Sarah Maclardie Amos born Sarah Maclardie Bunting (1840–1908) was a political activist. She was the superintendent of the

Working Women's College Working may refer to: * Work (human activity), intentional activity people perform to support themselves, others, or the community Arts and media * ''Working'' (musical), a 1978 musical * ''Working'' (TV series), an American sitcom * ''Worki ...

in Queen Square, London.

Life

Amos was born in

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 ...

in 1840 to Eliza and Thomas Percival Bunting. She had three siblings, Mary, Eliza and Percy who went onto edit the Contemporary Review. In 1865 she became the superintendent of the

in Queen Square. The college had been founded to deliver education to working women by

Elizabeth Malleson Elizabeth Malleson (''née'' Whitehead; 1828–1916) was an English educationalist, suffragist and activist for women's education and rural nursing. Life Elizabeth Whitehead was born into a Unitarian family in Chelsea, Malleson was the first chil ...

in 1864. Amos married

Sheldon Amos Sheldon Amos (1 June 1835 – 3 January 1886) was an England, English jurist. Life and career Sheldon Amos was born in St Pancras, London, the son of lawyer Andrew Amos (lawyer), Andrew Amos and his wife, Margaret. He was educated at Clare Colleg ...

in 1870. He was a Law professor at

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

and despite their income they decided to live in the poorer area near

Red Lion Square Red Lion Square is a small square in Holborn, London. The square was laid out in 1684 by Nicholas Barbon, taking its name from the Red Lion Inn. According to some sources, the bodies of three regicides—Oliver Cromwell, John Bradshaw and Hen ...

. Their daughter Bonté was born in 1870 and her son was

Maurice Amos Sir Percy Maurice Maclardie Sheldon Amos (15 June 1872 – 10 June 1940) was a British barrister, judge and legal academic who served as an Egyptian judge, advisor to the Egyptian government and Quain Professor of Jurisprudence. Amos is best ...

was born in 1872 and they moved to New Barnet. Sarah and Amos took a prominent part in

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

Nonconformist Nonconformity or nonconformism may refer to: Culture and society * Insubordination, the act of willfully disobeying an order of one's superior *Dissent, a sentiment or philosophy of non-agreement or opposition to a prevailing idea or entity ** ...

politics Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

and in movements connected with the position of

women A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or Adolescence, adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female hum ...

. They opposed laws that further criminalized prostitutes and they campaigned against the Contagious Diseases Act. The Amos family moved to Australia in 1880 in an attempt to fix his father's health problems. However they did not like the country and stopped in Egypt with the ambition of returning to England. Sheldon was offered and accepted work helping Lord Dufferin with legal issues. All three of them stayed in Egypt until Sheldon's died in 1886. The first meeting of the "Society for Promoting the Return of Women as County Councillors" in November 1888 at her house. This what would become the

Women's Local Government Society The Women's Local Government Society was a British campaign group which aimed to get women into local government. Its initial focus was on county councils but its remit later covered other local government roles such as school boards. History The ...

and the invitees included several of her relatives. The group was led by

Annie Leigh Browne Annie Leigh Browne (14 March 1851 – 8 March 1936) was a United Kingdom educationist and suffragist. She co-founded College Hall, London, and funded and worked to get women elected to local government. Life Browne was born in Bridgwater in 1851 ...

and it was deciding suitable women candidates for election. Sarah died in

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

on 21 January 1908 whilst staying with her son.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Amos, Sarah 1840 births 1908 deaths English activists English women activists