Maud Pember Reeves (24 December 1865 – 13 September 1953) (born Magdalene Stuart Robison) was a suffragist, socialist, feminist, writer and member of the

Fabian Society The Fabian Society is a British socialist organisation whose purpose is to advance the principles of social democracy and democratic socialism via gradualist and reformist effort in democracies, rather than by revolutionary overthrow. The Fa ...

. She spent most of her life in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

and

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

Early life

Reeves was born in

Mudgee Mudgee is a town in the Central West (New South Wales), Central West of New South Wales, Australia. It is in the broad fertile Cudgegong River valley north-west of Sydney and is the largest town in the Mid-Western Regional Council Local gover ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, Australia, to bank manager William Smoult Robison and his wife Mary, a literary and well-travelled relative of the Carr-Saunders family of Surrey. The family moved to

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

, New Zealand, an Anglican settlement founded on the colonizing principles of Edward Gibbon Wakefield in 1868. Maud, as she was always known, was one of the first pupils at the new Christchurch High School of girls.Alexander, Sally. "Reeves ée Robison Magdalen Stuart nown as Maud Pember Reeves(1865–1953), suffragist and socialist." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. 2004-09-23. Oxford University Press.

Marriage and family

Described as tall and striking, with a handsome face, full red lips, dark eyes, and brown hair, she met her husband,

William Pember Reeves William Pember Reeves (10 February 1857 – 16 May 1932) was a New Zealand politician, cricketer, historian and poet who promoted social reform. Early life and career Reeves's parents were William Reeves, who was a journalist and politician ...

at a coming-out ball when she was nineteen. He was a journalist, politician, and son of a newspaper proprietor, who "grew up an Englishman." His vision for New Zealand was "no slums and no poverty". They married at Christchurch on 10 February 1885. The Reeves's first child, William, lived only a few hours. Their daughter

Amber Reeves Amber Blanco White (' Reeves; 1 July 1887 – 26 December 1981) was a New Zealand-born British feminist writer and scholar. Early life Reeves was born in Christchurch, New Zealand, the eldest of three children of Fabian feminist Maud Pember Re ...

was born in 1887 and their second daughter, Beryl, in 1889. In December 1895 their son Fabian was born. Fabian (1895–1917) was killed in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, aged 21 and a Flight Lieutenant in the

RNAS The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was the air arm of the Royal Navy, under the direction of the Admiralty's Air Department, and existed formally from 1 July 1914 to 1 April 1918, when it was merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps t ...

. The family's household was unorthodox. In 1900 Reeves' favourite sister, Effie Lascelles, recently widowed, moved in with her two daughters. Reeves' daughter Amber remembered a house filled with children, relatives, servants, nursemaids, "frightful rows" in the nursery, and her mother too busy to pay much attention to children. The Reeves' marriage after the birth of Fabian was not intimate. William did not approve of birth control.

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells"Wells, H. G."
Revised 18 May 2015. ''

Canterbury College Canterbury College may refer to: * Canterbury College (Indiana), U.S. * Canterbury College (Waterford), Queensland, Australia * Canterbury College (Windsor, Ontario), Canada * Canterbury College, Kent, England * Canterbury College, Oxford, England ...

(founded in 1873). In 1890 the family moved to Wellington, where her husband had been a radical member of the house of representatives since 1887. Reeves' studies were abandoned for her duties as the wife of a minister and suffragism. Reeves was converted to women's suffrage by

Julius Vogel Sir Julius Vogel (24 February 1835 – 12 March 1899) was the eighth premier of New Zealand. His administration is best remembered for the issuing of bonds to fund railway construction and other public works. He was the first Jewish prime min ...

, a former prime minister and friend of her husband. She had been president and founder of the women's section of the Christchurch Liberal Association. Education, she believed, would both convince women of the need to vote and civilize national debate. Although never a temperance advocate, Reeves worked closely with

Kate Sheppard Katherine Wilson Sheppard ( Catherine Wilson Malcolm; 10 March 1848 – 13 July 1934) was the most prominent member of the women's suffrage movement in New Zealand and the country's most famous suffragist. Born in Liverpool, England, she emig ...

, the Women's Christian Temperance Union's suffrage superintendent, and

Ellen Ballance Ellen Ballance (; 1846 – 14 June 1935) was a New Zealand suffragist and community leader. She was a vice-president of the Women's Progressive Society, an international suffrage organisation based in London, and the inaugural president of t ...

