Lecturer

36

Married

38 Hogarth Hill, Hampstead, London

WFL

Resists

Edith (1875-1954) was born in Middlesex and married her husband George in 1899, afterwards obtaining a BSc Degree. She was a member of the Independent Labour Party and first engaged in Votes for Women politics through Mrs Pankhurst's WSPU. Edith was an early member - joining the society in 1906 - and sacrificed her career as a lecturer in Mathematics to work for the women's suffrage cause. That year she was arrested for 'scuffling' with police in the House of Commons lobby and served one month imprisonment. Edith was also jointly appointed the WSPU's honorary secretary with fellow member Charlotte Despard. However, in 1907 - along with Charlotte Despard and others - Edith broke away from the WSPU helping to form a new suffrage society - the Women's Freedom League (WFL). She had come to see the WSPU's more violent militancy as hindering Votes for Women. Edith had no objection to law-breaking, but instead believed that acts of passive resistance could better win over the general public and importantly politicians. Hence, Edith took part in the suffrage census boycott of 1911, writing 'No Votes for Women-No information from Women' across her census form as well as other statements highlighting women's status as 'non persons'. She and her husband were at home when the census official called, so were 'resisting' rather then 'evading', but they may have housed other census evaders there for the night. The red ink on the census form represents the census official's attempt to fill in the blanks of information. Edith acted as honorary secretary for the WFL until 1911 when she became head of its 'Political and Militant' department. However, by 1912, ill health forced her to resign. In 1918, Edith stood as an independent candidate in Hendon in the General Elections, but was unsuccessful. In 1919, she became Middlesex County Council's first female member and later, its first female chairman. For more on Edith, see, Elizabeth Crawford, The Women's Suffrage Movement: A Reference Guide, 1866-1928 (London: Routledge, 2001) and Jill Liddington, Vanishing for the Vote: Suffrage, Citizenship and the Battle for the Census (Manchester: Manchester Uni Press, 2014).