"Charlotte Despard" 1930-01-01. Retrieved from https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/charlotte-despard-speaking-at-anti-fascist-rally-london-c-news-photo/102731260.
Charlotte Despard
-
Standard Name: Despard, Charlotte
Birth Name: Margaret Charlotte French
Married Name: Margaret Charlotte Despard
Indexed Name: C. Despard
Indexed Name: Mrs M. C. Despard
Nickname: Madame Desperate
CD
, who wrote and published during almost sixty years of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, began with romantic novels, then allowed her already existent interest in political issues to percolate into her fiction. From the time of the suffrage struggle she became an editor, a prolific journalist, and a pamphleteer. Some of her poetry reached print when she was in her nineties. Despite her great importance to the suffrage struggle and to Irish and other left-wing politics of her several generations, her diaries and letters remain unpublished.
Connections
| Connections Sort descending | Author name | Excerpt |
|---|---|---|
| Family and Intimate relationships | Katharine Bruce Glasier | KBG
's husband, John Bruce Glasier
, fell ill in 1915 with cancer of the bowel. The combined physical and psychological demands of travelling, writing, and speaking for the cause finally took their toll under... |
| Family and Intimate relationships | Mrs Alexander | Her father, Robert French
, was a solicitor from a Roscommon family. He was fond of hunting and sports in general. Blain, Virginia et al., editors. The Feminist Companion to Literature in English: Women Writers from the Middle Ages to the Present. Yale University Press; Batsford, 1990. Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/. Black, Helen C. Notable Women Authors of the Day. D. Bryce, 1893. 59 The French family which produced writer and suffragist Charlotte Despard
was said to... |
| Friends, Associates | Naomi Jacob | NJ
met Charlotte Despard
during the days of the suffrage struggle, and later as an actress on tour visited her at Roebuck House in Clonskeagh, not long after Ireland became independent. The cabman driving... |
| Friends, Associates | Mary Gawthorpe | During her time with the WSPU, MG
worked with Christabel Pankhurst
(who was twenty-four when Gawthorpe first met her, before she had yet met Isabella Ford
), whom, like Ethel Snowden
, she knew from... |
| Friends, Associates | Constance Lytton | Mary Neal
, a leader in the folk-dance revival and joint founder with Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence
of the Esperance Club
for working girls, invited CL
to holiday with herself and some of the girls in autumn... |
| Friends, Associates | Maud Gonne | In her later years MG
confirmed her friendships with a number of politically-involved women such as Charlotte Despard
(with whom she shared a house for more than a decade), Constance Markiewicz
, and Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington |
| Occupation | Inez Bensusan | Organisers chose to present two feminist plays by men, Woman on Her Own by Eugène Brieux
, translated by Charlotte Shaw
(Bernard Shaw
's wife), and A Gauntlet by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson
. Hirshfield, Claire. “The Woman’s Theatre in England: 1913-1918”. Theatre History Studies, Vol. 15 , June 1995, pp. 123-37. 125-6 |
| politics | Isabella Ormston Ford | Several members of the Women's International League were committed suffragists, including Helena Swanwick
, Maude Royden
, Margaret Ashton
, Kate Courtney
, and Charlotte Despard
. Others were IOF
's old friends from the... |
| politics | Christopher St John | She was arrested in 1909 for setting a pillar box on fire. She worked for the Women's Social and Political Union
, the Writers' Franchise League
(which she helped found), the Catholic Women's Suffrage Society |
| politics | Constance Countess Markievicz | It was among her own boys' group that CCM
first began to go by the title of Madame rather than Countess. Anne Haverty
explains: In eschewing the Mrs of English usage, certain women showed... |
| politics | Maude Royden | Through her anti-war activities, MR
became involved with the Women's International League (WIL)
, a pacifist organisation founded by British women who had attended the Women's International Congress
in Amsterdam in 1915. Back in England... |
| politics | Alice Meynell | At eighteen she had realised the inequality that plagued women. She then wrote in her diary: Of all the crying evils in this depraved earth . . . the greatest . . . is the... |
| politics | Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence | |
| politics | Eunice Guthrie Murray | Her interest in suffrage succeeded to an interest in the temperance movement. She became an active suffrage lecturer, and (with her mother and one of her sisters) joined the Women's Freedom League
(founded by Charlotte Despard |
| politics | Sylvia Pankhurst |
Timeline
31 May 1898: George Bedborough, secretary of the Legitimation...
Building item
31 May 1898
George Bedborough
, secretary of the Legitimation League
which sought to change the law to improve the position of illegitimate children, was arrested, largely in an attempt to damage the League through him.
Forward, Stephanie. “A Study in Yellow: Mona Caird’s ’The Yellow Drawing-Room’”. Women’s Writing, Vol.
7
, No. 2, 2000, pp. 295-07. 298
23 October 1906: During a demonstration at the opening of...
National or international item
23 October 1906
During a demonstration at the opening of Parliament
, eleven Women's Social and Political Union
supporters were for the first time arrested and imprisoned: for two months in Holloway
.
Hume, Leslie Parker. The National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies, 1897-1914. Garland, 1982.
30
Holton, Sandra Stanley. Suffrage Days: Stories from the Women’s Suffrage Movement. Routledge, 1996.
127
Holton, Sandra Stanley. Suffrage Days: Stories from the Women’s Suffrage Movement. Routledge, 1996.
126-7
27 June 1907: The Women's Franchise began weekly publication...
Building item
27 June 1907
The Women's Franchise began weekly publication in London; it featured contributions from major societies within the suffrage movement and from individuals.
