Edith Chaplin Ayrton Zangwill (1 October 1874 – 5 May 1945) was a British author and activist. She helped form the

Jewish League for Woman Suffrage The Jewish League for Woman Suffrage was formed in 1912 in the United Kingdom. It was a Jewish league promoting women's suffrage. The group sought both and political and religious rights for women. History When "votes for women" was a major poli ...

Early life

Ayrton was born in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

to the scientist

William Edward Ayrton William Edward Ayrton, FRS (14 September 18478 November 1908) was an English physicist and electrical engineer. Life Early life and education Ayrton was born in London, the son of Edward Nugent Ayrton, a barrister, and educated at University ...

and the doctor

Matilda Chaplin Ayrton Matilda Charlotte Ayrton ( Chaplin; 22 June 1846 – 19 July 1883) was an English physician. She studied medicine in London, Edinburgh and Paris, pursuing higher studies at the latter's universities, and is one of the Edinburgh Seven, the first ...

. Her mother died in 1883 and her father married the physicist

Hertha Ayrton Phoebe Sarah Hertha Ayrton (28 April 1854 – 26 August 1923) was an English electrical engineer, mathematician, physicist and inventor, and suffragette. Known in adult life as Hertha Ayrton, born Phoebe Sarah Marks, she was awarded the Hughes M ...

. Edith was brought up in the Jewish faith.

Writing

In 1904 she wrote her first novel, ''Barbarous Babe''. Her other books include: ''The First Mrs. Mollivar'' (1905); ''Teresa'' (1909); ''The Rise of a Star'' (1918); ''The Call'' (1924); ''The House'' (1928); and ''The Story of Disarmament Declaration'' (1932).

Activism

Edith complained of poor health and did not feel that she could be a militant suffragette but she and her stepmother 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 ...

. Edith wrote to

Maud Arncliffe Sennett Alice Maud Arncliffe Sennett also known with the stage name of Mary Kingsley (born Alice Maud Mary Sparagnapane; 4 February 1862 – 15 September 1936) was an English actress and suffragist and a suffragette, arrested four times for her activism. ...

to tell her that she intended to support the WSPU generously. Her husband spoke publicly in support of the WSPU and was hissed by liberally minded women for his support of militant tactics. In the 1911 England Census, Edith recorded only herself, her infant daughter and the name of two servants, followed by the following note:''1911 England Census''

Jewish League for Woman Suffrage

In 1912 she helped form the

which was open to both male and female members. The organization sought both political and religious rights for women. It was felt that some Jewish people may be more inclined to join this group in preference to an unspecific women's suffrage group. Other members included her husband,

Henrietta Franklin Henrietta "Netta" Franklin, Order of the British Empire, CBE born Henrietta Montagu (9 April 1866 – 7 January 1964) was a British educationist and suffragist. She championed the Parents' National Educational Union and the ideas of Charlotte Ma ...

, Hugh Franklin,

Lily Montagu The Hon. Lilian Helen "Lily" Montagu, CBE (22 December 1873 – 22 January 1963) was the first woman to play a major role in Progressive Judaism. Life Lily Montagu was the sixth of 10 children born to Ellen Cohen Montagu (1843–1919) and Sam ...

, Gertrude Golda Lowy,

Inez Bensusan Inez Bensusan (11 September 1871 – 1967) was an Australian born Jewish actress, playwright and suffragette in the UK. She was a leader of the Actresses' Franchise League and the Jewish League for Woman Suffrage. Life Bensusan was born in Syd ...

and

Leonard Benjamin Franklin Sir Leonard Benjamin Franklin Order of the British Empire, OBE (15 November 1862 – 11 December 1944) was an English barrister, banker and Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Party politician, of Jewish descent. Family Franklin was born in London in ...

. Some more radical parts of the organization were responsible for disrupting synagogue services to make their point in 1913 and 1914. The group was labeled as "blackguards in bonnets" by the wider Jewish community.

United Suffragists

The Jewish suffrage supporters came together on 6 February 1914 with other disillusioned suffragists to create the

United Suffragists The United Suffragists was a women's suffrage movement in the United Kingdom. History The group was founded on 6 February 1914, by former members and supporters of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU). In contrast to the WSPU, it admi ...

. The new group was created as a reaction to the extreme militancy of the WSPU which had started a campaign of arson and the lack of success of the

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 ...

. The new group included her stepmother, her husband,

Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence, Baroness Pethick-Lawrence (; 21 October 1867 – 11 March 1954) was a British women's rights activist, suffragist and pacifist. Early life Pethick-Lawrence was born in 1867 in Clifton, Bristol as Emmeline Pethick. He ...

Agnes Harben Agnes Helen Harben (née Bostock; 15 September 1879 – 29 October 1961) was a British suffragist leader who also supported the militant suffragette hunger strikers, and was a founder of the United Suffragists. Family Harben was born on 15 ...

and her husband and

Louisa Garrett Anderson Louisa Garrett Anderson (28 July 1873 – 15 November 1943) was a medical pioneer, a member of the Women's Social and Political Union, a suffragette, and social reformer. She was the daughter of the founding medical pioneer Elizabeth Garrett A ...

. It welcomed former militants as well as non-militants and men as well as women. Once the Representation of the Peoples Act 1918 passed allowing (some) women to vote, the United Suffragists disbanded.

Personal life and death

She married

Israel Zangwill Israel Zangwill (21 January 18641 August 1926) was a British author at the forefront of Zionism during the 19th century, and was a close associate of Theodor Herzl. He later rejected the search for a Jewish homeland in Palestine and became the ...

in a registry office on 26 November 1903.William Baker, "Zangwill, Israel (1864–1926)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, April 201
accessed 6 November 2017
They had met as a result of her stepmother sending Edith's early stories to published writer Israel for his comments. They had three children: George (born 1906), Margaret (born 1910) and

Oliver Louis Zangwill Oliver Louis Zangwill FRS (29 October 1913 – 12 October 1987) was a British neuropsychologist. He was Professor of Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge, 1952–1981, and then professor emeritus. His father was author Israel Zangw ...

(born 1913). Ayrton lived for many years in

East Preston, West Sussex East Preston is a coastal village and civil parish in the Arun District of West Sussex, England. It lies roughly halfway between Littlehampton and Worthing. East Preston comprises the following residential areas, from east to west: Kingston G ...

, in a house called ''Far End''. She was widowed in 1926 and died in Edinburgh in 1945.

Works

* ''Barbarous Babe'' (1904) * ''The First Mrs Mollivar'' (1905) * ''Teresa'' (1909) * ''The Rise of a Star'' (1918) * ''The Call'' (1924), which is similar to her stepmother's life * ''The House'' (1928) * ''The Story of the Disarmament Declaration'' (1932)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ayrton, Edith 1874 births 1945 deaths 20th-century British women writers British suffragists Jewish British writers

Edith Edith is a feminine given name derived from the Old English word , meaning ''wealth'' or ''prosperity'', in combination with the Old English , meaning ''wiktionary:strife, strife'', and is in common usage in this form in English language, Englis ...

People from East Preston, West Sussex Jewish suffragists Jewish women writers Jewish women activists Members of the Women Writers' Suffrage League