Adelin Beatrice "Lena" Connell, also known professionally as Beatrice Cundy, (27 July 1875 – 4 March 1949) was a British

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 a well-known photographer whose work is held in the

National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to: * National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra * National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred *National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C. *National Portrait Gallery, London ...

, London.

Life

Connell was born in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

in 1875 to Frederic and Catherine Connell. Her father (and his father) had made high-class watches known as

chronometers A clock or chronometer is a device that measures and displays time. The clock is one of the oldest human inventions, meeting the need to measure intervals of time shorter than the natural units such as the day, the lunar month, and the yea ...

, but her father's interest moved to photography before he became a salesperson. The photography business made his daughters Dora and Alina into photographer's assistants and Adelina/Lena's career path was decided. Cicely Hamilton by Lena Connell 1910s

Connell started her own photography business and was exhibiting her work professionally at the New Gallery Exhibition in 1901. She employed female staff. She was elected a member of the Professional Photographers' Association in 1903. She was said to be the first woman photographer to take pictures of male subjects. Connell took pictures of leading members of the

Women's Freedom League The Women's Freedom League was an organisation in the United Kingdom from 1907 to 1961 which campaigned for women's suffrage, pacifism and sexual equality. It was founded by former members of the Women's Social and Political Union after the Pa ...

as well as

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 ...

and other suffrage leaders. She was intrigued by the suffrage cause after she was employed to take pictures of the suffragette Gladice Keevil after she was released from prison. Photographs of leading suffragettes were made into postcards and copies were sold to supporters as a method of raising funds. Connell was a member of the

WSPU 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 Hampstead and she collaborated with

Cicely Hamilton Cicely Mary Hamilton (née Hammill; 15 June 1872 – 6 December 1952), was an English actress, writer, journalist, suffragist and feminist, part of the struggle for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom. She is now best known for the feminist ...

Edith Craig Edith Ailsa Geraldine Craig ( Edith Godwin; 9 December 1869 – 27 March 1947), known as Edy Craig, was a prolific theatre director, producer, costume designer and early pioneer of the women's suffrage movement in England. She was the daughte ...

's production of her iconic play "A Pageant of Women" by the Pioneer Players. Connell's resulting portraits of the leading producers and players,

Ellen Terry Dame Alice Ellen Terry (27 February 184721 July 1928) was a leading English actress of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born into a family of actors, Terry began performing as a child, acting in Shakespeare plays in London, and toured ...

, Christopher St John, Hamilton and Craig, were exhibited at the

Royal Photographic Society The Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain, commonly known as the Royal Photographic Society (RPS), is the world's oldest photographic society having been in continuous existence since 1853. It was founded in London, England, in 1853 as th ...

in 1910/1911. In 1911 Connell was advertising for an assistant in "The Suffragette" magazine to work at her studio in St John's Wood. Connell married Jack Cundy in 1914 and, in 1922, closed her shop and decided to specialise in "at-home" photography using her married name of Beatrice Cundy. She continued to exhibit her work and an exhibition of her 'at home' portraiture was held at the Halcyon Club in June 1929 and October 1932.

Death and legacy

Connell died in 1949. Copies of her photographs are held in the

in London.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Connell, Lena 1875 births 1949 deaths Photographers from London 19th-century English photographers British women photographers British suffragettes 19th-century British women photographers