Millicent Garrett Fawcett

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Millicent Garrett Fawcett
(as a young woman)

Dame Millicent Garrett Fawcett , GBE (born June 11, 1847 in Aldeburgh , Suffolk , † August 5, 1929 in London ), was a British suffragette . She was best known as the leader of the women's suffrage movement .

Life

Millicent Garrett came from a wealthy, politically active family. Her parents, Newson Garrett and Louise Dunnell, owned a successful business and could afford to give all of their children, including their daughters, a good education.

When Millicent was 12 years old, her older sister, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson , went to London to fight her way into medical school. During a visit to Elizabeth in 1865, Millicent met John Stuart Mill . JS Mill introduced her to other activists for women's suffrage, including radical MP Henry Fawcett , to whom her sister Elizabeth was engaged. When Elizabeth made her decision not to marry, but to devote herself to her medical studies, Millicent and Henry, who had been on a good friendship, married in 1867.

Henry Fawcett was a Liberal MP, professor of political economy and campaigner for women's suffrage. Millicent supported him in his work because he was blind. But it was also he who encouraged her to pursue her own journalistic career. In 1868 their daughter, Philippa Fawcett , was born, who later also attracted political attention.

Millicent wrote not only political articles but also economic topics. Her first two books were titled Political Economy for Beginners and Political Tales in Economy . In 1868 she joined the London Suffrage Committee . She did not enjoy making public speeches, but she had above-average organizational skills.

As early as the 1870s, Millicent was one of the leading figures in the British women's suffrage movement. Henry Fawcett died in 1884 of complications from diphtheria. From now on, Millicent Garrett Fawcett focused solely on her own political career. In 1890, after the death of Lydia Becker, she was elected President of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS), the British umbrella organization for the women's suffrage movement. She held this post until 1919, a year after the introduction of women's suffrage in Great Britain. After 1919 she gave up the management of the NUWSS and withdrew into private life. Nonetheless, she continued to militate for equality , especially in law. She traveled extensively and wrote numerous books, including a biography of Josephine Butler .

Millicent Fawcett died in London on August 5, 1929 at the age of 82. It was in the Golders Green Crematorium in London cremated , where her ashes is located.

Political activity

Millicent Garrett Fawcett was a moderate suffragette. It clearly distanced the NUWSS from the radical organization Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), led by Emmeline Pankhurst and their daughters , which attracted attention with its spectacular and not always legal actions. Although she admired the Pankhursts and their supporters for their courage, she feared that their actions could cause the women's rights movement to lose sympathy.

Millicent Garrett Fawcett chose the nonviolent route. She was convinced that a conflict of interest did not necessarily have to exist between men and women: In her opinion, both sexes could gain a lot from women's suffrage.

Under her leadership, the NUWSS not only supported the fight for women's suffrage, but also advocated other issues. Millicent Garrett Fawcett cared about the education and training of girls and women. She also supported Josephine Butler in her fight against the Contagious Diseases Acts , which blamed prostitutes for sexually transmitted diseases, but left their male clients unmolested. She also supported Clementina Black , who campaigned for the protection of women in industry and fair wages for women.

Although she campaigned for nonviolent activism within the women's movement, Millicent Garrett Fawcett was not a pacifist. During the First World War , she gave the interests of the nation precedence over the interests of women.

Honors and souvenirs

Works

  • 1870: Political Economy for Beginners . text online .
  • 1872: Essays and Lectures on social and political subjects (with Henry Fawcett ). text online .
  • 1874: Tales in Political Economy . text online .
  • 1875: Janet Doncaster . novel
  • 1889: Some Eminent Women of our Times: short biographical sketches . text online .
  • 1895: Life of Her Majesty, Queen Victoria . online .
  • 1901: Life of the Right Hon. Sir William Molesworth . online .
  • 1905: Five Famous French Women . online .
  • 1912: Women's Suffrage: a Short History of a Great Movement . ISBN 0-9542632-4-3 . online .
  • 1920: The Women's Victory and After: Personal reminiscences, 1911-1918 . online .
  • 1924: What I Remember (Pioneers of the Woman's Movement) . ISBN 0-88355-261-2 .
  • 1927: Josephine Butler: her work and principles and their meaning for the twentieth century (together with Ethel M. Turner).
  • Countless articles for: The Englishwoman , Woman's Leader , Fraser's Magazine , National Review , Macmillan's Magazine , Common Cause , Fortnightly Review , Nineteenth Century and Contemporary Review .

literature

  • Fran Abrams: Freedom's Cause: Live of the Suffragettes. Profile Books, 2003.
  • Jana Günther: Millicent Garrett Fawcett: A liberal economist on feminist paths. In: ARIADNE (Issue 52): Ideas and Ideals. Contributions to the history of ideas of the women's movement . Kassel, 2007, pp. 56-63.
  • David Rubinstein: A Different World for Women: The Life of Millicent Garrett Fawcett. Ohio State University Press, 1991. ISBN 0-8142-0564-X ( digitized on the publisher's pages in full access)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Suffragette and equal rights campaigner Millicent Fawcett to be first woman statue in Parliament Square a century after she dedicated her life to getting British women the right to vote . Daily Mail. 3rd April 2017.
personal data
SURNAME Fawcett, Millicent Garrett
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Garrett, Millicent (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British suffragette
DATE OF BIRTH June 11, 1847
PLACE OF BIRTH Aldeburgh , Suffolk
DATE OF DEATH August 5, 1929
Place of death London