https://map.mappingwomenssuffrage.org.uk/files/original/e154908638220d14de45e43044b8b397.png 00e73fb4fe7f2fa33d8ffd524bdb18dc Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource One of Margaret's letters. Source: The Common Cause, 14 July, 1910, p. 226. https://map.mappingwomenssuffrage.org.uk/files/original/5862dd3d9a74df82e095c0cb0ba89ed3.jpg 4ac2799db0500db800ea2a4ba7d869b3 https://map.mappingwomenssuffrage.org.uk/files/original/272bb122cbaa5ecd75800f42ac05f7f3.png d6d211575f28ea086a23208ce06555de Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Advertisement for Margaret's suffrage song. Source: The Common Cause, 27 June 1912, p. 17. https://map.mappingwomenssuffrage.org.uk/files/original/ac8ad630f3ea827b8cc57d036868eafa.png 4f827d5f3f6ec1ed002b69eb1a8c9e45 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Words from Margaret's suffrage song. Source: Portsmouth Evening News, 3 July 1912, p. 4. https://map.mappingwomenssuffrage.org.uk/files/original/432f728f604e149749d55d0b7ee0ee2e.png 73dcda193a92272efef1253a2dfeb6a1 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource A Portsmouth NUWSS branch gathering in 'The Cottage' garden in 1910. Source: Portsmouth Library. https://map.mappingwomenssuffrage.org.uk/files/original/5eb3be7c1923a85628a90ba4cf42dd78.png 854bd130192c1f8f11bb84151a1a4b8c Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource A letter from Margaret about the proposed NUWSS 'Active Service Corps'. Source: The Common Cause, 26 December 1913, p. 709. Person (Campaigner) A record of a person related to the Mapping Women's Suffrage project Occupation Private means Age The age of this person at the time of the 1911 UK Census 51 Marital Status The marital status of this person at the time of the 1911 UK Census Single Address The address of this person at the time of the 1911 UK Census 'The Cottage', 53 Havant Road, Cosham, Portsmouth. Suffrage Society The suffrage society this person was affiliated with at the time of the 1911 UK Census NUWSS Census This person's response to the 1911 UK Census Complies Biographical Text Margaret was born in 1860 in Cobham, and was elder sister to Norah O'Shea. Both sisters were active and founding members of the Portsmouth branch of the law abiding NUWSS - part of the Surrey, Sussex and Hants federation. Margaret served as the federation's Honorary secretary and Treasurer. Whereas her sister Norah was an outgoing figure - giving many rousing speeches for the cause - Margaret was an avid letter writer on all matters of women's equality. Her letters appear both in the local press and the NUWSS newspaper 'The Common Cause'. She tackled diverse subjects raised by anti-suffragists: such as sending surplus British women of marriageable age to India to circumvent pressure to grant them the vote at home. And she more sensitively critiqued fellow suffragists - such as a letter about Katherine Harley's proposal to 'militarize' the NUWSS through her 'Active Service Corps' scheme, written on Boxing day (see images). Margaret was a lifelong pacifist. As a law abiding suffragist, Margaret, along with her sister, chose not to take part in the suffrage boycott of the government census survey in 1911. However, the sisters together noted on the census form, how they completed it at The Cottage, 'under protest' , because women could not vote. In 1912, Margaret penned the words for a new 'vigorous' suffrage song entitled 'Forward! Ever Forward!' with music by Miss Emily Jones: 'Truth sets women free - free to her the ballot, Citizen is she'. The sisters often held suffrage events in their garden at The Cottage - perhaps Margaret's own song was enthusiastically recited there. Throughout her life, Margaret was an active worker in the socialist movement and local Labour Party, a member of the Fareham Board of Guardians and Rural District Council, and was secretary of the local vegetarian society. In a moving tribute article, published upon her death in 1927, local residents wrote: 'She kept an ever open door...Many troubled hearts found their way to 'The Cottage' and were never sent away... When we were sick, she visited us, and no one else were we so glad to see... we learned from her to think of animals in a kinder way... we hope to live out some of the lessons she taught us.' (Hampshire Telegraph & Post, 25 Nov., 1927, p. 5). A remarkable woman. Secondary sources and additional reading: Elizabeth Crawford, The Women's Suffrage Movement: A Reference Guide, 1866-1928 (London: 2001); Jill Liddington, Vanishing for the Vote: Suffrage, Citizenship and the Battle for the Census (Manchester: 2014); Sarah Peacock, Votes for Women: The Women's Fight in Portsmouth (City of Portsmouth: 1983). Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Margaret O'Shea Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant ||||osm POINT(-117743.08180556774 6594128.005402235) NUWSS