Mary Gawthorpe

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Standard Name: Gawthorpe, Mary
Birth Name: Mary Eleanor Gawthorpe
Nickname: Nellie
MG , from a working-class family with a tradition of self-education, became a remarkable speaker and writer on behalf of women's suffrage. She co-edited The Freewoman, working somewhat uneasily with Dora Marsden . Her memoirs, published in her old age after her emigration from England to the USA, give a vivid account of her early struggles.
Sepia photograph of a young Mary Gawthorpe leaning sideways in an armchair with her head propped on one hand. She wears a blouse with full sleeves and a waistcoat over it. Her short, curly hair is centre-parted and brushed back. An inscription in capitals reads "Miss Mary Gawthorpe. National Women's Social and Political Union, 4 Clements Inn London W. C."

Connections

Connections Author name Excerpt
Literary responses Annie Besant
The future suffragist Mary Gawthorpe , encountering Karma about ten years after it was written, was profoundly affected. She felt that she sensed a reciprocal understanding, and read this with a different part of her...
politics Isabella Ormston Ford
IOF , along with her friend Mary Gawthorpe , travelled together to Leicester to attend the first annual conference of the Women's Labour League .
Hannam, June. Isabella Ford. Basil Blackwell.
117
Friends, Associates Isabella Ormston Ford
The sisters were friends of a large group of local female socialists who all campaigned for sex equality, many of whom were influenced by Carpenter. These included Katharine Bruce Glasier , Edith Priestman , Julia Varley
politics Constance Lytton
She was motivated by several cases of brutal treatment of ordinary suffragists in prison, and by an exchange she had on this subject with Mary Gawthorpe . Her idea was to test the difference in...
politics Dora Marsden
DM , Mary Gawthorpe , and Rona Robinson were arrested in their academic gowns at Manchester University after protesting against the recent start of force-feeding at Birmingham's Winson Green Prison .
Garner, Les. A Brave and Beautiful Spirit: Dora Marsden, 1882-1960. Avebury.
36
Barash, Carol. “Dora Marsden’s Feminism, the <span data-tei-ns-tag="tei_title" data-tei-title-lvl=‘j’>Freewoman</span>, and the Gender Politics of Early Modernism”. Princeton University Library Chronicle, Vol.
49
, No. 1, pp. 31-56.
39
Family and Intimate relationships Dora Marsden
At about this time a close friendship began between two influential early twentieth-century feminists: DM and Mary Gawthorpe .
Garner, Les. A Brave and Beautiful Spirit: Dora Marsden, 1882-1960. Avebury.
48
Friends, Associates Dora Marsden
Introduced to each other by Mary Gawthorpe , DM and Rebecca West began a friendship based on their shared interest in feminist issues.
Garner, Les. A Brave and Beautiful Spirit: Dora Marsden, 1882-1960. Avebury.
93
Rollyson, Carl. Rebecca West: A Saga of the Century. Hodder and Stoughton.
16-17
Reception Dora Marsden
Mary Gawthorpe resigned her co-editorship of The Freewoman after DM published there her explicit attack on the WSPU , A Militant Psychology. Gawthorpe had disagreed with Marsden's position for some time.
Garner, Les. A Brave and Beautiful Spirit: Dora Marsden, 1882-1960. Avebury.
71-2
politics Dora Marsden
Christabel and Emmeline Pankhurst , Mary Gawthorpe , and Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence also spoke at this event.
Occupation Dora Marsden
After this, DM 's role within the WSPU expanded markedly. She was a frequent public speaker and temporarily took over Mary Gawthorpe 's work as a Union organizer when Mary was ill. Her work was...
Occupation Dora Marsden
DM was the major but not the sole driving force behind The Freewoman. The journal was launched with funds from Mary Gawthorpe , who also served for some time as its co-editor. Gawthorpe's tenure...
Textual Production Dora Marsden
At the rally Marsden appeared on the Union platform, along with Emmeline and Adela Pankhurst , Flora Drummond , Mary Gawthorpe , and Rona Robinson . Marsden 's suffrage work was also regularly reported in...
Reception Dora Marsden
A landmark in DM 's career was her founding and editing, from 23 November 1911, of The Freewoman: A Weekly Feminist Review, with Mary Gawthorpe as co-editor.
Garner, Les. A Brave and Beautiful Spirit: Dora Marsden, 1882-1960. Avebury.
59
Textual Production Dora Marsden
Marsden's first major collaborator was Mary Gawthorpe . The two began their friendship in about 1906 and had since frequently shared personal and professional concerns, including possible courses of action in the feminist movement.
Garner, Les. A Brave and Beautiful Spirit: Dora Marsden, 1882-1960. Avebury.
48
Intertextuality and Influence Dora Marsden
The Freewoman's other writing contributors included Rebecca West , radical feminists Ada Neild Chew and Theresa Billington-Greig , Stella Browne (later founder of the Abortion Law Reform Association ), anarchists Rose Witcop and Guy Aldred

Timeline

3 January 1880: The popular Girl's Own Paper began as a weekly...

Building item

3 January 1880

The popular Girl's Own Paper began as a weekly published by the Religious Tract Society ; it later became a monthly.

18 January 1894: The monthly magazine Home Notes (another...

Writing climate item

18 January 1894

The monthly magazineHome Notes (another of those which Mary Gawthorpe called specialized offerings for women, edited by men) began publication.

23 March 1895: A weekly magazine entitled Home Chat began...

Writing climate item

23 March 1895

A weekly magazine entitled Home Chat began publication, one of those called by Mary Gawthorpespecialized offerings for women, edited by men. . . . all small, dainty in their appeal.

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 .

11 December 1906: Millicent Garrett Fawcett gave a banquet...

Building item

11 December 1906

Millicent Garrett Fawcett gave a banquet at the Savoy Hotel in London to celebrate the release from Holloway Prison of suffragists arrested on 23 October.

1907: Alfred Richard Orage and Holbrook Jackson...

Writing climate item

1907

Alfred Richard Orage and Holbrook Jackson acquired the weekly reviewNew Age (founded in 1894).
Kindley, Evan. “Ismism”. London Review of Books, Vol.
36
, No. 2, pp. 33-5.
34
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.
under Orage
Solo: Search Oxford University Libraries Online. http://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?vid=OXVU1&fromLogin=true&reset_config=true.

23 November 1911: Dora Marsden and Mary Gawthorpe edited the...

Building item

23 November 1911

Dora Marsden and Mary Gawthorpe edited the first issue of The Freewoman: A Weekly Feminist Review, a paper about sexual reform.

Texts

Marsden, Dora, and Mary Gawthorpe, editors. The Freewoman. Printed by Hazell, Watson, and Viney.
Gawthorpe, Mary. Up Hill to Holloway. Traversity Press, 1962.
Gawthorpe, Mary. Votes for Men. Women’s Press, 1907.