https://map.mappingwomenssuffrage.org.uk/files/original/c720b379e8daad323bba9b61b72e4598.jpg 2741743a05ae0a705c876667de4e69e3 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 Maria evaded the 1911 census and so her form for 63 Union Road is blank - and yet it speaks volumes. Source: The National Archives. https://map.mappingwomenssuffrage.org.uk/files/original/c251c5d1756b312909e4ca2ed81fde55.png 95c0fd0a8a511654e14c7b1a042a9ad4 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 Sketch map c. 1903 of how to get to the Bermondsey Settlement in Farncombe Street where Maria and her fellow residents worked. Source: Harvard Library, HOLLIS HUAM5836soc. https://map.mappingwomenssuffrage.org.uk/files/original/105438f583acc7810dacda300589c7d4.png bee4be3b44ada080f8bd9cf8afadbc6a 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 Maria's death in 1938 was declared an open verdict. Source: The West London Observer, 11 March, 1938. Person (Campaigner) A record of a person related to the Mapping Women's Suffrage project Address The address of this person at the time of the 1911 UK Census 63 Union Road, Rotherhithe, Bermondsey Census This person's response to the 1911 UK Census Evades Occupation Social Worker Age The age of this person at the time of the 1911 UK Census 45 Marital Status The marital status of this person at the time of the 1911 UK Census Single Suffrage Society The suffrage society this person was affiliated with at the time of the 1911 UK Census WFL? Biographical Text Maria was born in 1866 in London - the same year that the first nationally organised petition for female suffrage was handed to parliament by Liberal M.P John Stuart Mill. By 1901, Maria was living in Kent with her sister Edith. The two employed three servants and described themselves as living ‘on own means’ and so were likely in receipt of an annuity from their father, a wealthy merchant. Three years later in 1904, we find Maria working to help those in poverty at the Bermondsey Settlement and occupying a property in Rotherhithe rented in relation to her activities there. This property rental allowed Maria, with fellow Settlement worker (see) Anna Martin, to claim for and successfully win the right to be listed on the municipal voters register that year, despite opposition in court from a local Conservative M.P. By 1911, women’s right to vote was important enough to Maria to take part in the illegal boycott of the government census organised by suffrage societies like the Women's Freedom League (WFL) and the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) in protest at women’s exclusion from the franchise. She was then living at 63 Union Road and performed her protest together with fellow residents Anna Martin and Miss Britten. Maria chose to ‘evade’ the census, leaving her form completely blank (see images). However, she did write on the cover, ‘I refuse to fill up form as a protest against a non-representative Government’. We have supposed for the moment on our map, that she was a supporter of the WFL due to her participation in the boycott and the likely societal sympathies of her fellow residents and settlement workers. The following year in 1912, Maria donated £1 in response to an appeal to raise funds for the children of families struggling as a result of a transport workers strike, via the socialist newspaper the Daily Herald, publicly supported by the WFL. We know little else about Maria at present, other than she died in 1938 aged 72 at her later home in Cheyne Walk, Chelsea, which she shared with sister Edith. An open verdict was declared on her death which was ascribed to a 60ft fall from a balcony at her home and was suggested by her sister to have been suicide. A brief obituary about Maria refers to her love of painting and her work at the Bermondsey Settlement for which she was clearly well remembered. Can you tell us more about Maria’s life? If so, please contact us. Researcher: Tara Morton. 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 Maria White Frank 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(-6518.123539358456 6709999.205369114) WFL