Evelina Haverfield

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 suffragettes’ use of bicycles were still frowned upon for the fear of the freedom they would give to women.

 On 19 July 1899, she married her late husband’s army friend, Major John Henry Balguy RA (1859-1933), from a Derbyshire gentry family, another Royal Artillery major, later a brigadier-general, later a Metropolitan Police magistrate.  On her wedding day, she wrote in her diary: 'I married Major Balguy with no intention of changing my name or mode of life in any way. He is an old friend of my darling Jack.'

With Alice Laura Embleton, Vera Holme, and Celia Wray, Haverfield set up the private 'Foosack League'. Its membership was restricted to women and suffragists and is now believed to have been a a lesbian secret society. Certainly, the four were close friends - as evidenced by the many letters written between them, particularly during World War I. Haverfield's friendship with Vera "Jack" Holme, who lived with her in Devon from 1911, may have been more like a marriage, as a year after moving in, Holme made Haverfield her sole heir (including leaving her a bed with 'E.H.&V.H.' carved on it).

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During the Second Boer War, she assisted her husband in South Africa. Never one to sit idly at home, she even took part in rifle practice and established a retirement camp for the military horses. After ten years, the couple separated, but did never divorced.

Haverfield began to take an interest in politics and aligned herself with the moderate women's suffrage groups. In April 1909, Haverfield was a founder member with Mildred Mansel (1868-1942) of the Sherborne branch of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies.

In 1908, she attended a rally at the Royal Albert Hall and started supporting the militant suffragettes, joining the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU). She took part in numerous protests and was arrested several times for obstructing and assaulting the police.

In 1909 Haverfield took part in the Bill of Rights March. Members of the WSPU, led by Emmeline Pankhurst, attempted to enter the House of Commons. They were blocked by the police and over 100 women were arrested, including Haverfield. Following a WSPU demonstration in 1910 she was arrested for assaulting a police officer after hitting him in the mouth. According to the charges brought against her, she had also said "It was not hard enough. Next time I will bring a revolver."

In 1911, she was among 200 women arrested in London for breaking windows and damaging government buildings during a public protest against the Manhood Suffrage bill. Haverfield's part in this particular protest had been to attempt to disrupt a police cordon by leading police horses out of their rank.  

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When World War I broke out in 1914, Haverfield became concerned with how women could help in the event of an invasion of the UK and founded the Women's Emergency Corps. In 1915, she volunteered to go abroad with the Scottish Women's Hospitals, joining Elsie Inglis (see my post about her here) in Serbia. Mary H. J. Henderson, fellow Scottish suffragist,  was the administrator of her unit, as they travelled through the chaotic Serbian retreat. In early 1916, they were forced to leave Serbia following the German invasion. Haverfield returned to England and gave press interviews about the situation in Serbia. In August, she travelled at Inglis' request to Dobrudja in Romania. With Flora Sandes she founded the Hon. Evelina Haverfield's and Sert-Major Flora Sandes's Fund for Promoting Comforts for Serbian Soldiers and Prisoners.

Following the end of the war, Evelina turned her attention to the orphaned Serbian children. She travelled to Serbia with Holme and helped to build a children's health centre in Bajina Basta which was later named after her.

Evelina died of pneumonia on 21 March 1920, aged 52. She is buried in Bajina Basta. In 1923, a memorial tablet was installed in her memory at Bishop's Caundle church in Dorset beneath the memorial window Evelina had erected for her first husband. Vera Holme was left £50 a year for life by Haverfield  despite the challenge from Haverfield's husband.