Doughan, David, and Denise Sanchez. Feminist Periodicals, 1855-1984. Harvester Press, 1987.
24
October 1907: Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst and Emmeline...
National or international item
October 1907
Emmeline
and Christabel Pankhurst
and Emmeline
and Frederick Pethick-Lawrence
, wanting to maintain control over the Women's Social and Political Union
agenda, removed by fiat dissident members of the executive and cancelled the forthcoming annual...
November 1907: Charlotte Despard and Teresa Billington Greig...
National or international item
November 1907
Charlotte Despard
and Teresa Billington Greig
left the Women's Social and Political Union
to form the Women's Freedom League
.
Holton, Sandra Stanley. “Women and the Vote”. Women’s History: Britain, 1850-1945, edited by June Purvis and June Purvis, University College London, 1995, pp. 277-05.
291
Garner, Les. Stepping Stones to Women’s Liberty: Feminist Ideas in the Women’s Suffrage Movement, 1900-1918. Heinemann Educational, 1984.
29
16 September 1909: The Women's Freedom League Temporary Newsheet...
Building item
16 September 1909
The Women's Freedom League Temporary Newsheet began weekly publication in London.
Doughan, David, and Denise Sanchez. Feminist Periodicals, 1855-1984. Harvester Press, 1987.
28
28 October 1909: Charlotte Despard edited the first issue...
Building item
28 October 1909
Charlotte Despard
edited the first issue of The Vote: Organ of the Women's Freedom League, a weekly magazine from London covering a range of feminist issues, including suffrage.
Doughan, David, and Denise Sanchez. Feminist Periodicals, 1855-1984. Harvester Press, 1987.
29
27 July 1911: The Women's Franchise, which featured contributions...
Building item
27 July 1911
The Women's Franchise, which featured contributions from major societies within the suffrage movement and from individuals, ceased publication in London.
Doughan, David, and Denise Sanchez. Feminist Periodicals, 1855-1984. Harvester Press, 1987.
24
February 1912: Helen Houston produced the first issue of...
Building item
February 1912
Helen Houston
produced the first issue of Business Girl, a monthly publication from the Institution of Women Shorthand Typists
in London.
Doughan, David, and Denise Sanchez. Feminist Periodicals, 1855-1984. Harvester Press, 1987.
32
Harrison, Royden et al. The Warwick Guide to British Labour Periodicals, 1790-1970: A Check List. Harvester Press, 1977.
60
25 May 1912: The Irish Citizen, a suffrage newspaper jointly...
Building item
25 May 1912
The Irish Citizen, a suffrage newspaper jointly edited by Francis Sheehy Skeffington
and James Cousins
, began weekly publication in London.
Doughan, David, and Denise Sanchez. Feminist Periodicals, 1855-1984. Harvester Press, 1987.
33
Owens, Rosemary Cullen. Smashing Times: A History of the Irish Women’s Suffrage Movement 1889-1922. Attic, 1984.
46
15-21 June 1913: The Congress of the International Women's...
National or international item
15-21 June 1913
The Congress of the International Women's Suffrage Alliance
was held at Budapest in Hungary.
Hannam, June et al. International Encyclopedia of Women’s Suffrage. ABC-CLIO, 2000.
“Papers of Charlotte Despard”. AIM25: London Metropolitan University: Women’s Library.
Christmas 1914: German and Allied forces at the front lines...
National or international item
Christmas 1914
German and Allied forces at the front lines began an informal cease-fire, which lasted up to five days, in honour of the season.
Spartacus Educational. 28 Feb. 2003, http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/.
July 1920: The Irish Citizen ended publication after...
Building item
July 1920
The Irish Citizen ended publication after a British soldier wrecked the press.
Owens, Rosemary Cullen. Smashing Times: A History of the Irish Women’s Suffrage Movement 1889-1922. Attic, 1984.
129
Doughan, David, and Denise Sanchez. Feminist Periodicals, 1855-1984. Harvester Press, 1987.
33
6 July 1928: Four days after the Representation of the...
Building item
6 July 1928
Four days after the Representation of the People (Equal Franchise) Act received the royal assent, a celebratory breakfast was held at the Hotel Cecil in London.
“July 6, 1928, Celebrating full women’s suffrage”. Guardian Weekly, 6 July 2007, p. 20.
20
10 November 1933: The Vote, a weekly magazine covering a range...
Building item
10 November 1933
The Vote, a weekly magazine covering a range of feminist issues including suffrage, ended publication.
Doughan, David, and Denise Sanchez. Feminist Periodicals, 1855-1984. Harvester Press, 1987.
29
Texts
Despard, Charlotte. A Modern Iago. Remington, 1879, 2 vols.
Despard, Charlotte. A Voice from the Dim-Millions. Griffith and Farran, 1884.
Despard, Charlotte. Chaste as Ice, Pure as Snow. Samuel Tinsley, 1874, 3 vols.
Despard, Charlotte. Jonas Sylvester. Swan, Sonnenschein, Lowry, 1886.
Despard, Charlotte, and Mabel Collins. Outlawed. Henry J. Drame, 1908.
Despard, Charlotte. Songs of the Red Dawn. Odhla Printing, 1932.
Despard, Charlotte. The Rajah’s Heir. Smith, Elder, 1890, 3 vols.
Despard, Charlotte, and Christopher St John. Woman in the New Era. The Suffrage Shop, 1910.
Despard, Charlotte. Woman’s Franchise and Industry. Women’s Freedom League, 1913.