Ellison Scotland Gibb (6 March 1879 – 1970) was a Scottish

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 chess player. She was an active member of 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 ...

. In 1910, she was appointed as the honorary secretary of the

Actresses' Franchise League The Actresses' Franchise League was a women's suffrage organisation, mainly active in England. Founding In 1908 the Actresses' Franchise League was founded by Gertrude Elliott, Adeline Bourne, Winifred Mayo and Sime Seruya at a meeting in ...

in Glasgow. She was arrested and imprisoned on several occasions for her militant activity, and confronted both Churchill and Asquith to make the suffrage case. Her chess career included winning the Scottish Ladies Championship in 1907. and acting as President of the Glasgow Ladies Chess Club from 1921

Family and life

Her father was Peter Walker Gibb, a fish merchant, and her mother was Margaret Skirving. Her mother was founder of the Glasgow Ladies Chess Club 1905 and president of the club until her death in 1918. She was one of six siblings, one of whom was fellow suffragette Margaret Skirving Gibb. She was a descendant of William Skirving, one of the five Scottish Martyrs for Liberty. She was born in Glasgow in 1879 and died in Ayr in 1970.

Suffragette activism

Gibb was an active member of the

(1910) and of the

in Glasgow, where she was the honorary secretary. In 1911 she refused to partake in the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

, along with her mother and the rest of the family. She was arrested on five separate occasions in London between 1910 and 1912., and once in Dundee She was imprisoned on several occasions, three times in Holloway, once in

Aylesbury Aylesbury ( ) is the county town of Buckinghamshire, England. It is home to the Roald Dahl Children's Gallery and the Aylesbury Waterside Theatre, Waterside Theatre. It is located in central Buckinghamshire, midway between High Wycombe and Milt ...

and once in Dundee. During one or more of these imprisonments (sources unclear whether Dundee or Perth prison), she participated in a

hunger strike A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance where participants fasting, fast as an act of political protest, usually with the objective of achieving a specific goal, such as a policy change. Hunger strikers that do not take fluids are ...

. On 30 October she and

Frances Parker Frances Mary "Fanny" Parker (24 December 1875 – 19 January 1924) was a New Zealand-born suffragette who became prominent in the militant wing of the Scottish women's suffrage movement and was repeatedly imprisoned for her actions. Early ...

smashed one window, and attempted to smash another in

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

. In November 1910, she and eight other women were arrested for throwing stones at the premises of the Secretary of State for the Home Department. In March 1912, she and

sat next to

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...

on a train from Stranraer to Glasgow, and asked him his opinion on votes for women and told him of the sufferings of women imprisoned in Holloway. Churchill described his experience with Gibb as "intolerable, disgusting, a nuisance, you are a low woman". In November 1912, she was assaulted by a man named Edwin Heath Smith while she was attempting to protest to Prime Minister

H. H. Asquith Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith (12 September 1852 – 15 February 1928) was a British statesman and Liberal Party (UK), Liberal politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1908 to 1916. He was the last ...

Ladybank Ladybank () is a village and former burgh of Fife, Scotland. It is about north of Edinburgh, southwest of Cupar, close to the River Eden, Fife, River Eden. Its 2006 population was estimated at 1,582. History Before the 18th century, this area ...

Cupar Cupar ( ; ) is a town, former royal burgh and parish in Fife, Scotland. It lies between Dundee and Glenrothes. According to a 2011 population estimate, Cupar had a population around 9,000, making it the ninth-largest settlement in Fife, and the ...

., and brought a successful legal case against him In 1913, she bought

Sylvia Pankhurst Estelle Sylvia Pankhurst (; 5 May 1882 – 27 September 1960) was an English Feminism, feminist and Socialism, socialist activist and writer. Following encounters with women-led labour activism in the United States, she worked to organise worki ...

Cat and Mouse Act The Prisoners (Temporary Discharge for Ill-Health) Act 1913, commonly referred to as the Cat and Mouse Act, was an act passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom under H. H. Asquith's Liberal government in 1913. The Cat and Mouse Act wa ...

licence (sold in aid of

funds for £100. There are description and pictures of newspaper articles, prizes and medals on the Chess Scotland Gibb family page, which also shows the Hunger Strike medals awarded to both sisters .

Chess career

In 1907, Ellison Gibb won the Ladies' Minor tournament at the Scottish Ladies' Championship. In 1921, she drew against chess player, Blackburne when he visited the Glasgow Ladies' club on 26 October for a 14-boards simultaneous display. In the same year, she was appointed President of the Glasgow Ladies' Chess Club. She played in the Glasgow Ladies' team that reached the final of the 1922-23 season's Spens Cup.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gibb, Ellison Scotland 1879 births 1970 deaths Scottish chess players Scottish suffragettes Scottish women's rights activists Women's Social and Political Union Scottish activists 19th-century Scottish women 20th-century Scottish women Hunger Strike Medal recipients Chess players from Glasgow