Jane Maria Strachey, Lady Strachey (née Grant; 13 March 1840 – 14 December 1928) was an English

suffragist Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to vo ...

and writer. Her father was a British colonial administrator; Jane married her father's secretary, Sir

Richard Strachey Sir Richard Strachey (24 July 1817 – 12 February 1908) was a British soldier and Indian administrator, the third son of Edward Strachey and grandson of Sir Henry Strachey, 1st Baronet. Early life He was born on 24 July 1817, at Sutton ...

, and ten of their children survived into adulthood. She was an outspoken advocate for the right of women to vote, and involved her daughters in her campaigning. She wrote two books for children.

Early life

Lady Strachey was born on the ship ''Earl of Hardwicke'' off the coast of

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( ) is a rocky headland on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A List of common misconceptions#Geography, common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Afri ...

on 13 March 1840. Her father was British Colonial Administrator Sir John Peter Grant, who later served as the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal and as Governor of Jamaica, and her mother was Henrietta Chichele Plowden. Strachey became the second wife of her father's secretary, Sir

, who was 23 years older than her, in 1859. Sir Richard and Lady Strachey had 13 children, 10 of whom survived into adulthood – Lytton, James, Dorothea, Pernel, Oliver, Marjorie, Dick, Ralph,

Philippa Philippa is a feminine given name meaning "lover of horses" or "horses' friend", from the Greek Philippos, which is derived from ''philein'', meaning to love and ''hippos'', meaning ''horse''. The English masculine form is Philip, which was form ...

and Elinor.

Professional life

Her husband introduced her to the works of

John Stuart Mill John Stuart Mill (20 May 1806 – 7 May 1873) was an English philosopher, political economist, politician and civil servant. One of the most influential thinkers in the history of liberalism and social liberalism, he contributed widely to s ...

. They moved to

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 ...

in 1866–1867 and Lady Strachey began gathering signatures for petitioning the Parliament for women's right to vote. Her first article on women's suffrage was published in ''The Attempt'', which was published by the Edinburgh Ladies Debating Society. She became a member of the

Edinburgh National Society for Women's Suffrage The Edinburgh National Society for Women's Suffrage was a leading group for women's rights in Scotland. It was one of the first three suffrage societies to be formed in Britain. History The Edinburgh Ladies' Emancipation Society was at one time t ...

in 1868 but moved to India with her husband who was posted in the British Colonial administration again. The couple returned to London in 1879 and she restarted her suffrage work. She was an active supporter of the New Hospital for Women, an initiative to provide poor women with medical help from qualified female practitioners. She was also a financial supporter of

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 ...

. She was an organiser of the

Women's Local Government Society The Women's Local Government Society was a British campaign group which aimed to get women into local government. Its initial focus was on county councils but its remit later covered other local government roles such as school boards. History The ...

and in 1909 became the chair of its London branch. Her work achieved fruition when a WLGS-sponsored parliamentary Bill was mentioned in the King's Speech in 1907. Lady Strachey also published two children's books, in 1887 and 1893. She also wrote ''Poets on Poets'' in 1894, besides working on an English translation of

Alexander Herzen Alexander Ivanovich Herzen (; ) was a Russian writer and thinker known as the precursor of Russian socialism and one of the main precursors of agrarian populism (being an ideological ancestor of the Narodniki, Socialist-Revolutionaries, Trudo ...

's ''De l'autre rive''. An account of her and her family is provided in Betty Askwith's ''Two Victorian Families''. In 1907, Lady Strachey was elected to the Executive committee of the

National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies The National Union of Women Suffrage Societies (NUWSS), also known as the ''suffragists'' (not to be confused with the suffragettes) was an organisation founded in 1897 of women's suffrage societies around the United Kingdom. In March 1919 it w ...

. She and her daughters were also active organisers of the Mud March from Hyde Park to

Exeter Hall Exeter Hall was a large public meeting place on the north side of the Strand in central London, opposite where the Savoy Hotel now stands. From 1831 until 1907 Exeter Hall was the venue for many great gatherings of activists for various cause ...

to demand the right to vote. In 1909 she became an editorial board member of the '' English Woman's Journal'' and was elected as the President of the South Paddington Committee of the London Society for Women's Suffrage. Her professional activities declined after her husband's death in 1909. She was offered the directorship of the

Society of Women Writers and Journalists Society of Women Writers & Journalists (SWWJ) is a British learned society for professional women writers. The society's aims include the "encouragement of literary achievement, the upholding of professional standards, and social contact with f ...

in 1920, which she declined. She died in 1928.

Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer and one of the most influential 20th-century modernist authors. She helped to pioneer the use of stream of consciousness narration as a literary device. Vir ...

wrote an extensive obituary essay detailing Lady Strachey's contribution to the women's movement.Naomi Black

Early life

Professional life

References

Further reading