Julia Sarah Anne Cobden-Sanderson (; 26 March 1853 – 2 November 1926) was an English

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

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

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the Eating, consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects as food, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slau ...

Life

Cobden was born at Westbourne Terrace in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

in 1853. Her parents were

Richard Cobden Richard Cobden (3 June 1804 – 2 April 1865) was an English Radicals (UK), Radical and Liberal Party (UK), Liberal politician, manufacturing, manufacturer, and a campaigner for free trade and peace. He was associated with the Anti–Corn Law L ...

, radical MP and leader of the Anti-Corn Law League, and his Welsh wife Catherine Anne Williams. She had four sisters and a brother. All the children were all encouraged to develop a strong civic consciousness from a young age. After her father died in 1865, Cobden was educated at schools in Britain and Germany. Her mother died in April 1877. She lived for a time at the home of

George MacDonald George MacDonald (10 December 1824 – 18 September 1905) was a Scottish author, poet and Christian Congregational minister. He became a pioneering figure in the field of modern fantasy literature and the mentor of fellow-writer Lewis Carrol ...

and later at the home of

William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was an English textile designer, poet, artist, writer, and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts movement. He was a major contributor to the revival of traditiona ...

. On 5 August 1882 she married the out-of-work barrister T. J. Sanderson, and they both took the surname Cobden-Sanderson. Anne was concerned that her husband was thinking rather than doing, and she suggested that he take up book-binding. They were already in the social circle of

and Jane Burden, and it was her husband who first coined the term "Arts and Crafts". Morris had already established the

Kelmscott Press The Kelmscott Press, founded by William Morris and Emery Walker, published 53 books in 66 volumes between 1891 and 1898. Each book was designed and ornamented by Morris and printed by hand in limited editions of around 300. Many books were illus ...

when Anne's husband and a photographer named

Emery Walker Sir Emery Walker FSA (2 April 1851 – 22 July 1933) was an English engraver, photographer and printer. Walker took an active role in many organisations that were at the heart of the Arts and Crafts movement, including the Art Workers Gu ...

agreed to found a press. The press was named the

Doves Press The Doves Press was a private press based in Hammersmith, London. During nearly seventeen years of operation, Doves Press produced notable examples of twentieth-century typography. A distinguishing feature of its books was a specially-devised typ ...

and the profits were to be shared, but it was Anne who put up the capital of £1600 to start the business. Crucially, it was agreed that should the partnership end, Walker would be entitled to a copy of the font that they proposed to create. The Doves Type was created and Anne's single-minded husband used strict "

Arts and Crafts The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the Decorative arts, decorative and fine arts that developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles and subsequently spread across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and ...

" principles to create the Doves Bible, which was sold at a £500 profit. By 1906 the partners had fallen out over Walker's lack of interest and her husband's obsessive interest. Despite the agreement, Anne's husband did not deliver a copy of the font and instead arranged for every copy of the design to be dropped into the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, s ...

Cobden-Sanderson worked for 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 was arrested as a suffragette in October 1906 (along with Minnie Baldock and

Nellie Martel Ellen Alma Martel, (; 30 September 1855 – 11 August 1940) was an English-Australian Women's suffrage, suffragist and elocutionist. She stood for the Australian Senate, Senate at the 1903 Australian federal election, 1903 federal election, ...

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from the 188 ...

wrote a letter of protest in September and she was released the following month. She was a founding member of the

Women's Freedom League The Women's Freedom League was an organisation in the United Kingdom from 1907 to 1961 which campaigned for women's suffrage, pacifism and sexual equality. It was founded by former members of the Women's Social and Political Union after the Pa ...

and also helped form the

Women's Tax Resistance League The Women's Tax Resistance League (WTRL) was from 1909 to 1918 a direct action group associated with the Women's Freedom League that used tax resistance to protest against the disenfranchisement of women during the British women's suffrage mov ...

in 1909.

In 1907, she was invited to speak in the United States by

Harriot Stanton Blatch Harriot Eaton Blatch ( Stanton; January 20, 1856 – November 20, 1940) was an American writer and suffragist. She was the daughter of pioneering women's rights activist Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Biography Harriot Eaton Stanton was born, the sixt ...

and the Equality League of Self-Supporting Women to tell American suffragettes about the protest methods used in Britain and her experiences as an activist in the women's suffrage movement. She addressed the first meeting of the

Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh language, Welsh: ) is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as a ...

Suffrage Society using the title "Why I went to Prison".The Suffrage Cause and Bryn Mawr – The British Lecturers
Brynmawr College, Retrieved 28 July 2015 She went to America with her husband and, while she spoke to women's rights groups, he was welcomed as an "Arts and Crafts" celebrity. In 1910, Cobden-Sanderson participated, alongside her sister

Ellen Melicent Cobden Ellen 'Nellie' Millicent Ashburner Sickert (, 18 August 1848 – 4 September 1914), was a British writer, radical campaigner and suffragist. Life Cobden was born Ellen Millicent Ashburner Cobden in 1848 in Manchester, Lancashire. Her parents ...

