Ethel Bertha Harrison (27 October 1851 – 1916) was a British

anti-suffrage Anti-suffragism was a political movement composed of both men and women that began in the late 19th century in order to campaign against women's suffrage in countries such as Australia, Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom and the United States. To ...

essayist.

Life

Harrison was born in London in 1851 to a merchant William Harrison and Anne Tonge Lake. They were a rich couple owing to trade with the West Indies and they had their daughter educated at home in their house in Highgate Hill in London. Ethel married

Frederic Harrison Frederic Harrison (18 October 1831 – 14 January 1923) was a British jurist and historian. A leading figure in the English Positivist movement and a disciple of Auguste Comte, he was known for his wide-ranging contributions to political ph ...

in 1870. During the 1870s they had four sons including

Austin Harrison Austin Frederic Harrison (27 March 1873 – 13 July 1928) was a British journalist and editor, best known for his editorship of '' The English Review'' from 1909 until 1923. Biography Early life and career Born in London, Harrison was the son o ...

. Her husband was a lawyer who was known for his support of the emerging idea of trade unions. Harrison was not a feminist and she was a member of the

Women's National Anti-Suffrage League The Women's National Anti-Suffrage League (1908–18) was established in London on 21 July 1908. Its aims were to oppose women being granted the voting, vote in parliamentary elections, although it did support their having votes in local govern ...

.Frederic Harrison
LSE, Retrieved 18 April 2016 In 1885 she donated a Greek marble statuette that dates from about 150 bce to the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

. The sculpture is about 22cm high and was said to have been excavated at

Piraeus Piraeus ( ; ; , Ancient: , Katharevousa: ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens city centre along the east coast of the Saronic Gulf in the Ath ...

. In 1883 and 1900

William Blake Richmond Sir William Blake Richmond (29 November 184211 February 1921) was a British painter, sculptor and a designer of stained glass and mosaic. He is best known for his portrait work and decorative mosaics in St Paul's Cathedral in London. Richmon ...

exhibited his portrait of "Mrs Frederick Harrison" lent from her husband's collection. The portrait features a rose at her cleavage which was said to be part of Richmond's signature on his work. This painting was resold in 2010 for £9,000.lot 144
Bonhams, 2010, Retrieved 18 April 2016 Like her husband Ethel was an enthusiastic positivist and she organised a Women's Guild at ''Newton Hall''. She arranged classes on home-making, social events and worship at the hall. She wrote twelve inspirational verses for a hymnal titled "Services of Man" which she also produced. She was a committed correspondent writing letters to various contacts whom she shared with her husband. During the 1890s she started to write for publication and she had work accepted by

The Cornhill Magazine ''The Cornhill Magazine'' (1860–1975) was a monthly Victorian magazine and literary journal named after the street address of the founding publisher Smith, Elder & Co. at 65 Cornhill in London.Laurel Brake and Marysa Demoor, ''Dictionar ...

. She died in 1916.Ethel Bertha Harrison
ODNB, Retrieved April 2016 Some of her correspondence is at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harrison, Ethel Bertha 1851 births 1916 deaths 20th-century British writers 20th-century English women writers People from Highgate Writers from London British anti-suffragists