, the prime minister's wife, and she used her considerable charm to influence her husband's colleagues. In September 1893 New Zealand was the first country in the world to grant women the vote, and Reeves chaired the first public meeting of enfranchised women in Christchurch on 11 October.

Fabian Women's Group

In 1896 the family moved to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

after her husband's appointment as Agent-General, the representative of New Zealand government within the British Empire. There, the couple became friends with a number of left-wing intellectuals, such as

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...

, H. G. Wells, and Sidney and

Beatrice Webb Martha Beatrice Webb, Baroness Passfield, (née Potter; 22 January 1858 – 30 April 1943) was an English sociologist, economist, socialist, labour historian and social reformer. It was Webb who coined the term ''collective bargaining''. She ...

. Reeves joined the

in 1904, a precursor to the Labour Party, which promoted social reform, the Women's Liberal Association, and the executive of the

National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies The National Union of Women Suffrage Societies (NUWSS), also known as the ''suffragists'' (not to be confused with the suffragettes) was an organisation founded in 1897 of women's suffrage societies around the United Kingdom. In 1919 it was ren ...

in 1906. At Reeves' instigation the Fabian Society's statement of its basic aims included a clause on equal citizenship in 1907, when she was elected, with Ethel Bentham and Marian Phillips, to the society's executive committee. Reeves founded the Fabian Women's Group (FWG) with

Charlotte Wilson Charlotte Mary Wilson (6 May 1854, Kemerton, Worcestershire – 28 April 1944, Irvington-on-Hudson, New York) was an English Fabian and anarchist who co-founded '' Freedom'' newspaper in 1886 with Peter Kropotkin, and edited, published, ...

in 1908. Held in Reeves' Brunswick Gardens drawing-room early in 1908, after a winter of suffrage agitation. "the FWG intended both to give women more prominence in the Fabian Society and "to study women’s economic independence in relation to socialism."Ross, Ellen. "Maud Pember Reeves". ''Slum Travelers: Ladies and London Poverty, 1860-1920'', University of California Press, 2007, pp. 208–225. Member of the FWG included Beatrice Webb,

Alice Clark Alice Clark may refer to: * Alice Clark (historian), British feminist and historian * Alice Clark (singer), American soul singer See also * Alice Clarke, English cricketer {{hndis, Clark, Alice ...

Edith Nesbit Edith Nesbit (married name Edith Bland; 15 August 1858 – 4 May 1924) was an English writer and poet, who published her children's literature, books for children as E. Nesbit. She wrote or collaborated on more than 60 such books. She was also ...

Susan Lawrence Arabella Susan Lawrence (12 August 1871 – 24 October 1947) was a British Labour Party politician, one of the earliest female Labour MPs. Early life Lawrence was the youngest daughter of Nathaniel Tertius Lawrence, a wealthy solicitor, and ...

Margaret Bondfield Margaret Grace Bondfield (17 March 1873 – 16 June 1953) was a British Labour Party politician, trade unionist and women's rights activist. She became the first female cabinet minister, and the first woman to be a privy counsellor in th ...

, and

Marion Phillips Marion Phillips (29 October 1881 – 23 January 1932) was a Labour Party politician and Member of Parliament in England. Early life and education Marion Philllips was born on 29 October 1881 in Melbourne, Australia. Her parents were Philli ...

''Round About a Pound a Week'' (1913)

Initiated by Reeves in 1909, the FWG's Motherhood Special Fund Committee began a study of the domestic lives of families with new babies living on a subsistence wage of about a pound a week. The FWG had raised money and was able to give each mother extra cash for her children's food for their first year of life. The Fabians expected that the extra money would improve infant health and survival statistics for the sample group, which it definitely did—demonstrating that high child death rates in slum areas were caused by poverty and not maternal ignorance or negligence. The Lambeth mothers' project was prompted by the recognition that more infants died in the London slums than in Kensington or Hampstead. It asked 'How does a working man's wife bring up a family on 20s a week?'. Forty-two families were selected from a lying-in hospital in

Lambeth Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, in the London Borough of Lambeth, historically in the County of Surrey. It is situated south of Charing Cross. The population of the London Borough of Lambeth was 303,086 in 2011. The area expe ...

