West of England and South Wales Women's History Network Blog

Claire Delahaye delivered a presentation on the intersection of fashion and politics in the US women’s suffrage movement of the early twentieth century at the WESWWHN Annual Conference on Women and Fashion in Bath on 12 October 2024. This paper argued that fashion provides a valuable lens for examining various aspects of the US women’s suffrage movement, particularly through the politicization of dress and the aestheticization of politics. It explored the relationship between suffragists’ clothing choices and their political practices, focusing on what they wore during public political activities. Rather than serving merely as a symbol, suffragists’ attire functioned as a tangible, practical tool – an essential element of their daily political operations and campaigning efforts. Indeed, suffragists strategically selected clothing that was both functional and respectable, recognizing that their success in outdoor activities depended on suitable attire. Comfort, warmth, and freedom of ...

On Friday 9 June 2923 - a very hot day! – Exeter Civic Society unveiled a blue plaque at 88 Pennsylvania Road, the home for over thirty years of Mary Willcocks, author, lecturer and feminist.  At the Blue Plaque unveiling, 88 Pennsylvania Road, Exeter Mary Willcocks (1869-1952), was a novelist and suffrage activist who spent most of her life in Exeter. She was born on a farm close to Dartmoor, which provided the background for many of her novels, featuring strong women characters, often set in rural Devon. She moved to Exeter in 1907 when her early novels proved successful enough for her to risk abandoning teaching for life as a freelance writer and speaker. The publication of her seventh novel in 1913 prompted a feature in the Devonian Year Book with a portrait photograph showing her in her forties.    Mary Willcocks in the Devonian Year Book During her first ten years in Exeter she campaigned for votes for women, organising campaigns across Devon and Cornwall for the Na...

On 25 June 2022, the West of England and South Wales Women's History Network held a study morning on the theme of writing women's lives.  Karen Hunt, Julia Neville and Lucienne Boyce gave short presentations, followed by discussion. Jane Howells describes the event and some of the questions raised... Karen Hunt: Dora Montefiore, socialist, suffragist, writer and poet Karen Hunt introduced us to Dora Montefiore (1851-1933), about whom she has been researching and writing for many years, without producing a ‘book’. Much of the work has been responding to conference themes which direct, distort and distract; this inevitably results in a partial view of a life. Striking a balance between narrative and analysis is always a challenge.    Dora Montefiore Dora Montefiore was a socialist, then communist, and active suffrage campaigner, writer and poet. She lived at times in Australia and South Africa, where there are sources for her life, and she travelled widely. There is no su...