Eliza Wigham (23 February 1820 – 3 November 1899), born Elizabeth Wigham, was a Scottish campaigner for

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the women's rights, right of women to Suffrage, vote in elections. Several instances occurred in recent centuries where women were selectively given, then stripped of, the right to vote. In Sweden, conditional women's suffra ...

anti-slavery Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the political movement to end slavery and liberate enslaved individuals around the world. The first country to fully outlaw slavery was France in 1315, but it was later used in its colonies. T ...

, peace and temperance in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, Scotland. She was involved in several major campaigns to improve women's rights in 19th-century Britain, and has been noted as one of the leading citizens of Edinburgh. Her stepmother, Jane Smeal, was a leading activist in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

and together they made the

Edinburgh Ladies' Emancipation Society The Edinburgh Ladies' Emancipation Society was a leading Abolitionism, abolitionist group based in Edinburgh, Scotland, in the nineteenth century. The women associated with the organisation are considered "heroines" and the impact of these aboli ...

. Her brother John Richardson Wigham was a prominent lighthouse engineer.

Life

Elizabeth Wigham, later known as "Eliza", was born on 23 February 1820 in Edinburgh to Jane ( Richardson) and John Tertius Wigham, a cotton and shawl manufacturer. The family grew to include six children, residing at 5 South Gray Street, Edinburgh.S.E. Fryer, 'Wigham, John Richardson (1829–1906)', rev. R. C. Cox, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 200
accessed 3 June 2015
/ref> The Wighams were a part of a network of leading

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

anti-slavery families of the period operating in Edinburgh, Glasgow,

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

, and

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

. Eliza's mother, older sister, and younger brother died when she was around ten years old. In 1840, her father remarried to Jane Smeal, who was a leading abolitionist and suffragist.

Campaign work

Wigham was the treasurer of the

. Unlike other

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the political movement to end slavery and liberate enslaved individuals around the world. The first country to fully outlaw slavery was Kingdom of France, France in 1315, but it was later used ...

organisations which splintered, the Edinburgh organisation was still running in 1870. Credit for this is given to Wigham and her stepmother Jane Smeal.Eliza Wigham
, The Scottish Suffragists. Retrieved 30 May 2015 In 1840, Wigham and her friend Elizabeth Pease Nichol travelled to London to attend the World Anti-Slavery Convention, which began on 12 June. Also in attendance at this event were British activists like Lucy Townsend and Mary Anne RawsonWomen's Anti-Slavery Organisations
Spartacus Educational, Retrieved 30 July 2015 and also American

activists Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from mandate build ...

including

Lucretia Mott Lucretia Mott (née Coffin; January 3, 1793 – November 11, 1880) was an American Quakers, Quaker, Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist, women's rights activist, and social reformer. She had formed the idea of reforming the position ...

and

Elizabeth Cady Stanton Elizabeth Cady Stanton ( Cady; November 12, 1815 – October 26, 1902) was an American writer and activist who was a leader of the women's rights movement in the U.S. during the mid- to late-19th century. She was the main force behind the 1848 ...

. The female delegates were obliged to sit separately. Wigham, her stepmother, and some of their friends set up the Edinburgh chapter of the National Society of Women's Suffrage. She and her friend Agnes McLaren became the secretaries, Priscilla Bright McLaren was the president, and Elizabeth Pease was the treasurer. In 1863 Wigham served on the committee of Clementia Taylor's Ladies' London Emancipation Society with Mary Estlin. In the same year, she wrote ''The Anti-Slavery Cause in America and its Martyrs'', a short book intended to influence the British government. At the time it was feared that Britain might side with the Confederates in the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

and thus would be supporting

slavery Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

. Wigham was also involved with the campaign to repeal acts of Parliament which aimed to contain prostitution. The

Ladies National Association for the Repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts The Ladies National Association for the Repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts was established in 1869 by Elizabeth Wolstenholme and Josephine Butler in response to the Contagious Diseases Acts that were passed by the British Parliament in 1864. Th ...

was formed in response to these acts, and was successful in its aims. She played an active role in the

British Women's Temperance Association The White Ribbon Association (WRA), previously known as the British Women's Temperance Association (BWTA), is an organization that seeks to educate the public about alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs, as well as gambling. Founding of British Wom ...

Scottish Christian Union, becoming a national vice president.

Life as a carer

Wigham's father died in 1864, after which she continued to live at her stepmother Jane's house at South Gray Street, Edinburgh. She cared for Jane, who was in ill health until her death in November 1888. After her brother's death in 1897, Wigham sold the property to and moved to

, where she in turn was cared for by her relatives. Wigham died in Foxrock near Dublin in 1899.Lesley M. Richmond, 'Wigham, Eliza (1820–1899)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 200
accessed 30 May 2015
/ref>

Legacy

A memorial book for Wigham was published in 1901. In 2015, four of the women associated with suffragist and abolitionist campaigns in Edinburgh were the subject of a project by local historians. The group aimed to gain recognition for Wigham, Elizabeth Pease Nichol, Priscilla Bright McLaren, and Jane Smeal – the city's "forgotten heroines".Campaign to honour four 'forgotten' heroines of Scottish history
''The Herald'' (Glasgow), 2 June 2015. Retrieved 5 June 2015

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wigham, Eliza Scottish suffragists British women activists Politicians from Edinburgh 1820 births 1899 deaths National Society for Women's Suffrage Women in Edinburgh