was born on 12 June 1873 to a wealthy family in

Burgess Hill Burgess Hill is a town and civil parish in West Sussex, England, close to the border with East Sussex, on the edge of the South Downs National Park, south of London, north of Brighton and Hove, and northeast of the county town, Chichester. It ...

and grew up in

Hove Hove is a seaside resort and one of the two main parts of the city of Brighton and Hove, along with Brighton in East Sussex, England. Originally a "small but ancient fishing village" surrounded by open farmland, it grew rapidly in the 19th c ...

. After her father, Richard Dawson, died her mother remarried, becoming Lady Walsingham. Her step-father was

Thomas de Grey, 6th Baron Walsingham Thomas de Grey, 6th Baron Walsingham (29 July 1843 – 3 December 1919), of Merton Hall, Norfolk, was an English politician and amateur entomologist. Biography Walsingham was the son of Thomas de Grey, 5th Baron Walsingham, and Augusta-Louis ...

. Dawson had a private income and studied music with the Austrian pianist Benno Schoenberger at the London Academy of Music. She became involved in anti-vivisection and other causes and founded a home for foundlings. She was awarded silver medals by Finland and Denmark for her campaigning work for animal rights. Dawson was honorary secretary of the International Anti-Vivisection Council set up in 1908 by

Lizzy Lind af Hageby Emilie Augusta Louise "Lizzy" Lind af Hageby (20 September 1878 – 26 December 1963) was a Swedish-British feminist and animal rights advocate who became a prominent anti- vivisection activist in England in the early 20th century. Born t ...

, and together they organised the International Anti-Vivisection and Animal Protection Congress in London in July 1909. As Honorary Organising Secretary of the

Animal Defence and Anti-Vivisection Society The Animal Defence and Anti-Vivisection Society (ADAVS) was an animal rights advocacy organisation, co-founded in England, in 1903, by the animal rights advocates Lizzy Lind af Hageby, a Swedish-British feminist, and the English peeress Nina Do ...

. The organisation campaigned against cruelty and the socially acceptable circus performing animals and the slaughter of animals for meat. In 1911 she was living with prominent ant-vivisectionist

. In 1914 she and

Nina Boyle Constance Antonina Boyle (21 December 1865 – 4 March 1943) was a British journalist, campaigner for women's suffrage and women's rights, charity and welfare worker, and novelist. She was one of the pioneers of women police officers in Britain ...

founded the Women Police Volunteers (WPV), but a year later the pair split due to disagreements over the organisation's role. Dawson founded and led a new organisation, the

Women's Police Service The Women's Police Service (WPS) was a national voluntary organisation in the United Kingdom. History Formation It was originally established as the Women Police Volunteers (WPV) in 1914 by Nina Boyle and Margaret Damer Dawson, who had met when D ...

(renamed the Women's Auxiliary Service after the First World War), though Boyle's WPV continued some patrols. Dawson and her second-in-command Allen were both awarded an

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

in 1918. Dawson was also asked to advise the Baird Commission when it looked at the role women in policing. She and many of her followers had been excluded from being on the Baird Commission on the advice of the Police Commissioner who disliked lesbians and in particular Dawson. Dawson thought that the women's police force should be entirely separate from the male service. Her view did not prevail and she died prematurely of a heart attack in 1920. Her leadership role was taken over by

Mary Allen Mary Allen (born 22 August 1951) is a British writer, broadcaster, arts administrator and management consultant best known for her controversial and turbulent period as Chief Executive of the Royal Opera House. Early career She was educated at ...

, who had been Dawson's assistant for many years. They had lived together during the first World War, having a close professional and personal relationship. Dawson died on 18 May 1920 and left her house and most of her money to Allen. Dawson was buried in

Lympne Lympne (), formerly also Lymne, is a village on the former shallow-gradient sea cliffs above the expansive agricultural plain of Romney Marsh in Kent. The settlement forms an L shape stretching from Port Lympne Zoo via Lympne Castle facing Lympne ...

on 22 May 1920 after a funeral attended by other women police officers.The Newly Restored Bird Bath Memorial near the Thomas Carlyle Statue

Hilda Kean Hilda Kean (born August 1949) is a British historian who specialises in public and cultural history, and in particular the cultural history of animals. She is former Dean and Director of Public History at Ruskin College, Oxford, and an Honora ...

, hildakean.com A memorial was erected in the corner of Lympne churchyard. Her finances had dwindled as she had spent money on the voluntary police service. The home she shared with Mary Allen was left to her.

Commemorations

Dawson's house at 10

Cheyne Walk Cheyne Walk is an historic road in Chelsea, London, England, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It runs parallel with the River Thames. Before the construction of Chelsea Embankment reduced the width of the Thames here, it fronted ...

has a plaque to commemorate her.Damer Dawson's plaque
, LondonRemembers.com, retrieved 20 July 2014 A bird bath, installed in Cheyne Walk, was organised by Miss St John Partridge and designed by Charles Pibworth It has since been restored and incorporates a quote from

Rime of the Ancient Mariner ''The Rime of the Ancient Mariner'' (originally ''The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere'') is the longest major poem by the English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, written in 1797–1798 and published in 1798 in the first edition of ''Lyrical Ballad ...

"He prayeth best who lovest best all things great and small".

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dawson, Margaret Damer 1873 births 1920 deaths Anti-vivisectionists British animal rights activists British women police officers

Life

Commemorations

References

Further reading

External links