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Leading Characters

Emmeline Pankhurst, founder of the WSPU, elegant fashionista and suffragette

Emmeline Pankhurst

Emmeline Pankhurst is an elegantly attired revolutionary trying to break down the establishment, a fashionista who doesn’t give a rap for animal rights. Known as “Pank” to her suffragette devotees, she promotes window smashing, arson and martyrdom in Holloway Gaol to press her cause. Votes for Women is her goal; the feathered hat is her brand.

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We threw away all our conventional notions of what was “ladylike” and “good form,” and we applied to our methods the one test question, Will it help?”
Etta Lemon

Etta Lemon

Etta Lemon is a formidable conservationist trying to save the world?s birdlife from “murderous millinery” and the insatiable plumage trade. Known as “The Dragon,” or “Mother of the Birds,” she is a woman of strong emotions and even stronger opinions, with no time for the male science of ornithology ⁠— or, indeed, for the idea of women’s suffrage.

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While these foreign birds are to be had at such ridiculous prices, that class of the community which rejoices in gaudy headgear is not likely to forego its passion.”
Emily Williamson

Emily Williamson

Founder of the Society for the Protection of Birds in Didsbury, Manchester, 1889, in response to the plight of the crested grebe, a milliner’s favourite.

“Women are mostly timid in inaugurating anything, but they are very ready to give their help to a good cause when they are shown the way.”
eliza-phillips

Eliza Phillips

Fervently Christian founder of the Fur, Fin and Feather Folk of Croydon, Surrey, 1889. Head of publications at the early SPB, when her and Emily’s societies merged in 1891.

“It is women’s vanity that stimulates the greed of commerce, and women’s money that tempts bird-slaughterers to continue their cruel work at home and abroad.”
WInifred,-Duchess-of-Portland

Winifred, Duchess of Portland

Humanitarian aristocrat behind a roster of good causes, from pit ponies, to girls’ education, to caged birds. President of the RSPB for 60 years.

“In America they do some things better than we do here. When a lady wears an osprey they tear it off her head, hat and all.”
queen-alexandra

Queen Alexandra

Fashion-conscious wife of the adulterous King Edward VII, “Alix” put her influential name behind the bird protection movement in 1906.

“I am desired to add that HM never wears Osprey feathers herself, and will certainly do all in her power to discourage the cruelty practised on these beautiful birds.”
Alice-Battershall

Alice Battershall

Lowly feather washer of Finsbury, London, jailed for the theft of two ostrich feathers in 1885. Unreliable earnings of five shillings a week.

“No industry is more in fluctuation, for fashion alternates between flowers, birds, feathers and velvets. It is a mystery how these girls live” ⁠— Mr Lakeman, Factories & Workshops Inspector.
Beatrice-Webb

Beatrice Webb

Undercover investigator of London’s most impoverished women. Disguised as a “plain hand,?”she sought needlework in Whitechapel, 1885.

“At the next shop window I look nervously at my reflection, and am startled at my utterly forlorn appearance ⁠— destitute enough to be ‘sweated’ by any master.”
1909-margot-asquith-by-2

Margot Asquith

Wife of the lecherous Liberal Prime Minister, 1908-16; fashion addict, feather wearer, society hostess, letter writer and anti-suffragist.

“When I think what [King Edward VII?s] death means I can hardly hold back my tears. I went out and ordered a black dress and hat at Jays.”
Virginia_Woolf

Virginia Woolf

Writer, law-abiding suffragist and supporter of the RSPB’s plumage bill. Furious that women, not men, were blamed for the trade in feathers.

“The birds are killed by men, starved by men, and tortured by men ⁠— not vicariously, but with their own hands . . . But what do men care?”
Mary_Augusta,_Mrs_Humphry_Ward._Photograph_by_Barraud._Wellcome_V0027309

Mary Ward

Popular novelist and leading figure in the women’s Anti-Suffrage League. Author of the Solemn Protest Against Women?s Suffrage, 1889.

“We are convinced that the pursuit of a mere outward equality with men is for women not only vain, but leads to a total misconception of women’s true dignity and special mission.”
Women & Birds
Murderous Millinery
Suffragettes

Header Photo Copyright: World’s Graphic Press Limited, 36-38 Whitefriars Street, Fleet Street, London EC.

From the Blog

  • Let’s have more statues of women – however controversial

    ‘Mary Wollstonecraft’ by Maggi Hambling. ‘It’s a sculpture about now, in her

    28 November, 2019
  • drawing of Emily Williamson

    Looking for Emily Williamson, RSPB founder

    Victorian campaigner Emily Williamson was so incensed by the millinery trade’s use

    6 November, 2019
  • The strange ritual of the Servants’ Christmas Ball

    Uneasy mingling: the Servants’ Ball at ITV’s Downton Abbey, where Lady Grantham

    29 December, 2018
SEE THE BLOG

News & Events

Woman’s Hour, BBC Radio 4
Hear all about Etta Lemon, the ‘Margaret Thatcher’ of the birding world. How did this remarkable character hone her campaigning skills, and why was she stabbed in the back by the men who took over the RSPB?

Secrets of the National Trust with Alan Titchmarsh (Channel 5)
Erddig Hall in North Wales was once home to the Yorkes ⁠— a family famously kind to their servants. Or were they? I uncovered the story of ‘thief cook’ Ellen Penketh, jailed in 1907 for allegedly stealing £500 from her insecure mistress Louisa Yorke.

Radio Gorgeous interview with Josephine Pembroke, talking twitchers (why are hardcore birders almost always men?), the mysterious workings of the RSPB (why wouldn’t they let me revisit their archives?) and Mrs Pankhurst’s penchant for fashion (why so many feathered hats?).

SEE ALL NEWS & EVENTS
  • HOME
  • BOOKS
    • Press
    • Mrs. Pankhurst’s Purple Feather
      • Book Overview
      • Leading Characters
      • Women & Birds
      • Murderous Millinery
      • Suffragettes
    • The Housekeeper’s Tale
      • Book Overview
      • Meet the Housekeepers
  • THE AUTHOR
  • NEWS & EVENTS
  • BLOG
  • CONTACT
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  • HOME
  • BOOKS
    • Press
    • Mrs. Pankhurst’s Purple Feather
      • Book Overview
      • Leading Characters
      • Women & Birds
      • Murderous Millinery
      • Suffragettes
    • The Housekeeper’s Tale
      • Book Overview
      • Meet the Housekeepers
  • THE AUTHOR
  • NEWS & EVENTS
  • BLOG
  • CONTACT
Tessa Boase