Herstory Revisited

Marguerite Antonia Radclyffe Hall (12 August 1880 – 7 October 1943) was an English poet and author, best known for her ground-breaking work in lesbian literature. In adulthood, Hall often went by the name John, rather than Marguerite. Marguerite Antonia Radclyffe Hall was born in Bournemouth in1880 to Radclyffe ("Rat") Radclyffe-Hall (1846-1898) and Mary Jane Sager (née Diehl). Hall's father was a wealthy philanderer, educated at Eton and Oxford but seldom working, since he inherited a large amount of money from his father, an eminent physician who was head of the British Medical Association. Her mother was an American widow from Philadelphia, who struggled with her mental health. In 1882, Radclyffe abandoned his wife and daughter, although he did leave a sizable inheritance to provide for her in his absence. Her mother soon remarried, but Marguerite did not get on with her stepfather and the couple had an unhappy marriage. Marguerite had always had a difficult relation...

Local history time! Happy birthday to Lila Clunas (1876 – 1968) who was a Scottish suffragette and Labour party councillor, remembered as one of Dundee’s leading suffragettes. Maggie Eliza Clunas was born in Glasgow on 10 August 1876. She trained to be a teacher in Edinburgh and then moved to Dundee to take up a post at a primary school. In 1906, she joined the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), and then the Women's Freedom League (WFL), serving as the secretary of the Dundee branch between 1908 –1912. Her sisters Elsie and Jessie Clunas were also members of the WFL, with Elsie serving as treasurer until 1913. Her political activities included deputations, heckling and writing in the press. In 1908 she was expelled from an election meeting for Winston Churchill. In 1909, she was a member of a 9-woman delegation to the House of Commons. During a WSPU deputation at the end of June, she was arrested while presenting a petition to Prime Minister Asquith, although it h...

Evelina Haverfield (née Scarlett; 1867 – 1920) was a British suffragette and aid worker. Evelina's birth is recorded as 'Honourable Evilena Scarlett' (with her first name spelled thus) born on 9 August 1867 at Inverlochy Castle, Kingussie in Scotland She was the third child of 5 of William Frederick Scarlett, 3rd Baron Abinger and his wife, Helen Magruder, the daughter of a United States Navy Commodore. Her childhood was divided between London and the Inverlochy estate. In 1880 she went to school in Düsseldorf, Germany. On 10 February 1887, at the age of 19, she married a Royal Artillery officer, Major Henry Wykeham Brooke Tunstall Haverfield RA (1846-1895), in Kensington, London. Evelina's husband was 20 years her senior. The marriage was a happy one producing two sons, John and Brook, but her husband tragically died 8 years later. Haverfield embraced a lifestyle that was still irregular for women. She was often seen riding her bicyle, Pegasus, at a time when the...