Lydia Becker

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Lydia Becker, 1873
photograph by Isaac Wilde

Lydia Ernestine Becker (* 24. February 1827 in Manchester ; † 18th July 1890 in Aix-les-Bains ) was a British suffragette , suffragette and botanist . She founded and published the Women's Suffrage Journal . For her botanical activities she was awarded the gold medal of the Royal Horticultural Society in 1865 .

Life

Botany and science

Until 1866, Lydia Becker, who was descended from a German grandfather, was mainly interested in botany and astronomy . Becker, who did not believe in a biologically based difference between the male and female intellect, was also against a form of teaching that made educational differences between girls and boys. She had received only a minimal education at home, but was very interested in biology and astronomy. She had been a member of the British Association for the Advancement of Science since 1864 , corresponded with Charles Darwin and also published some botanical books. She advocated the education of women in the natural sciences.

Women's suffrage and founding of an important journal

A typical commentary on women's suffrage in 1877, Comus Journal

In the fall of 1866 Lydia Becker attended a meeting of the "National Association for the Advancement of Social Science," in which their attention to an article by Barbara Bodichon (1827-1891) entitled Reasons for the enfranchisement of Women ( reasons for the award of Voting rights for women ) fell. She decided to get involved in the issue and in January 1867 convened the first meeting of the Manchester National Society for Women's Suffrage committee. It was one of the very first meetings of its kind in England.

In 1870, Lydia Becker and Jessie Boucherett founded the Women's Suffrage Journal , which became the most popular publication on women 's suffrage in England in the 19th century. The newspaper published texts and correspondence from both supporters and opponents of the right to vote and named members of parliament who had spoken out against the right to vote.

At the top of the women's suffrage movement

Becker also organized public appearances for himself and other women who advocate women's suffrage. In 1868 she was the first woman in England to give a public speech on the subject. In 1874, at one of these appearances in Manchester, Emmeline Pankhurst, then 15, saw a public gathering of suffragists for the first time , which deeply impressed her. In 1887 Lydia Becker was elected President of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS). Unlike many of the early women's rights activists, she advocated voting rights for unmarried women and widows. This attitude made them the target of derisive newspaper comments and caricatures.

In 1890 Lydia Becker fell ill with diphtheria while visiting Aix-les-Bains and died. The Women's Suffrage Journal was then discontinued after 20 years of publication.

It was not until 1928 that women in Great Britain gained the same right to vote as men.

Scientific work

Name of Lydia Becker on the lower part of the "Reformer Memorial" in Kensal Green Cemetery

Her interest in the natural sciences is traced back to her German grandfather, who was considered very knowledgeable about natural history and who settled in Manchester for business reasons. Lydia Becker gave lessons in botany and in this context published the volume Botany for Novices in 1864 . In 1869 she gave a paper on lichen Lychnis Diurna to the British Association . She dealt with structural changes in the lichen in interaction with a fungus. The results of her botanical research have been published in specialist journals such as the Journal of Botany . The Royal Horticultural Society honored her work with a gold medal in 1865.

Honors after death

  • A book collection by women, with books from Helen Blackburn's collection, by her friends, and from second-hand sources were assembled on two bookshelves with paintings by Becker and Caroline Ashurst Biggs , the chair of the Central Committee of the National Society for Women's Suffrage before Blackburn were. These bookcases were given to Girton College and are still there.
  • Becker's name is listed on the south facade of the "Reformers Memorial" in Kensal Green Cemetery in London. Her name is also on her father (Hannibal Becker) tombstone in the churchyard of the parish church of St James, Altham ind Lancashire.
  • Becker's name and picture, along with those of 58 other supporters of women's suffrage, which are on the base Millicent Fawcett statue on the Parliament Square in London engraved, the end was inaugurated 2018th

Fonts

  • 1864: Botany for Novices: A Short Outline of the Natural System of Classification of Plants
  • 1867: Female Suffrage in: The Contemporary Review
  • 1868: Is there any Specific Distinction between Male and Female Intellect? in: Englishwoman's Review of Social and Industrial Questions
  • 1869: On the Study of Science by Women in: The Contemporary Review
  • 1869: Woman Suffrage
  • 1872: The Political Disabilities of Women in: The Westminster Review
  • 1874: Liberty, Equality, Fraternity: A Reply to Mr. Fitzjames Stephen's Strictures on Mr. JS Mill's Subjection of Women
  • 1889: A reply to the protest which appeared in the 'Nineteenth century review'
  • 1897: Words of a Leader

literature

  • Elizabeth Crawford: The women's suffrage movement in Britain and Ireland: A regional survey . Routledge Chapman & Hall, 2006
  • Estelle Sylvia Pankhurst: The Suffragette Movement: An Intimate Account of Persons and Ideals . Longmans, Green and co, London 1931
  • Joan E. Parker: Lydia Becker's 'School for Science': A Challenge to Domesticity. In: Women's History Review. Volume 18/4, 2009

Web links

Commons : Lydia Becker  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Renate Strohmeyer: Lexicon of the natural scientists and women of natural science in Europe , Verlag Harri Deutsch, page 39. ISBN 3-8171-1567-9
  2. ↑ Catharine MC Haines; Helen M. Stevens (Ed.): International women in science: a biographical dictionary to 1950. ABC-CLIO Ltd, 2001, pp. 25 ff.
  3. ^ Peter Gordon, David Doughan: Dictionary of British Women's Organizations, 1825-1960 . Routledge Falmer, 2001, p. 91
  4. ^ Renate Strohmeyer: Lexicon of the natural scientists and women of Europe with natural knowledge . Verlag Harri Deutsch, ISBN 3-8171-1567-9 , p. 39
  5. ↑ Elizabeth Crawford: The Women's Suffrage Movement: A Reference Guide 1866–1928 . Routledge, September 2, 2003, ISBN 1-135-43401-8 , pp. 194-.
  6. ↑ Millicent Fawcett statue unveiling: the women and men whose names will be on the plinth . iNews. Retrieved April 25, 2018.
personal data
SURNAME Becker, Lydia
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Becker, Lydia Ernestine
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British suffragette
DATE OF BIRTH February 24, 1827
PLACE OF BIRTH Manchester
DATE OF DEATH July 18, 1890
Place of death Aix-les-Bains