Violet Markham
Violet Rosa Markham | |
---|---|
![]() Violet Markham, of the National Service League, WW I | |
Born | 1872 |
Died | 1959 (aged 86–87) |
Spouse | Lieutenant-Colonel James Carruthers |
Relatives | Sir Arthur Markham, 1st Baronet (brother) |
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/34/Markham_av.jpg/220px-Markham_av.jpg)
Violet Rosa Markham
Background and early life
Violet Markham was the daughter of Charles Paxton Markham, part owner of the profitable Markham Collieries and
Politics and activism
Community work
Her first interest was education. Markham was a member of the
Later she became involved in
In 1934, she became a member of the
Electoral politics
Markham was also active politically. In the 1918 General Election, she stood as the official Liberal candidate for the Mansfield Division of Nottinghamshire. (The Coalition Coupon went to Jarrett);
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | William Carter
|
8,957 | 43.6 | ||
National Democratic | George William Symonds Jarrett
|
6,678 | 32.6 | ||
Liberal | Mrs Violet Rosa Carruthers | 4,000 | 19.5 | ||
Independent
|
Dr Nowroji M Tarachand | 878 | 4.3 | ||
Majority | 2,279 | 11.0 | |||
Turnout | 52.5 | ||||
Labour gain from Liberal | Swing |
She was elected as a town councillor for Chesterfield in 1924, and served as the first female Mayor of Chesterfield in 1927. It would be 39 years before Chesterfield had another female Mayor.[2]
Views
Despite being a social reformer, Violet Markham was strongly opposed to women being given the vote. She addressed an anti-suffrage meeting at the Royal Albert Hall on 28 February 1912[5] (publicised in a letter to The Spectator published on 10 February 1912[5]) which had been organised by the National League for Opposing Woman Suffrage. Markham told the audience that the views of the women's suffrage movement "fly in the face of hard facts and natural law."[6] She went on to say that, "We believe that men and women are different – not similar – beings, with talents that are complementary, not identical, and that they therefore ought to have different shares in the management of the State, that they severally compose. We do not depreciate by one jot or tittle women’s work and mission. We are concerned to find proper channels of expression for that work. We seek a fruitful diversity of political function, not a stultifying uniformity."[6]
Although Markham opposed women's suffrage,[6] Mary Stocks, herself a women's suffrage supporter, considered her to be "the best feminist I've ever known, a real feminist".[7]
The idea that there should also be Girl Scouts, as counterpart to the new Boy Scout Movement, following their appearance at the 1909
May I draw your attention to an offshoot of this [Boy Scouts] movement which seems to me thoroughly mischievous,—namely, Girl Scouts ?...the mixed scouting described...not one word of defence is possible; but... I still urge the undesirability of any general development of this Girl Scouts scheme even on reorganised lines... Girls are not boys, and the training which develops manly qualities in the one may lead to the negation of womanliness in the other.
— Violet Markham, The Spectator (1909)
Personal life
Markham travelled extensively abroad. Among her friends was the Canadian politician
In 1915, Markham married Lieutenant-Colonel James Carruthers, but she continued to be known by her maiden name. She accompanied her husband to
References
- ^ Markham family photographs, accessed 22 August 2008
- ^ a b Violet Markham, British Library, accessed 23 August 2008
- ^ Obituary, The Times (of London), 3 February 1959
- ^ British Parliamentary Election Results 1918–1949, FWS Craig
- ^ a b "THE ALBERT HALL ANTI-SUFFRAGE MEETING. » 10 Feb 1912 » The Spectator Archive". The Spectator Archive. Retrieved 11 August 2018.
- ^ a b c "Violet Markham's speech at the Royal Albert Hall, 28 February 1912 (page 2)". Flickr. Retrieved 11 August 2018.
- ^ "Late Night Line-Up | The Suffragettes (1 February 1968)", at 18:01, BBC, retrieved 21 December 2019.
- ^ Markham, Violet (4 December 1909). "Girl Scouts - Letters to the Editor". The Spectator. p. 30.
- ^ "Agnes Baden-Powell | from the Spectator, 1909".
Sources
- Archive.org (sign in to view links and sources)
- Helen Jones (Editor): Duty and Citizenship – The Correspondence and Papers of Violet Markham, 1896–1953 ISBN 1-872273-03-3
- The Times (of London), Digital Archive
Primary Sources
- Markham, Violet, South Africa, Past and Present (1900)
- Markham, Violet, The New Era in South Africa (1904)
- Markham, Violet (11 September 1909). "The Boy Scouts". The Spectator. pp. 9–10. Column on Scouting movement. Retrieved 8 May 2022 – via The Spectator Archive.
- Markham, Violet, The South Africa Scene (1913)
- Markham, Violet, Watching on the Rhine (1921)
- Markham, Violet, "The Factory and shop acts of the British Dominions : a handbook" (1922)
- Markham, Violet, Romanesque France (1929)
- Markham, Violet, "Paxton and the Bachelor Duke" (1935)
- Carruthers (formerly Markham), Violet, "May Tennant: a portrait" (1949)
- Markham, Violet, Return Passage (1953) an autobiography
- Markham, Violet, "Friendship's Harvest" (1956)
- Markham, Violet, & Jones, Helen, "Duty and citizenship : the correspondence and political papers of Violet Markham, 1896-1953" (1994)