Episode 47. The Suffragettes and Morris Dancing

SYNOPSIS

By a curious synthesis, the Edwardian Morris Revival and pre First World War Militant Suffragism in pursuit of Votes for Women are interlinked and share some leading figures. The outstanding individual who fills a central role in the former and a supporting role in the latter is Mary Neal, who, with her close friend and collaborator, Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence brought entrepreneurial flair and ambition to progressive causes in the early years of 20c England.

Mary Neal’s story is told in Episode 4 in a conversation with her great great niece, Lucy Neal. Episode 47 explores in detail Mary’s partnership with Emmeline which commenced when they separately abandoned the stultifying social and non-conformist conventions of provincial England for the challenges of community work with the poor in London. Both young women had been swept up in the response to urban poverty that had been illuminated by such tracts as the Congregational minister, Andrew Mearns’ 1883 pamphlet, The Bitter Cry of Outcast London. Mary and Emmeline first collaborated on youth work featuring dance with working-class girls at the progressive Methodist West London Mission, but they soon tired of its restrictiveness and opposition to dance and set up on their own terms with the establishment of the Espérance Club in 1895.

Emmeline was drawn into the support of militant suffragism after the relocation of the widowed Pankhurst family from Manchester to London, Mary acting a minute taker at the first meeting of the London branch of the Women’s Social and Political Union in 1906. At the same. time that Emmeline and her husband Frederick Lawrence vied with Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst over the methodology behind the fight for women’s suffrage, Mary Neal was engaged in competitive rivalry with the folk-song collector, Cecil Sharp over the direction of the folk revival movement. To the extent that Emmeline and Mary lost out in their respective struggles for domination, Episode 47 is an attempt to recover the full and perhaps partially-forgotten influence that they both wielded.

GUESTS

Kathryn Atherton’s book Mary Neal and the Suffragettes Who Saved Morris Dancing was published in 2024. It develops lines of research from her earlier book Suffragette Planners and Plotters. After completing an MPhil in 17th Century Studies, Kathryn wrote for the Oxford England Dictionary, before spending 10 years in London as a city lawyer. Her interest in the suffragettes was linked to a career change which has led to her involvement with Dorking Museum and Heritage Centre, Surrey. Several of the suffragists had links with the area and it was common for activists who had been imprisoned to come to the Surrey Hills to recover.

Simon’s interview with Kathryn Atherton was recorded in the former family home of Frederick and Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence at Holmwood Common, Surrey on 18 April 2024.