https://map.mappingwomenssuffrage.org.uk/files/original/a56a42c37fa3ab0dd018951dfe16b279.jpg 02ce68df4ecde816e5b30e7d0bf98aed 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 Elizabeth Robins in 1893. Source & copyright The National Portrait Gallery. https://map.mappingwomenssuffrage.org.uk/files/original/3e7259a5c035b623201a17a4b4f9a8c7.JPG b88bfa6be350deee0fcfa7eef75f4878 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 Backsettown Visitors Book signed by Christabel Pankhurst, Emmeline and Frederick Pethick-Lawrence, Mabel Tuke (and HG Wells) 29 May 1909. Source: courtesy of Henfield Museum collection. https://map.mappingwomenssuffrage.org.uk/files/original/d681e435d097374e4698ae2001fefe17.jpg 89ff5b2798fb1cf2e6b12e88e9ffa4bb 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 Postcard of Backsettown House, 1912: Source: courtesy of Alan Barwick (collection). https://map.mappingwomenssuffrage.org.uk/files/original/1a1da423579bf282e93cc0faea0c6d62.png a4e174dcd28925b605add37bc42ea054 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 1911 census record for Backsettown House. Source: The National Archives & Henfield Museum collection. https://map.mappingwomenssuffrage.org.uk/files/original/9eb39c5d61ba3d801edf86797d194ae5.jpg 236a9b7f372539bdb9ddfa9d71fbccc0 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 Elizabeth Robins with Evelyn Millard in Stephen Phillips’ Paolo and Francesca, performed at St James’ Theatre, March 1902. Source: courtesy of Alan Barwick (collection). Person (Campaigner) A record of a person related to the Mapping Women's Suffrage project Occupation Writer Age The age of this person at the time of the 1911 UK Census 49 Marital Status The marital status of this person at the time of the 1911 UK Census Widow Address The address of this person at the time of the 1911 UK Census Backsettown, Henfield, West Sussex Suffrage Society The suffrage society this person was affiliated with at the time of the 1911 UK Census WSPU Census This person's response to the 1911 UK Census Resists Biographical Text Henfield’s best-known suffrage campaigner is American-born actress and writer Elizabeth Robins (1862-1952). Particularly acclaimed for her performances in Ibsen’s feminist plays, she retired from the stage at the age of 40 and joined the London Women’s Suffrage Society. By 1909, when she came to live at Backsettown, Henfield, she had switched to the WSPU. As a member of its committee, she wrote articles for the WSPU newspaper Votes for Women and argued the suffrage case in letters to the Times. Elizabeth’s play ‘Votes for Women’ was commissioned by Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence, treasurer of the WSPU, and performed at the Royal Court Theatre in April 1907. Speaking engagements took her all over the country. She shared platforms with the Pankhursts and Emeline Pethick- Lawrence, and sometimes stood in for Emmeline Pankhurst. In June 1909, a major Brighton and Hove WSPU event was a lecture by Elizabeth at Hove Town Hall, advertised by a Men’s League for Women’s Suffrage (MLWS) member displaying a large poster on his boat moored off Palace Pier. Signatures for 29 May 1909 in the Backsettown Visitors Book (see image), include those of Christabel Pankhurst, Emmeline and Frederick Pethick-Lawrence, and Mabel Tuke, WSPU secretary. Backsettown is reputed to have welcomed suffragettes evading arrest or recovering from imprisonment and hunger striking. Christabel Pankhurst stayed two nights in March 1910 and in March 1912 the police searched for her there. As well as being a member of the Actresses Franchise League, Elizabeth was President of the Women Writers Suffrage League, and led its contingent in processions such as the Coronation Procession of 17 June 1910 (see our blog ‘A Fragile Unity’). A few weeks later she took part in a meeting in the Henfield Assembly Room addressed by representatives of the NUWSS. In April 1911, Elizabeth refused to provide the required details for the government census survey, instead inscribing her page ‘The occupier of this house will be ready to give the desired information the moment the Government recognises women as responsible citizens’. In December 1911, she chaired the first WSPU meeting to be held in Henfield. She and speaker Isabel Seymour, a WSPU administrator, ‘were listened to with rapt interest’ and several new members joined. Elizabeth’s swansong as a WSPU star speaker was the WSPU ‘mass meeting’ at the Albert Hall on 15 June. She resigned in October 1912, when Emmeline and Frederick Pethick-Lawrence were expelled for expressing misgivings about the WSPU’s escalation of violent and destructive action. They had founded and edited Votes for Women; the last Sussex entry in the final issue of this, dated 18 October 1912, concerns a special late train to Henfield booked for the night of Emmeline Pankhurst’s speech at the Brighton Dome on 22 October. The late train may not have had many takers: Elizabeth led strong support for the Pethick-Lawrences in Henfield. In 1918, with a first measure of women’s suffrage about to be granted, Elizabeth wrote to NUWSS President, Millicent Garrett Fawcett, hoping for her presence at a celebratory suffragist dinner: ‘This moment of Victory is a time to turn from points of difference to the many points of agreement’. Sources: Votes for Women, Suffragette, Common Cause, Brighton Gazette, LSE Women’s Library 7MGF/A/1/135, Henfield Museum website blog by Robert Gordon: Elizabeth Robins - A New Woman. Contributed by Independent writer and researcher Frances Stenlake. 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 Elizabeth Robins 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(-29765.71863907 6609033.899319837) WSPU