Violet Van der Elst (4 January 1882 – 30 April 1966) was a British entrepreneur and campaigner best remembered for her activities against the death penalty.
Biography
She was born Violet Anne Dodge, the daughter of a coal porter and a
washerwoman
A washerwoman or laundress is a woman who takes in laundry. Both terms are now old-fashioned; equivalent work nowadays is done by a laundry worker in large commercial premises, or a laundrette (laundromat) attendant, who helps with handling w ...
, she herself worked as a
scullery maid
In great houses, scullery maids were the lowest-ranked and often the youngest of the female domestic servants and acted as assistants to a kitchen maid.
Description
The scullery maid reported (through the kitchen maid) to the cook or chef. Alo ...
. In 1903, she married Henry Arthur Nathan, a civil engineer 13 years her senior. She developed cosmetics including Shavex, the first brush-less
shaving cream
Shaving cream or shave cream is a category of cream cosmetics used for shaving preparation. The purpose of shaving cream is to soften the hair by providing lubrication.
Different types of shaving creams include aerosol shaving cream (also kn ...
and became a successful businesswoman. After her first husband died on 15 November 1927, she married Jean Julien Romain
Van der Elst, a Belgian who had been working for her as a manager but was also a painter.
Having amassed a huge personal fortune she purchased
Harlaxton Manor
Harlaxton Manor is a Victorian country house in Harlaxton, Lincolnshire, England. The house was built for Gregory Gregory, a local squire and businessman. Gregory employed two of the leading architects of Victorian England, Anthony Salvin and ...
, in
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...
, England in 1937. She restored the house, having renamed it Grantham Castle, and had it wired for electricity.
She gained publicity from her vocal campaigns against
capital punishment
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence (law), sentence ordering that an offender b ...
, and stood three times, unsuccessfully, as an
independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States
* Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...
candidate to be a
Member of Parliament. Firstly she fought the
Putney constituency at the
1935 general election, coming third. Then she stood for
Southwark Central in the
1940 by-election as an independent supporting the
National Government, coming third. And lastly, she contested
Hornchurch
Hornchurch is a suburban town in East London in the London Borough of Havering. It is located east-northeast of Charing Cross. It comprises a number of shopping streets and a large residential area. It historically formed a large ancient par ...
at the
1945 general election, coming fourth.
She lost most of her fortune through "obsessive litigation". She was forced to sell her country house and moved to a flat in
Knightsbridge
Knightsbridge is a residential and retail district in central London, south of Hyde Park, London, Hyde Park. It is identified in the London Plan as one of two international retail centres in London, alongside the West End of London, West End. ...
, London, in 1959.
Publications
She wrote the book ''On the Gallows'' in 1937 as part of her efforts to eradicate the death penalty. In the same year she published a collection of 13 ghost stories, ''The Torture Chamber and Other Stories''.
Death and legacy
Largely forgotten, she died in
Ticehurst House Hospital
Ticehurst House Hospital was a mental health facility. It opened in 1792 and was owned and run by five generations of members of the Newington family until 1970. In 2000, the hospital name changed from Ticehurst House Hospital to The Priory Ticehu ...
, a lunatic asylum, in
Ticehurst
Ticehurst is both a village and a large civil parish in the Rother district of East Sussex, England. The parish lies in the upper reaches of both the Bewl stream before it enters Bewl Water and in the upper reaches of the River Rother flow ...
,
Sussex
Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...
, on 30 April 1966, aged 84;
Ann Bell
Ann Forrest Bell (born 29 April 1938) is a British actress, best known for playing war internee Marion Jefferson in the BBC Second World War drama series '' Tenko'' (1981– 84).
Life and career
Ann Forrest Bell was born in Wallasey, Cheshire o ...
.
References
Bibliography
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External links
The Incredible Mrs Violet Van Der Elst
{{DEFAULTSORT:Van Der Elst, Violet
1882 births
1966 deaths
British anti–death penalty activists
English horror writers
English short story writers
Independent politicians in England
People from Feltham
Writers from the London Borough of Hounslow