, in the Women’s Suffrage Procession. Cobden-Sanderson was also active in other causes, such as campaigning for meals and medical inspection for poor children and working as a Poor Law Guardian. She was briefly involved with the Society for Physical Research (SPR). In 1922, her husband died. After his death, Cobden-Sanderson paid a large sum to settle a dispute with Emery Walker. This money was to compensate him for the loss of the typeface that her husband had thrown into the Thames when his partnership with Walker ended.Simpkins, John
Anne Cobden Sanderson
''Spartacus Educational'', Retrieved 27 July 2015 Cobden-Sanderson died in

Hammersmith Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. It ...

in 1926. Two years after her death, the Representation of the People (Equal Franchise) Act was passed into law. A celebratory breakfast was held at Hotel Cecil in London and the ''

Manchester Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' reported that she gave a speech in tribute to four prominent women's suffrage activists who died before the vote was finally won on equal terms: Emmeline Pankhurst, Emily Davidson,

Constance Lytton Lady Constance Georgina Bulwer-Lytton (12 February 1869 – 22 May 1923), usually known as Constance Lytton, was an influential British suffragette activist, writer, speaker and campaigner for prison reform, votes for women, and birth control. S ...

and Cobden-Sanderson.

Vegetarianism

Cobden-Sanderson studied

theosophy Theosophy is a religious movement established in the United States in the late 19th century. Founded primarily by the Russian Helena Blavatsky and based largely on her writings, it draws heavily from both older European philosophies such as Neop ...

and vegetarianism. She became a vegetarian at age 20 and authored ''How I Became a Vegetarian'', in 1908. In 1908, she formed the New Food Reform Movement with

Sarah Grand Sarah Grand (10 June 1854 – 12 May 1943) was an Irish-English feminist writer active from 1873 to 1922. Her work revolved around the New Woman ideal. Early life and influences Sarah Grand was born Frances Elizabeth Bellenden Clarke in Ros ...

and vegetarians

Charlotte Despard Charlotte Despard (née French; 15 June 1844 – 10 November 1939) was an Anglo-Irish people, Anglo-Irish suffragist, socialist, pacifist, Sinn Féin activist, and novelist. She was a founding member of the Women's Freedom League, the Women's Pe ...

Beatrice Webb Martha Beatrice Webb, Baroness Passfield, (née Potter; 22 January 1858 – 30 April 1943) was an English sociology, sociologist, economist, feminism, feminist and reformism (historical), social reformer. She was among the founders of the Lo ...

and

Seebohm Rowntree Benjamin Seebohm Rowntree, CH (7 July 1871 – 7 October 1954) was an English sociological researcher, social reformer and industrialist. He is known in particular for his three studies of poverty in York, conducted in 1899, 1935, and 1951. T ...

.Chung, Ji Won. (2016). ''Picturing Women's Health''. Routledge. pp. 54-55. The movement aimed to enlighten public opinion about healthy dieting. Cobden-Sanderson opposed the rich meat diet of the period, arguing it was harmful to health and bad for digestion.

Diary

The papers of 20th century Holloway governor

Joanna Kelley Joanna Elizabeth Kelley OBE (née Beaden; 1910 – 2003) was a British prison governor and civil servant. She led prisons in Britain, including Holloway Prison, where she changed the way prisoners were treated during and after their sentence. She ...

are at the LSE library and they contain Sanderson's (confiscated) prison diary.

Legacy

Her great-great-grandson, Nick Cobden-Wright started a campaign to save her former home, Dunford House,

Midhurst Midhurst () is a market town and civil parish in the Chichester District in West Sussex, England. It lies on the River Rother (Western), River Rother, inland from the English Channel and north of Chichester. The name Midhurst was first reco ...

(also home to her father

, the

radical Radical (from Latin: ', root) may refer to: Politics and ideology Politics *Classical radicalism, the Radical Movement that began in late 18th century Britain and spread to continental Europe and Latin America in the 19th century *Radical politics ...

and Liberal MP) from sale in 2019 by the current owners,

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...

. It contained her banner 'No Vote No Tax' which she had held at the Downing Street protest. His Cobden Foundation campaign was backed by

Emmeline Pankhurst Emmeline Pankhurst (; Goulden; 15 July 1858 – 14 June 1928) was a British political activist who organised the British suffragette movement and helped women to win in 1918 the women's suffrage, right to vote in United Kingdom of Great Brita ...

's great-grand-daughter,

Helen Pankhurst Helen Pankhurst (born 1964) is a British women's rights activist, scholar and writer. She is currently CARE International's senior advisor working in the UK and Ethiopia. She is the great-granddaughter of Emmeline Pankhurst and granddau ...

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

among others.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cobden-Sanderson, Anne 1853 births 1926 deaths Arts and Crafts movement English vegetarianism activists English tax resisters Independent Labour Party politicians Suffragists from London English socialist feminists