Writer

40

Widowed

Barton Court Hotel, Barton-on-Sea, New Milton

CLWS

Complies

Olive Christian Malvery was born in 1871 in Lahore, which was then a part of British India and is now in modern Pakistan. This is according to baptismal records. Olive reported herself as being younger than she was, leading to discrepancies in her age. She was raised as an Anglican by her maternal grandparents after her parents separated. She moved to London in 1898 to become a professional singer, training at the Royal College of Music. While training, her recitals of poems focused on Indian themes, garnered great attention. After her training, she turned to journalism and philanthropy, focusing on raising money for orphanages. She worked as an investigative journalist, going into communities in disguise to understand their struggles. She worked at a sweet shop, as a pedlar, a factory girl, and as a waitress, among many other roles. She wrote about prostitution and the sexual exploitation of women, the working conditions of women and labour laws. She published many works, and she donated her royalties to shelters for homeless women and Christian charitable organisations. In 1905, she married a Scottish-born US diplomat, Archibald Mackirdy. Her bridesmaids were Hoxton Costermongers, and she invited 1000 working girls as guests. She had 3 children before Archibald died in 1909. She joined the Church League for Women’s Suffrage in 1909, and it didn’t take long for her to rise in the organisation as a member. She headlined an event at Steinway Hall within her first year as a member. She believed in action first, helping women into shelters to care for their immediate needs. Women’s suffrage was a means to prevent injustices by a government that was corrupt without the influence of women. She openly criticised the differences between the custodial sentences of men who sexually exploited women and suffragettes. 25% of the profits from her publication ‘the white slave market’ went to the NUWSS election fighting fund. During the 1911 census, she was staying at Barton Court Hotel in New Milton, Hampshire. Her age is reported as 29, which would be incorrect according to the baptismal records. The birthplace, marriage status and length and number of children reported all match up to the information confirmed about Olive. Olive regularly lied about her age on official documents, so it is believed this is her census. She spoke at a meeting in 1912 held at St Clare Castle, Ryde on the Isle of Wight, which was instrumental in forming the Ryde branch of the NUWSS. Over her lifetime, she donated enough money to build two homeless shelters for women in London. She died in 1914 due to an illness associated with cancer. Sources: Crawford, Elizabeth, The Women’s Suffrage Movement: A Reference Guide, 18661928 (London, 1999); Ross, Ellen, Slum Travelers : Ladies and London Poverty 1860-1920 (Berkeley, Calif. ; London, University Of California Press, 2007); Donovan, Stephen, & Rubery, Matthew, Secret Commissions : An Anthology of Victorian Investigative Journalism (Peterborough, Ontario, Broadview Press, 2012). Contributed by Becca Aspden, URSS student researcher, History Dept., Warwick University.