Object of the month, September 2009
Beware! A warning to suffragists by Cicely Hamilton.
September's object is a pamphlet by Cicely Hamilton - 'Beware! A warning to suffragists'
Veronica Trick, volunteer, chose this month's object:
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I love this pamphlet. I also love the fact that when the women's movement was at its grimmest with forced feeding and hunger strikes Cicely Hamilton was using humour to show just how ludicrous the arguments of those who opposed votes for women were. You can see why she would be a friend of the playwright George Bernard Shaw and it would be wonderful to see one of her plays.' |
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"There was no costume code among non-militant suffragists but in the WSPU the coat and skirt effect was not favoured: all suggestions of the masculine was carefully avoided, and the outfit of a militant setting forth to smash windows would probably include a picture hat." (The WSPU was the Women's Social and Political Union, a militant suffragist organization founded in Manchester in 1903 by Emmeline and Sylvia Pankhurst. As a result of their direct action the Daily Mail dubbed them "Suffragettes", a title which they happily adopted.) |
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About Cicely Hamilton
Cicely Mary Hamill was born in 1872. After going to boarding school in Malvern she became a pupil teacher in the early 1890s. She left to become an actress with a touring company and at the same time changed her surname to Hamilton. During this time she also began writing plays. Her most well known play is Diana of Dobson's.
In 1908 she joined the WSPU, but disliked the way Emmeline Pankhurst ran the organisation and soon left to join the Women's Freedom League. She was also a founder member of the Actresses' Franchise League and the Women Writers Suffrage League.
During World War One she was a nurse and later started a repertory company to entertain troops. After the War she became a freelance journalist. She died in 1952.
