Women’s Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present
Cicely Hamilton
-
Standard Name: Hamilton, Cicely
Birth Name: Cicely Mary Hammill
Pseudonym: Cicely Hamilton
CH
's early twentieth-century plays, novels, feminist prose, and travel writing are firmly rooted in her politics, and demonstrate her skill as political satirist. As a propagandist her method is often to take the views of the other side and render them ridiculous. Her earlier writings reflect her commitment to women's suffrage and economic independence, while her later work focuses primarily on war.
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Sybil Thorndike
presided over the dinner, and Queen Mary
sent her congratulations. EC
was presented with a cheque and a scroll signed by two hundred friends. Playwright Cicely Hamilton
was among the speakers who paid...
Intertextuality and Influence
Margaret Haig, Viscountess Rhondda
Margaret Haig Thomas (later MHVR
) was influenced by the political ideas of John Stuart Mill
's The Subjection of Women (1869), Cicely Hamilton
's Marriage as a Trade (1909), and Olive Schreiner
's Woman and Labour (1911).
Eoff, Shirley. Viscountess Rhondda: Equalitarian Feminist. Ohio State University Press, 1991.
22-8, 30-1
Literary Setting
Elizabeth Baker
Miss Tassey, set in a shop dormitory, addresses the limitations of the living-in system for female employees, a subject also taken up in Cicely Hamilton
's recent play Diana of Dobson's, 1908. Baker's...
Occupation
Inez Bensusan
These plays, written by amateur and professional writers, were made available for performance at public events in support of women's suffrage. Bensusan encouraged writers to produce plays dealing with a range of women's issues such...
Hirshfield, Claire. “The Woman’s Theatre in England: 1913-1918”. Theatre History Studies, Vol.
15
, pp. 123-37.
125-6
All...
Occupation
Inez Bensusan
This organisation, still closely associated with the Actresses' Franchise League
, was responsible for staging at least 654 performances during the First World War. Musical and variety shows were the most popular events, but IB
Occupation
Maude Royden
In June 1921, they moved the Fellowship Services to the Guildhouse, Eccleston Square, where MR
continued to preach until she resigned in December 1936. She resigned because, she said, I have to choose; and...
Occupation
Edith Craig
EC
founded the Pioneer Players
, a women's theatre company comprised of amateurs and professionals, as a result of her work on Cicely Hamilton
's A Pageant of Great Women.
The Pioneer Players produced Christopher St John
's The First Actress and Cicely Hamilton
's Jack and Jill and a Friend at their first matinee. Both plays deal with the the artistic establishment's exclusion of...
Occupation
Christopher St John
CSJ
, as well as writing and acting for the Pioneer Players
, sat on their committees and served as honorary secretary, 1915-20. Her stage roles for the Players included one in Edith Craig's production...
ES
first performed her anthem The March of the Women (written for the WSPU
, with words by Cicely Hamilton
); she dedicated it to Emmeline Pankhurst
.
Marcus, Jane, editor. “Introduction / Appendix”. Suffrage and the Pankhursts, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1987, pp. 1 - 17, 306.
310
Sadie, Julie Anne, and Rhian Samuel, editors. The New Grove Dictionary of Women Composers. Macmillan, 1994.
430-1
Performance of text
Evelyn Glover
The play's vivid characters and snappy dialogue, alongside its minimal staging requirements, made it one of the most popular plays in the AFL's suffrage repertoire.
Holledge, Julie. Innocent Flowers: Women in the Edwardian Theatre. Virago, 1981.
88
That year, the Connoisseurs
theatre group mounted a production...
Performance of text
Christopher St John
CSJ
and Cicely Hamilton
's How the Vote Was Won, the most successful of the Edwardian suffrage plays, was first performed at the Royalty Theatre
, London.
Hamilton, Cicely, and Christopher St John. How the Vote Was Won. Dramatic Publishing Company, 1910.
The one-act play The Pot and the Kettle by CSJ
and Cicely Hamilton
was first performed at the Scala Theatre
, London, accompanying Hamilton's A Pageant of Great Women.
Nicoll, Allardyce. English Drama, 1900-1930. Cambridge University Press, 1973.
Time and Tide began publication, offering a feminist approach to literature, politics, and the arts: Naomi Mitchison
called it the first avowedly feminist literary journal with any class, in some ways ahead of its time.
Mitchison, Naomi. You May Well Ask: A Memoir 1920-1940. Gollancz, 1979.
168
Texts
Hamilton, Cicely. A Pageant of Great Women. Suffrage Shop, 1910.
Hamilton, Cicely. Diana of Dobson’s. Samuel French, 1925.
Hamilton, Cicely. “Diana of Dobson’s”. New Woman Plays, edited by Linda Fitzsimmons and Viv Gardner, Methuen, 1991, pp. 27-77.
Hamilton, Cicely. Full Stop. J. M. Dent and Sons, 1931.
Hamilton, Cicely, and Christopher St John. How the Vote Was Won. Woman’s Press, 1909.
Hamilton, Cicely, and Christopher St John. How the Vote Was Won. Dramatic Publishing Company, 1910.
Hamilton, Cicely. Jack and Jill and a Friend. Samuel French, 1911.
Hamilton, Cicely. Just to Get Married. Samuel French, 1914.
Hamilton, Cicely. Lament for Democracy. J. M. Dent and Sons, 1940.
Hamilton, Cicely. Life Errant. J. M. Dent and Sons, 1935.
Hamilton, Cicely. “Man”. The English Review, Vol.
11
, pp. 115-25.
Hamilton, Cicely. Marriage as a Trade. Chapman and Hall, 1909.
Hamilton, Cicely. Modern France, as Seen by an Englishwoman. J. M. Dent and Sons, 1933.
Hamilton, Cicely. Modern Sweden, as Seen by an Englishwoman. J. M. Dent and Sons, 1939.
Hamilton, Cicely. Senlis. W. Collins, 1917.
Hamilton, Cicely. The Child in Flanders. Samuel French, 1922.
Hamilton, Cicely. The Englishwoman. Longmans, Green, 1940.
Hamilton, Cicely. The Old Adam. B. Blackwell, 1926.
Hamilton, Cicely, and Lilian Baylis. The Old Vic. Jonathan Cape, 1926.
Hamilton, Cicely, and Christopher St John. The Pot and the Kettle. 1909.
Hamilton, Cicely. Theodore Savage. Leonard Parsons, 1922.
Hamilton, Cicely. William, An Englishman. Skeffington and Son, 1919.
