Constance 'Joan' Beauchamp (1 November 1890 – 1964) was a prominent anti-

World War I 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 ...

campaigner, suffragette and co-founder of the Communist Party of Great Britain.

Childhood

She was born in 1890 into a farming family in Welton, Midsomer Norton in Somerset. She was the sister of

Kay Beauchamp Kathleen Mary 'Kay' Beauchamp (27 May 1899 – 25 January 1992) was a leading light in the Communist Party of Great Britain in the 1920s. She helped found ''The Daily Worker'' (later '' The Morning Star'') and was a local councillor in Finsbury. ...

, who went on to become a fellow founder member of the Communist Party of Great Britain. The family was part of the Beauchamp family that dominated the Somerset coalfield, her father being the cousin of Sir Frank Beauchamp and Louis Beauchamp who owned coalmines in the area. Her mother died in 1904 when Joan was fourteen.

Early adult life

During the First World War, Beauchamp became active in the

No Conscription Fellowship The No-Conscription Fellowship was a British pacifist organization which was founded in London by Fenner Brockway and Clifford Allen on 27 November 1914, after the First World War had failed to reach an early conclusion. Other prominent suppor ...

(NCF). The NCF was established to help and give advice to the estimated 16,000 pacifists and socialists who refused to join the military and fight. In 1920 she received a ten-day prison sentence for her anti-war activities. She was one of the founders and a lifelong member of the Communist Party of Great Britain and an associate of suffragette

Sylvia Pankhurst Estelle Sylvia Pankhurst (5 May 1882 – 27 September 1960) was a campaigning English feminist and socialist. Committed to organising working-class women in London's East End, and unwilling in 1914 to enter into a wartime political truce with t ...

. She was regarded as one of the suffragette movement's most militant members. She was a supporter of the Soviet Union's

collectivization of agriculture Collective farming and communal farming are various types of, "agricultural production in which multiple farmers run their holdings as a joint enterprise". There are two broad types of communal farms: agricultural cooperatives, in which member- ...

and published a book, ''Agriculture in Soviet Russia'' (1931), on the subject and an article claiming she "completely failed to find" any "signs of

famine A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including war, natural disasters, crop failure, population imbalance, widespread poverty, an economic catastrophe or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompani ...

" during her 1933 visit to the

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

and that "nowhere" did she "find the word 'famine' used by the people themselves". She was one of the first women graduates of the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

. She married

Harry Thompson Harry William Thompson (6 February 1960 – 7 November 2005) was an English radio and television producer, comedy writer, novelist and biographer. He was the creator of the dark humour television series '' Monkey Dust'', screened between 2003 ...

, a lawyer and colleague from her time in NCF. They had two sons, Robin (born 1924), and Brian, both of whom became notable trade union lawyers.

Later life

Beauchamp went on to be a journalist in London. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

she received severe injuries from a German flying bomb. She provided support to her husband's law firm which catered only for trade unions and their members. Beauchamp's husband Harry Thompson died in 1947. She died in 1964.

Books written by Joan Beauchamp

* ''Poems of revolt : a twentieth century anthology chosen by Joan Beauchamp'' (1924) * ''Agriculture in Soviet Russia'' (1931) * ''Women who Work'' (1937) * ''Soviet Russia, A syllabus for study courses'' (1943) * ''Scientific socialism''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beauchamp, Joan 1890 births 1964 deaths Communist Party of Great Britain members People from Midsomer Norton British feminists English women in politics English communists English pacifists British suffragists Left communists Edwardian era Members of the Fabian Society English socialist feminists