Evelyn Sharp (suffragist)

Evelyn Sharp
Born
Evelyn Jane Sharp

(1869-08-04)4 August 1869
London, United Kingdom
Died17 June 1955(1955-06-17) (aged 85)
London, United Kingdom
NationalityBritish
Occupation(s)Writer, Suffragist

Evelyn Jane Sharp (4 August 1869 – 17 June 1955) was a British suffragist. That means she wanted women to have the right to vote in British elections. She was involved in two major British women's suffrage societies. They were the militant Women's Social and Political Union and the United Suffragists. She helped start the United Suffragists. She became editor of the Votes for Women newspaper during the First World War. She was sent to prison twice. She was a book writer who was famous for her children's books.[1]

Early life

Evelyn Sharp was born on 4 August 1869. She was the ninth of eleven children.[2] Sharp's family sent her to a boarding school for just two years. However, she passed several university local examinations. Sharp moved to London although her family did not want her to. In London, she wrote several novels including All the Way to Fairyland (1898) and The Other Side of the Sun (1900).[3][4]

In 1903, Sharp started writing articles for the Daily Chronicle, the Pall Mall Gazette and the Manchester Guardian with the help of Henry Nevinson.[3] Sharp talks about how important Nevison and the Men's League for Women's Suffrage is: "It is impossible to rate too highly the sacrifices that they (Henry Nevinson and Laurence Housman) and H. N. Brailsford, F. W. Pethick Lawrence, Harold Laski, Israel Zangwill, Gerald Gould, George Lansbury, and many others made to keep our movement free from the suggestion of a sex war."

Sharp's journalism made her more aware of working-class women's problems. She joined the Women's Industrial Council and the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies. In the autumn of 1906 Sharp was sent by the Manchester Guardian to cover the first speech by Elizabeth Robins. After that speech, she joined the Women's Social and Political Union.[3][4]

References

  1. ↑ "'Behind the locked door': Evelyn Sharp, suffragette and rebel journalist", Angela V. John, Women's History Review, Volume 12, Number 1, March 2003, pp. 5–13
  2. ↑ John, Angela V. [Oxford Dictionary of National Biography], Oxford University Press 2004, online edn October 2009. Retrieved on 6 February 2013.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "The Spartacus Educational article". Archived from the original on 24 October 2008. Retrieved 12 July 2009.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Review of Evelyn Sharp: Rebel Woman, 1869–1955 by Angela V. John and Unfinished Adventure by Evelyn Sharp, A. S. Byatt

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