Emily Caroline Townshend (1849 – 1934) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

social reformer.

Early life and education

Born Emily Gibson in 1849, she was the first applicant to, and one of the first five students at

Girton College, Cambridge Girton College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was established in 1869 by Emily Davies and Barbara Bodichon as the first women's college at Cambridge. In 1948, it was granted full college status by the un ...

, then in

Hitchin Hitchin () is a market town in the North Hertfordshire Districts of England, district of Hertfordshire, England. The town dates from at least the 7th century. It lies in the valley of the River Hiz at the north-eastern end of the Chiltern Hills ...

, Hertfordshire. She studied there from 1869 to 1872, and while there met her husband, Cambrey Corker Townshend, through a fellow student, Isabella Townshend.

Social reform and activism

Emily Townshend 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 ...

in 1894, becoming active in its Research Department and writing several tracts for the group. She also served a term on its executive in 1915/16. Townshend spent two years as editor of the ''School Child'' journal, and was also active on the

Walham Green Walham Green is the historic name of an English village, now part of inner London, in the parish of Fulham in the County of Middlesex. It was located between the hamlet of North End (now renamed West Kensington) to the north, and Parsons G ...

Juvenile Advisory Committee. In 1907, age 57, Townshend spent two weeks in

Holloway Prison HM Prison Holloway was a British prison security categories, closed category prison for adult women and young offenders in Holloway, London, England, operated by His Majesty's Prison Service. It was the largest women's prison in western Europe, ...

for her part in a suffragette protest. In 1909, her daughter Rachel Townsend spent two months imprisoned there for similar activities. Her daughter Caroline Townsend (1878–1944) was a leading stained glass artist and followed her mother in membership of the Fabian Society and interest in women's suffrage.

Legacy

In November 1979 the historian, Brian Harrison, interviewed Townshend’s granddaughter, Mrs Joan Radice (née Keeling), as part of the Suffrage Interviews project, titled ''Oral evidence on the suffragette and suffragist movements: the Brian Harrison interviews''. Joan talked about Emily’s career, household arrangements, relationship with her daughter Rachel and with the suffrage movement. Joan was the daughter of Emily’s daughter Rachel, who married social reformer Frederic Keeling (known as Ben) in 1909. Although the couple later divorced, Keeling kept in touch with his former mother in law. After Frederic’s death in the trenches of the First World War in 1916, Townshend edited and published his letters in a 1918 volume titled Keeling Letters & Recollections, with a foreword by

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells (21 September 1866 – 13 August 1946) was an English writer, prolific in many genres. He wrote more than fifty novels and dozens of short stories. His non-fiction output included works of social commentary, politics, hist ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Townshend, Emily 1849 births 1934 deaths Alumni of Girton College, Cambridge Members of the Fabian Society British suffragettes Prisoners and detainees of England and Wales English feminists British women's rights activists