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 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 ...

and 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 ...

Life

Bensusan was born in

Sydney, Australia Sydney is the capital city of the state of New South Wales and the most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about 80 km (50 mi) from the Pacific Ocean ...

on 11 September 1871. Her father, Samuel Levy Bensusan was an agent for miners and her mother was Julia Rosa, née Vallentine. After studying at

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

, she and her family moved to England in 1894 and soon after, she joined an acting troupe. Over the following years, she performed in plays around the world, in England, USA and Australia. Between 1906 until 1938, she would go on to appear in more than fifty plays in the West End. She became a member of

Emmeline Pankhurst Emmeline Pankhurst (; Goulden; 15 July 1858 – 14 June 1928) was a British political activist who organised the British suffragette movement and helped women to win in 1918 the women's suffrage, right to vote in United Kingdom of Great Brita ...

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 ...

(WSPU) and in 1907 she was one of the founder members of the

. She wrote three one-act plays for the League and she was head of their play department. In 1911 the suffragists were objecting to the census. As part their protest ''The Apple'' was performed at one o'clock in the morning. This was the second time that play was performed. The following year she was on the executive committee of the

. In December 1913 she formed a women's theatre troupe at the Coronet Theatre. The group had one successful season but the project was interrupted by the outbreak of war. Her ''Women's Theatre Company'' went on to entertain the army of Occupation in Cologne. In 1946 she co-founded the House of Arts in Chiswick. She died in 1967.

Film roles

* ''The Grit of a Jew'' (1917) * ''Adam Bede'' (1918)

Works

* ''The Apple'' (1909) * ''Perfect Ladies'' (1909) * ''Nobody's Sweetheart'' (1911) * ''The Prodigal Passes'' (1914) * ''The Singer of the Veldt'' * ''True Womanhood'' (a film) (1911).

Other

* "The Apple" in ''Votes for Women and Other Plays'' (2009), London: Aurora Metro Books. * Croft, S. Cockroft, I. (2010).
Art, Theatre and Women's Suffrage
'. London: Aurora Metro Books.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bensusan, Inez 1871 births 1967 deaths Actresses from Sydney 19th-century Sephardi Jews 20th-century Sephardi Jews 20th-century Australian actresses Australian film actresses Australian Sephardi Jews 20th-century Australian dramatists and playwrights Australian suffragists Jewish Australian actresses Jewish Australian writers Jewish feminists Jewish women writers Jewish dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Australian women writers Australian expatriates in England 19th-century Australian women Jewish suffragists Jewish women activists Women's Social and Political Union