, London, to have weekly visits, medical examinations from Dr Ethel Bentham every two weeks, and 5''s''. to be paid to the mother for extra nourishment for three months before the birth of the baby and for one year afterwards. The mothers wrote down their weekly expenditure. Eight families withdrew because the husbands objected to this weekly scrutiny. Eight other mothers who could not read or write dictated their sums to their husbands or children. The verbatim accounts of the 'maternal manner of recollecting'—'Mr. G's wages was 19 bob out of that e took thruppons for es diner witch is not mutch e bein sutch an arty man'—is one of the features of the book which is in part an ironic comment on class relations: Lambeth women, familiar with the habits of educated visitors, politely anticipated sitting in draughts, listening to the gospel of porridge, and being advised against marriage. The conclusions from the project were first published in 1912 as a Fabian Tract and later became Reeves' ''

Round about a Pound a Week ''Round About a Pound a Week'' was an influential 1913 survey of poverty and infant mortality in London, by feminist and socialist Maud Pember Reeves, co-authored by anarchist activist Charlotte Wilson. The project was conceived and carried out ...

'' (1913). Poverty, the book argued, and neither maternal ignorance nor degeneration, caused ill health and high mortality. Had the children of Lambeth been 'well housed, well fed, well clothed and well tended from birth' who knows what they would have become. Fabian women were would-be lawmakers. The state must cast off its 'masculine' guise and 'co-parent'. The individual not the family should be the economic unit, and the state should pay family endowment, train midwives, make burial 'a free and honourable public service', introduce a legal minimum wage, and build clean, light, roomy buildings at economic rents for the working classes. If socialism should address the needs of working mothers then women themselves must want more: 'If people living on £1 a week had lively imaginations, their lives, and perhaps the face of England, would be different.' ''Round about a Pound a Week'' is available via

archive.org The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

and wa
reprinted in 2008
by

Persephone Books ''Persephone Books'' is an independent publisher based in Bath, England. Founded in 1999 by Nicola Beauman, Persephone Books reprints works largely by women writers of the late 19th and 20th century, though a few books by men are included. Th ...

. Persephone's online description of the text states:

The reason the book remains unique is its mixture of factual rigour, wit and polemic. As Polly Toynbee points out in her new Persephone Preface, one of the most shocking facts to emerge is that 'the Fabian women deliberately avoided the poorest families… because they wanted to show how the general standard of living among ordinary manual workers was below a level which could support good health or nutrition.' Yet the book is consistently on the side of the mothers; without being in any sense do-gooding it explains 'to a middle-class world of power and condescension' that they could not do better than they were doing on the tiny house-keeping allowance that their husbands were able to give them. And it is about far more than how the women of Lambeth 'managed'. It is full of the kind of human detail that is usually only found in a novel. Polly Toynbee ends her preface by asking what Maud Pember Reeves would think nowadays. She concludes that she would be proud of the NHS and the welfare state but that she would be perplexed that the inequalities between rich and poor are still so enormous.

Later life and death

In March 1917 Reeves was appointed director of women's services in the Ministry of Food. Following the death of her son Fabian in June 1917 from wounds sustained during service in the First World War, Reeves turned privately to spiritualism, and later to Higher Thought. From the early 1920s her participation in public life declined. She travelled to New Zealand with William in 1925, but while she had conversed with the London poor she had never met a Maori. She was a conscientious grandmother, her grandchildren included architect Margaret

Justin Blanco White Margaret Justin Blanco White OBE ARIBA (11 December 1911 – 1 November 2001) was a Scottish architect. Early life and education Margaret Justin Blanco White was born at 30 Pembroke Square, Kensington, London, on 11 December 1911. Her father ...

and Thomas Blanco White. She nursed both William and her sister through their final illnesses. Amber described her mother as "serious-minded" and "obviously chaste to the last degree". Her focus on the needs of others was as austere as her prose, but the unflinching eye for detail and clamour of voices in ''Round about a Pound a Week'' dramatized both the "almost intolerable conditions" of women's daily lives and Fabian feminism's response. After twenty-one years as a widow, having lived with her sister Effie in Cambridge, Reeves died in a nursing home at 27 Powis Gardens, Golders Green, Middlesex, on 13 September 1953.

Early life

Marriage and family

Fabian Women's Group

''Round About a Pound a Week'' (1913)

Later life and death

See also

References

Further reading