Wife of Doctor

81

Married

The Chantry, Barton Orchard, Bradford-on-Avon BA15 1LU

NUWSS

Complies

Agnes was born in Scotland in 1832. She married Dr John Beddoe, a physician and anthropologist, in 1852. She signed the 1866 suffrage petition, which was presented to parliament. She was a member of the first committee of the Bristol and Clifton branch of the National Society for Women’s Suffrage, which she remained on until her death. She spoke at talks across the country during the 1880s and presided over the grand demonstration held at Calston Hall in Bristol in 1880. Agnes was involved in the campaign to promote the Married Women's Property Act and lent her drawing room out in 1881 so Frances Power Cobbe could hold a series of lectures on the ‘duties of women’ to Bristolian women. In 1889, she became a member of the executive branch of the NUWSS and was also a member of the Women's Liberal Association. In that same year, she opened ‘Mrs Beddoe’s Working Women's Dwelling’ in Portland Square, Bristol. She let it out to 16 women who paid a sixpence for rent each. She later became a poor law guardian in 1896. While for the most part her activity centred around the NUWSS, she also lent some support to the WSPU, donating a small sum in 1909 and attending a Bath WSPU meeting front row in which Annie Kenney and Mrs Pankhurst were main speakers. Her husband died in 1911, but before his death, he was a supporter of the WSPU and president of the Bristol Men’s League for Women’s Suffrage. At the time of the 1911 census, she was living in Chantry House in Bradford upon Avon. Agnes died in 1914. She is featured on a banner honouring the early suffrage campaigners, which is currently held at the LSE Women’s Library. Sources: Crawford, Elizabeth, The Women’s Suffrage Movement: A Reference Guide, 1866-1928 (London, 1999); Reed, Hayley, 2016. ‘The Women behind the Suffrage Banner’, LSE History - Telling LSE’s Story <https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsehistory/2016/06/08/the-women-behind-suffrage-banner/#:~:text=Agnes%20Montgomerie%20Beddoe%20was%20member,the%20Married%20Women's%20Property%20Act>. Contributed by Becca Aspden, URSS student researcher, History Dept., Warwick University.