Ursula Mellor Bright or Ursula Mellor (5 July 1835 – 5 March 1915) was a British activist for married women's property rights.

Life

Bright was born in 1835 to Joseph and Catherine Mellor. Her father, brother and grandfather,

Frederick Pennington Frederick Pennington (7 March 1819 – 11 May 1914) was an English merchant and Liberal Party (UK), Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons from 1874 to 1885. Life Pennington was the son of John ...

M.P., were noted for their support for women's rights. In 1855 she married

Jacob Bright The Rt Hon. Jacob Bright (26 May 1821 – 7 November 1899) was a British Liberal politician serving as Mayor of Rochdale and later Member of Parliament for Manchester. Background Bright was born at Green Bank near Rochdale, Lancashire. He was ...

who was an M.P. for Manchester. She and her husband were founder members of the

Manchester Society for Women's Suffrage The Manchester Society for Women's Suffrage, whose aim was to obtain the same rights for women to vote for Members of Parliament as those granted to men, was formed at a meeting in Manchester in January 1867. Elizabeth Wolstenholme claimed it had b ...

in 1867. Alongside

Lydia Becker Lydia Ernestine Becker (24 February 1827 – 18 July 1890) was a leader in the early British suffrage movement, as well as an amateur scientist with interests in biology and astronomy. She established Manchester as a centre for the suffrage mov ...

the organisation's Secretary, they encouraged

Lilly Maxwell Lilly Maxwell or Lily Maxwell (c.1800 – 1876) was a British suffragist who was said to be the first woman to vote by campaigning suffragists in Manchester. This resulted in an important test case at the Court of Common Pleas. Life Maxwell was b ...

, a widowed shop owner, whose name had mistakenly appeared on the register of voters in Manchester, to cast her vote in a by-election on 26 November 1867, which Bright went on to win. When the

Ladies National Association for the Repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts The Ladies National Association for the Repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts was established in 1869 by Elizabeth Wolstenholme and Josephine Butler in response to the Contagious Diseases Acts that were passed by the British Parliament in 1864. T ...

was formed in 1869 then Bright was a founder member. She became the treasurer of the Married Women's Property Committee and remained active there until the

Married Women's Property Act 1882 The Married Women's Property Act 1882 (45 & 46 Vict. c.75) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that significantly altered English law regarding the property rights of married women, which besides other matters allowed married women ...

was passed. This was an act that gave women the right to control their own property.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton Elizabeth Cady Stanton (November 12, 1815 – October 26, 1902) was an American writer and activist who was a leader of the women's rights movement in the U.S. during the mid- to late-19th century. She was the main force behind the 1848 Seneca ...

credited Bright with the achievement in getting the bill passed, writing 'for ten consecutive years she gave her special attention to this bill … was unwearied in her efforts, in rolling up petitions, scattering tracts, holding meetings' The passing of the Married Women's Property Act was important, as Bright had not considered that married women required the vote until this law was enacted. She is credited with ensuring that the Local Government act of 1894 was passed which gave the vote to women in local elections. It also allowed women to stand as parish or district councillors.

Personal life

Ursula and Jacob Bright had five children, although two sons died very young 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 ...

within a fortnight of each other. Two further sons were born followed by a daughter Esther in 1868. Bright's brother and sisters in law included

John Bright John Bright (16 November 1811 – 27 March 1889) was a British Radical and Liberal statesman, one of the greatest orators of his generation and a promoter of free trade policies. A Quaker, Bright is most famous for battling the Corn Laws ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

, with whom she shared some political beliefs. Esther Bright was interested in

Theosophy Theosophy is a religion established in the United States during the late 19th century. It was founded primarily by the Russian Helena Blavatsky and draws its teachings predominantly from Blavatsky's writings. Categorized by scholars of religion a ...

. Ursula was not a Theosophist but she did give

Annie Besant Annie Besant ( Wood; 1 October 1847 – 20 September 1933) was a British socialist, theosophist, freemason, women's rights activist, educationist, writer, orator, political party member and philanthropist. Regarded as a champion of human f ...

, who was a friend of her daughter, £3,000 towards their cause. Bright died at her home in

Kensington Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...

in 1915 where she had suffered from

osteoarthritis Osteoarthritis (OA) is a type of degenerative joint disease that results from breakdown of joint cartilage and underlying bone which affects 1 in 7 adults in the United States. It is believed to be the fourth leading cause of disability in the w ...

for some time. Her biographer Elizabeth Crawford notes that her obituaries hardly mentioned her campaigning work because her osteoarthritis had prevented her from involvement with the women's suffrage movement.Elizabeth Crawford, ‘Bright, Ursula Mellor (1835–1915)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 200
accessed 7 July 2017
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bright, Ursula Mellor British women's rights activists British suffragists British women activists 1835 births 1915 deaths