Anne Constance Smedley, married name Constance Armfield, (20 June 1876 – 9 March 1941) was a British artist, playwright, author and founder of the

International Association of Lyceum Clubs The International Association of Lyceum Clubs was a women's club founded in London, England in 1903 by Constance Smedley. The club is still active. Background The club was formed as a place for women involved with literature, journalism, art, sci ...

Life

Smedley was born in Handsworth near Birmingham in 1876. Her well-off and educated parents allowed their daughter to become a student at the

Birmingham School of Art The Birmingham School of Art was a municipal art school based in the centre of Birmingham, England. Although the organisation was absorbed by Birmingham Polytechnic in 1971 and is now part of Birmingham City University's Faculty of Arts, Design a ...

. Smedley lived with disabilities that are thought to have come from childhood polio. Despite some artistic success her interest turned to writing plays."A World Fellowship": The Founding of the International Lyceum Club for Women Artists and Writers
Grace Brockington, Academia.edu, Retrieved 21 June 2016 In 1909 she married the artist

Maxwell Armfield Maxwell Ashby Armfield (5 October 1881 – 23 January 1972) was an English artist, illustrator and writer. Life Born to a Quaker family in Ringwood, Hampshire, Armfield was educated at Sidcot School and at Leighton Park School. In 1887 he was ...

. She was the first cousin of his friend and fellow artist

William Smedley-Aston William Smedley-Aston (1868–1941) was with his wife Irene a Victorian Pre-Raphaelite Arts & Crafts photographer and member of the Birmingham Group of artists and the Linked Ring Brotherhood. He was also known as W. S. Aston or W. Smedley. He ...

. Like many with connections to the Arts and Crafts Movement in Birmingham they settled in the

Cotswolds The Cotswolds (, ) is a region in central-southwest England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and Evesham Vale. The area is defined by the bedrock of Ju ...

. In the 1911 census, they both appear as resident in Minchinhampton (Gloucestershire). The couple became close collaborators: working together to combine design, illustration, text and theatre. Armfield's wife also influenced him to become a

pacifist Pacifism is the opposition or resistance to war, militarism (including conscription and mandatory military service) or violence. Pacifists generally reject theories of Just War. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaig ...

and

Christian Scientist Christian Science is a set of beliefs and practices associated with members of the Church of Christ, Scientist. Adherents are commonly known as Christian Scientists or students of Christian Science, and the church is sometimes informally know ...

. She was a prolific author and had been embarrassed by being a female member of her writers' club. She approached the club with the support of Christina Gowans Whyte, Elsa Hahn, Violet Alcock, and an American,

Jessie Trimble Jessie may refer to: People and fictional characters * Jessie (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Jessie (surname), a list of people Arts and entertainment * ''Jessie'' (2011 TV series), a 2011–15 Disney Channel ...

. She proposed to change the club but her offer was refused. She realised that women needed a respectable club that offered good hospitality. Aspiring career women needed a place where they could entertain without having to invite people to their homes. She formed a committee and despite writing to 60 writers they found only two extra supporters. Smedley's father offered to fund a clubhouse if she could find a 1,000 members. Jessie Trimble proposed that the new club be called the Lyceum Club and the new committee arranged for Smedley to meet Lady

Frances Balfour Lady Frances Balfour (née Campbell; 22 February 1858 – 25 February 1931) was a British aristocrat and suffragist. She was one of the highest-ranking members of the British aristocracy to assume a leadership role in the Women's suffrage camp ...

. By now the committee had decided to extend their net for new members from writers to professional women and even the daughters or wives of prominent men. Balfour agreed to lead the new club and served as chair for 15 years.History
Lyceum Club, Retrieved 21 June 2016 She placed an advert in the "English Women's Yearbook". Smedley became the founder of the International Association of Lyceum Clubs. The clubhouse was at 128

Piccadilly Piccadilly () is a road in the City of Westminster, London, to the south of Mayfair, between Hyde Park Corner in the west and Piccadilly Circus in the east. It is part of the A4 road that connects central London to Hammersmith, Earl's Cou ...

where there was an art gallery and here the club offered not only a Gentleman's Club for women but also advice for members' careers and an introduction to other clubs that grew around the world. From 1915 the couple spent seven years in the United States. The grave of Constance Smedley

Plaque on the grave of Constance Smedley

Smedley died in

West Wycombe West Wycombe is a small village famed for its manor houses and its hills. It is three miles west of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. The historic village is largely a National Trust property and receives a large annual influx of touri ...

, and was buried in the churchyard of

St Lawrence Saint Lawrence or Laurence ( la, Laurentius, lit. " laurelled"; 31 December AD 225 – 10 August 258) was one of the seven deacons of the city of Rome under Pope Sixtus II who were martyred in the persecution of the Christians that the Roman ...

.Constance Smedley
OxfordDNB, Retrieved 21 June 2016

Legacy

There is a painting of her by her husband which was made in 1906. In 2010 Stroud Theatre players performed a play based on the life of Smedley titled "The Amazing and Preposterous Constance Smedley" in Cheltenham.
Stroud Theatre Company, Retrieved 21 June 2016

Works

References

External links

*
Anne Constance Smedley Armfield (1875 -1941)
mdash;Service of Commemoration mass, 20 May 2017 at St Lawrence's Church,

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smedley, Constance 1876 births 1941 deaths People from Handsworth, West Midlands British dramatists and playwrights British women writers Alumni of the Birmingham School of Art