SUFFRAGE – THE PANKHURSTS Group of autograph and typed letters, with a scarce WSPU Christm...

SUFFRAGE – THE PANKHURSTS Group of autograph letters and other material, comprising: i) Three autograph letters signed ('E Pankhurst') to Mrs and Miss Hoare, the first confirming '...Miss Pine has given me the Xmas presents you so very kindly brought me today...' and sending thanks and good wishes; the second thanking her for a cheque ('...very useful just now as summer clothes will so be needed. I hope you found an improvement in the children... I see a change daily... a constant source of interest...'); the third thanking Mrs Hoare for '...the Christmas presents to the babies & for myself & to put so much personal work in to the gifts...', five pages, dust-staining and marks, creased with some short tears at folds, 8vo (150 x 110mm.), 50 Clarendon Road, W., 22 December 1916, 28 April 1917 and [n.d.] ii) Typed letter signed ('Christabel Pankhurst') to Mrs Hoare, hoping to see her whilst she is in Paris and making arrangements, busy with '...the great Fund of Welcome and Protest we are going to raise...' and asking for a contribution, one page, dust-staining, marked and creased, small tears along folds, 4to (253 x 204mm.), 11 Avenue de la Grande Armée, Paris, 20 November 1913 iii) Christmas card issued by the National Women's Social & Political Union, 'Greetings and Good Wishes for 1908', including a verse from Neale's Egypt, with inscription in ink on reverse 'First Xmas Card Issued by W.S.P.U.', one page printed in red and black on rough board, discoloured and marked, corners creased, Christmas 1908; with a printed pamphlet for the Ceremonial Unveiling of the Statue of Emmeline Pankhurst, 6 March 1930 Footnotes: 'MISS PINE HAS GIVEN ME THE XMAS PRESENTS': EMMELINE PANKHURST ACCEPTS GIFTS & FUNDS FOR HER 'WAR BABIES'. '...Emmeline Pankhurst rejected any suggestion of pacifism. Her main, and most characteristic contribution to the war effort was first mooted in the 7 May 1915 issue of the relaunched Suffragette. Her intention was to found a home for 'War Babies', a euphemism for the illegitimate by-products of a society in turmoil...' (Elizabeth Crawford, The Women's Suffrage Movement: A Reference Guide 1866-1928, 2001, p.512). Despite opposition from some members of the WSPU, who wished to concentrate their efforts on suffrage, Emmeline used the money raised on an American lecture tour in 1916 to take on four babies, under the care of Nurse Pine at a house in Clarendon Road, from where she writes our first letter. A larger house, Tower Cressey, was acquired with WSPU funds in 1917, and they were joined by Annie Kenney's sisters who had been trained under Maria Montessori. After the war it was transferred to trustees and became the War Memorial Adoption Home, later the National Adoption Association. Christabel's letter is written from exile in Paris, whence she fled after the window-smashing campaign of March 1912: '...Christabel is distinctly discreet as to how her time in Paris was spent. Or, indeed, how her prolonged sojourn there was financed...' (Woman and her Sphere blog, April 2013). Whilst she did receive generous funds from the WSPU for office expenses (Crawford, p.497), our letter shows that she was actively seeking funds from elsewhere. These letters were found in the papers of the current owner's grandmother, Rosamond Oliver (1904-1993), named for the character in Jane Eyre, of Bursledon, Hampshire. This would make the most likely candidate for the recipients of our letters, 'Mrs and Miss Hoare', to be Sarah Ann Hoare (b.1851) also of Bursledon, who married Francis William Hoare (b.1860) in 1883, and who had two daughters, Julia (b.1884) and Maud (b.1891). The connection between recipient and owner remains unclear but it is believed that Rosamond may have been given the letters by Maud, with whom she travelled to New Zealand in later life. Provenance: Rosamond Oliver from Bursledon, Hampshire (1904-1993), grandmother of the present owner. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing