None given

55

Married

88 Woodstock Road, Oxford

NUWSS & CLWS

Complies

Jessie Payne Margoliouth, born Jessie Payne Smith, was a scholar and constitutional campaigner for women’s suffrage. She was born in Kensington on 23 February 1856, the daughter of Catherine Freeman and the Reverand Robert Payne Smith, who was a scholar of Syriac and Arabic. Following the deaths of her parents, Jessie moved back to Oxford, where she lodged with Charlotte Toynbee, an influential campaigner for women’s education. She later married David Margoliouth, with whom she shared both scholarly interests and a commitment to women’s suffrage. In 1904 she cofounded the Oxford Women’ Suffrage Society (OWSS), which was affiliated to the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS). The NUWSS pursued constitutional and lawful methods of campaigning rather than the militant approach associated with the WSPU. Jessie was immediately elected chairwoman of the OWSS executive committee, a position she held from 1904 until 1916, and she remained on the committee until 1918. She played an active role in the Oxford suffrage movement. In 1906 she wrote parliamentary candidates asking whether they supported women’s suffrage and published their responses in the press. She helped organise large suffrage meetings at Oxford Town Hall and other venues and participated in national NUWSS rallies and pilgrimages that attracted large numbers of supporters. At the same time, she publicly criticised suffragette violence and disruption, reflecting her commitment to constitutional campaigning. Her activism extended beyond the NUWSS. When the Oxford branch of the Church League for Women’s Suffrage was established in 1910, Jessie became its chairman and remained in that position until 1913. The Oxford Women's Suffrage Society also met in her drawing room, making her home an important location for local suffrage organising. She and her husband remained committed to the women’s suffrage cause, and she continued to her work with the OWSS well beyond the 1911 census with which she complied. While the occupation column is blank on her census form she is now recognised as a significant British Syriac Scholar. Sources: www.new.ox.ac.uk; www.oxforddnb.com. Contributed by Elizabeth Von Valtenberg, undergraduate historical researcher, University of Warwick.