Dorothy Layton, Lady Layton (born ''Eleanor Dorothea Osmaston''; 4 October 1887 – 18 March 1959) was an English suffragist and politician. She was active in the Liberal Party after some wome were given the vote in 1918. She supporting the idea of family allowance and family planning.
Life
Layton was born in
Hampstead
Hampstead () is an area in London, England, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, located mainly in the London Borough of Camden, with a small part in the London Borough of Barnet. It borders Highgate and Golders Green to the north, Belsiz ...
in 1887. She was the first of three children born to the suffragist Eleanor Margaret and Francis Plumptre Beresford Osmaston. Her father was a barrister and they lived in Limpsfield, Surrey.
Her parents arranged her education at various places until a bequest enabled her to attend
Julia Huxley
Julia Huxley (née Arnold; 1862–1908) was a British scholar. She founded Prior's Field School for girls, in Godalming, Surrey in 1902.
Early life
Born Julia Arnold in 1862 to Julia Arnold (née Sorell), the granddaughter of William Sorell, and ...
's
Prior's Field School
Prior's Field is an independent girls' boarding and day school in Guildford, Surrey in the south-east of England. Founded in 1902 by Julia Huxley, it stands in 42 acres of parkland, 34 miles south-west of London and adjacent to the A3 road, whi ...
Aldous Huxley
Aldous Leonard Huxley ( ; 26 July 1894 – 22 November 1963) was an English writer and philosopher. His bibliography spans nearly 50 books, including non-fiction novel, non-fiction works, as well as essays, narratives, and poems.
Born into the ...
. She went on to attend
Newnham College, Cambridge
Newnham College is a women's constituent college of the University of Cambridge.
The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sidgwick and suffragist campaigner Millicen ...
, in 1906 where she continued her suffragism by joining the non-militant
National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies
The National Union of Women Suffrage Societies (NUWSS), also known as the ''suffragists'' (not to be confused with the suffragettes) was an organisation founded in 1897 of women's suffrage societies around the United Kingdom. In March 1919 it w ...
(NUWSS). Her mother was also a suffragist and during tne 1906 general election the two of them were in Surrey canvassibg voters in
Limpsfield
Limpsfield is a village and civil parish in Surrey, England, at the foot of the North Downs close to Oxted railway station and the A25 road, A25.
Layton also joined the
Fabian Society
The Fabian Society () is a History of the socialist movement in the United Kingdom, British socialist organisation whose purpose is to advance the principles of social democracy and democratic socialism via gradualist and reformist effort in ...
, captained the cricket team, played piano and studied history and economics. She was a member of a group of friends that
Virginia Woolf
Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer and one of the most influential 20th-century modernist authors. She helped to pioneer the use of stream of consciousness narration as a literary device.
Vir ...
called the "neo-pagans". The group included
Rupert Brooke
Rupert Chawner Brooke (3 August 1887 – 23 April 1915The date of Brooke's death and burial under the Julian calendar that applied in Greece at the time was 10 April. The Julian calendar was 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar.) was an En ...
Noël Olivier
Hon. Noël Olivier Richards (25 December 1892 – 11 April 1969) was an English medical doctor. She was born on Christmas Day 1892, hence her name, as the daughter of Sydney Olivier, 1st Baron Olivier and Margaret Cox. A cousin was the actor Sir ...
, Margery Olivier, Bill Hubback, Eva Spielman, Jerry Pinsent and Dolly Rose. She graduated and she would have gained a degree in 1909 but women were not permitted to be awarded University of Cambridge degrees at this time.
In 1910 she married one of her economics lecturers. They had three children in three years and during those years Dorothy sold the NUWSS paper ''Common Cause'' each week in Cambridge. She took to public speaking in 1913 during the
Great Pilgrimage
The Great Pilgrimage of 1913 was a march in Britain by suffragists campaigning nonviolently for women's suffrage, organised by the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS). Women marched to London from all around England and Wales ...
as suffrage supporters travelled from across the UK to meet in Hyde Park on 26 July. As they walked one of the eight NUWSS routes she would speak in villages as they passed.
Her husband was an active 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 ...
but Dorothy refused to join because of their poor support for the suffrage cause. She became an enthusiastic supporter of the party after 1918 when some women were given the vote.
Lloyd George
David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922. A Liberal Party (United Kingdom), Liberal Party politician from Wales, he was known for leadi ...
considered her the more radical member of their marriage and their house did not have alcoholic drinks because of her objection to them. In 1925 she was elected to the League of Nations Union executive.
She went to India in 1929 and that country and family planning received her enthusiatic advocacy.
In February 1937 she joined a tour of Romania, Czechoslavakia and Yugoslavia with
Eleanor Rathbone
Eleanor Florence Rathbone (12 May 1872 – 2 January 1946) was an independent British Member of Parliament (MP) and long-term campaigner for family allowance and for women's rights. She was a member of the noted Rathbone family of Liverpool.
...
and
Katharine Stewart-Murray, Duchess of Atholl
Katharine Marjory Stewart-Murray, Duchess of Atholl, DBE (''née'' Ramsay; 6 November 1874 – 21 October 1960), known as the Marchioness of Tullibardine from 1899 to 1917, was a Scottish noblewoman and Scottish Unionist Party politician. S ...
. This was covered in the media although there was nothing official about the visit by these three. They observed the conditions and they were received by the Czech deputy Františka Zeminová in Prague. Deputy Zeminová used the occasion to laud the support of Britain for her country during the events that were to lead up to Germany's invasion. Her greatest influence was also in 1937 when she persuaded the Women's Liberal Federation to backthe idea of family allowances. This led to the party supporting family allowances which she had helped to happen.
In 1959, she died of cancer and her husband wrote an account of her life. It was published in 1961 with the simple title of ''Dorothy''. He would die in 1966.