Adelaide Knight, also known as Eliza Adelaide Knight, (1871–1950), was a British

suffragette A suffragette was a member of an activist women's organisation in the early 20th century who, under the banner "Votes for Women", fought for the right to vote in public elections in the United Kingdom. The term refers in particular to members ...

and communist. She was a founding member of the

Communist Party of Great Britain The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was the largest communist organisation in Britain and was founded in 1920 through a merger of several smaller Marxist groups. Many miners joined the CPGB in the 1926 general strike. In 1930, the CPGB ...

(CPGB).

Biography

Born in

Tower Hamlets The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a borough in London, England. Situated on the north bank of the River Thames and immediately east of the City of London, the borough spans much of the traditional East End of London and includes much of ...

, East End of London'','' in 1871, Eliza Adelaide ("Addy") Knight was a frail child, born with deformed thumbs, who had two accidents in childhood which led to her enduring poor health. Due to her childhood injuries, she used a stick or crutches.

Activism

In 1905 Knight joined the

Women's Social and Political Union The Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) was a women-only political movement and leading militant organisation campaigning for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom founded in 1903. Known from 1906 as the suffragettes, its membership and p ...

(WSPU) and worked as secretary for the organisation's first East London branch in

Canning Town Canning Town is a town in the London Borough of Newham, East London, England, north of the Royal Victoria Dock. Its urbanisation was largely due to the creation of the dock. The area was part of the ancient parish and County Borough of West Ham, ...

, established by Annie Kenney and Minnie Baldock. In 1906 suffragettes Knight,

Annie Kenney Ann "Annie" Kenney (13 September 1879 – 9 July 1953) was an English working-class suffragette and socialist feminist who became a leading figure in the Women's Social and Political Union. She co-founded its first branch in London with Minnie ...

, and Mrs. Jane Sbarborough were arrested along with

Teresa Billington-Greig Teresa Billington-Greig (15 October 1876 – 21 October 1964) was a British suffragette who was one of the founders of the Women's Freedom League in 1907. She had left the Women's Social and Political Union - also known as the WSPU – as she ...

when they tried to obtain an audience with

H. H. Asquith Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith (12 September 1852 – 15 February 1928) was a British statesman and Liberal Party (UK), Liberal politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1908 to 1916. He was the last ...

, a prominent member of the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

. Offered either six weeks in prison or giving up campaigning for one year, despite her poor health Knight chose prison, as did the other women. Kenney, in her autobiography, described Knight as "extraordinarily clever." She joined the Central Committee of the WSPU, but resigned from the organisation in 1907 due to its lack of democracy, her view that WSPU leadership failed to keep their promises to working women and having witnessed a false claim made by

Christabel Pankhurst Dame Christabel Harriette Pankhurst (; 22 September 1880 – 13 February 1958) was a British suffragette born in Manchester, England. A co-founder of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), she directed Suffragette bombing and arson ca ...

in order to promote enfranchisement for propertied women only. Following this, Knight and her husband joined the Adult Suffrage Society and she became the branch secretary for

Later life

Knight served as a

Poor Law Guardian Boards of guardians were ''ad hoc'' authorities that administered Poor Law in the United Kingdom from 1835 to 1930. England and Wales Boards of guardians were created by the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834, replacing the parish overseers of the poor ...

for

West Ham West Ham is a district in East London, England and is in the London Borough of Newham. It is an inner-city suburb located east of Charing Cross. The area was originally an ancient parish formed to serve parts of the older Manor of Ham, a ...

. She developed a friendship with Dora Montefiore with whom she travelled to France in 1908 to address meetings there. In March 1909, Knight resigned as branch secretary of the Adult Suffrage Society due to illness through pregnancy and received letters of thanks. She moved from Plaistow to

Abbey Wood Abbey Wood is an List of areas of London, area in southeast London, England, in the Royal Borough of Greenwich and bordering the London Borough of Bexley. It is located east of Charing Cross. According to the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 ...

later that year with her family. In 1920 she joined the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) as a founding member with Dora Montefiore but declined an invitation to join a delegation to the Soviet Union due to poor health. In Abbey Wood she joined the Women's Cooperative Guild and, together with her husband, the

Independent Labour Party The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was a British political party of the left, established in 1893 at a conference in Bradford, after local and national dissatisfaction with the Liberal Party (UK), Liberals' apparent reluctance to endorse work ...

and the

Workers Educational Association Workers' Educational Associations (WEA) are not-for-profit bodies that deliver further education to adults in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. WEA UK WEA UK, founded in 1903, is the UK's largest voluntary sector provider of adult edu ...

Family

Knight married Donald Adolphus Brown (1874-1949), the son of a Guyanese naval officer and an English mother, in 1894. Donald took his wife's surname and became known as Donald Knight. The couple had four children between 1895 and 1901, three of whom died in a

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by Variola virus (often called Smallpox virus), which belongs to the genus '' Orthopoxvirus''. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (W ...

outbreak in 1902. Adelaide gave birth to another son in 1904 and a daughter in 1909. Her husband worked as a foreman at the

Royal Arsenal The Royal Arsenal, Woolwich is an establishment on the south bank of the River Thames in Woolwich in south-east London, England, that was used for the manufacture of armaments and ammunition, proof test, proofing, and explosives research for ...

, Woolwich, where he received a medal for bravery for tackling a fire there.Gerzina, Gretchen (2003)
Black Victorians
'' London: Rutgers University Press. p. 119. Knight died in 1950; her husband had died a year earlier. Their daughter,

Winifred Langton Winifred "Win" Langton (20 May 1909 – 7 March 2003) was a British communist, internationalist and activist. Family Langton was born in 1909 in Plaistow, East London, as one of six children. In the 1902 smallpox epidemic three of her elde ...

, wrote a memoir of her parents edited by Addy's granddaughter, Fay Jacobsen, entitled ''Courage''. She wrote that her father "vigorously supported his wife in every possible direction" and reflected that she learned to fight from her mother and to care from her father.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Knight, Adelaide 1871 births 1950 deaths British activists with disabilities English people with disabilities English suffragists People from the London Borough of Tower Hamlets Women's Social and Political Union Communist Party of Great Britain members British communists