279:, a woman from a very different social background. This relationship faced challenges, since class differences in late-Victorian England meant that women like Craigen, who took payment for their suffrage work, were likely to be regarded on the same terms as personal servants by the middle-class leadership of the movement. However, this friendship actually faded, to Craigen's great regret, over differences of opinion concerning Ireland and
251:
it was long...In two minutes the whole audience was listening intently; within five she had them in fits of laughter, this time not at her but with her. A little later tears were in every eye as she told some terribly touching story of domestic suffering, self-sacrifice, and misery. So it went on. This ungainly person was producing more effect than all the rest of the speakers put together.
250:
come again in the flesh – umbrella, corkscrew curls and all. There she stood with a battered bonnet on her straggling grey hair, with a rough shawl pinned over her shoulders, displaying a powerful and strongly marked and somewhat bibulous physiognomy, with a body of portly development and as broad as
255:
By 1879 she was appearing on platforms with the principal figures of the suffrage movement and at
Manchester, in October of that year, Helen Blackburn said that she 'held the meeting enchained by her grand voice and her strong and witty words, delivered with practised power'. On 3 February 1880 she
245:
Jessie
Craigen was ugly, self-taught, roughly attired, and uncouth in her ways.Yet all this was soon overlooked when once the lady began to speak...She came forward, dumped down on the table in front of me an umbrella, a neck wrapper, and a shabby old bag.Then she turned round to face the audience.
328:
councils, and had permitted women to be councillors. In
December 1894, Jessie Craigen stood, as the only woman candidate, in the election for Ilford Urban District Council, on behalf of the Women's Liberal Association. She was unsuccessful, coming fourteenth out of seventeen candidates.
233:, accompanied only by her little dog, and that, with the power of her voice, she was able to gather audiences and hold them riveted, ‘from miners in Northumberland… and fishers in Cornwall... to agricultural labourers in the market-places of country towns’. Craigen also visited
340:
declared that 'as a woman of the people, she exercised a great influence over the working classes... We shall miss her courageous and outspoken advocacy... her racy and eloquent speeches'. Her belongings were left to
Rosetta Blanche Vincent, spinster, of Church House,
224:
called her ‘that strange erratic genius’ who spoke with a tone like a 'mighty melodious bell'. Blackburn noted that she planned and carried out her tours by herself, travelling all over the kingdom from
294:
suggests that 'she had no payment in the movement but collected minimum expenses to keep her going') She continued to protest on behalf of other causes however, contributing an article to the
172:
actress. As a child she appeared on the stage and this may have given her the skills and the confidence for paid public speaking. She began in the late 1850s giving readings from plays and
149:
in 1866 described her as a 'Scotch lady'. The 1871 census, however, shows her living with an adopted 18-year-old child, Rosetta
Vincent, and a married sister, Emma Henley, in
336:, Essex on 5 October 1899 when local newspapers described her as a ‘well-known old maiden lady’ and ‘miser’, who had shared her house with fifteen dogs. Her obituary in the
117:
speaker in a movement which was predominantly made up of middle and upper-class activists. She was also a freelance (or 'paid agent') speaker in the campaigns for
290:
of
December 1884, Jesse Craigen's position, as a paid agent speaker, became more difficult and she gradually faded from the women's rights scene. (Interestingly,
192:
comments on the subject, ‘…a woman's preaching is like a dog's walking on his hind legs. It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all.’
855:
767:
220:, who had realised the necessity of gaining support from the working classes for the suffrage movement. The feminist and campaigner for women's rights,
392:
815:
790:
860:
402:
397:
287:
234:
353:
Her name but no picture as there is no known photograph or drawing of her, (and those of 58 other women's suffrage supporters) are on the
295:
321:
663:
577:
200:
She is recorded as speaking on behalf of women's rights between 1868 and 1884. Her main supporters were the radical suffragists
308:, in April 1894, she was described as ‘a stout, elderly lady of dark complexion, with a stubby beard and a strong moustache…’
473:
Women's
Suffrage: A Record of the Women's Suffrage Movement in the British Isles, with Biographical Sketches of Miss Becker
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865:
358:
64:
753:
317:
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that her talks were well attended, but added that this was because a lady lecturer was a novelty, recalling
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165:
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757:, Vol 5:1 (1996),p.149; Probate Calendars of England & Wales (1900), p.194, Effects worth: £73-0s-6d
286:
As the suffrage movement split, after its failure to win any measure for women's right to vote under the
246:
She was greeted with boisterous peals of laughter. No wonder! Such a figure of fun you never saw. It was
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850:
213:
217:
177:
184:'. By December 1868, she was addressing suffrage meetings. A newspaper reporter wrote in 1869 at
669:
659:
583:
573:
362:
751:
S.S.Holton, 'Silk
Dresses and Lavender Kid Gloves: the wayward career of Jessie Craigen' in
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Repositioning
Victorian Sciences: Shifting Centres in Nineteenth-century Scientific Thinking
265:
226:
158:
161:, and in the census she describes herself as a London-born, ‘Lecturer on Social Subjects’.
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257:
221:
130:
816:"Millicent Fawcett statue unveiling: the women and men whose names will be on the plinth"
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301:
189:
169:
768:"Historic statue of suffragist leader Millicent Fawcett unveiled in Parliament Square"
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374:
238:
111:
386:
380:
291:
261:
126:
304:, and when speaking at an anti-vivisection, anti-vaccination demonstration in
247:
173:
673:
587:
230:
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and describing herself as a ‘lecturer’, born in London. By 1881 she is in
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342:
272:
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meetings, and was described on one such occasion in 1861 as a 'clever
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333:
209:
181:
53:
430:
Bodily
Matters: The Anti-Vaccination Movement in England, 1853–1907
345:, Sussex, who was granted probate on the will as sole executrix.
655:
A guid cause : the women's suffrage movement in Scotland
570:
A guid cause : the women's suffrage movement in Scotland
271:
In 1881-2 she may have formed a romantic friendship with the
145:
It is not certain where in the UK she was born, although the
658:(New rev. ed.). Edinburgh: Mercat Press. p. 257.
492:, 1 May 1858, p.3;At the Corn Exchange Hall, Dundee in the
168:, who died when she was an infant, and a mother who was an
572:(New rev. ed.). Edinburgh: Mercat Press. p. 23.
510:
The Women's Suffrage Movement: A Reference Guide 1866-1928
640:
Suffrage Days: Stories from the Women's Suffrage Movement
164:
She reportedly had a seafaring father from the Scottish
791:"First statue of a woman in Parliament Square unveiled"
332:
She died in her lodgings 2, Grove-villas, Ilford Lane,
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in the Scottish Hebrides, the writer and politician
256:spoke at the ‘Great Demonstration of Women’ in the
86:
78:
70:
60:
42:
25:
18:
524:, 25 December 1869, p.4, quoting from J. Boswell,
709:6 November 1894, p.5 and 18 December 1894, p.8
508:, 25 December 1868, p.3, although E..Crawford,
283:, who was often a houseguest of Miss Taylor.
8:
490:West Middlesex Advertiser and Family Journal
260:, alongside such notables as Mrs McClaren,
176:, before moving onto delivering orations at
689:, 4 May 1882, p.4; D. Clifford, E. Wadge,
15:
414:
393:Women's suffrage in the United Kingdom
403:Representation of the People Act 1928
398:Representation of the People Act 1918
7:
789:Topping, Alexandra (24 April 2018).
856:British anti-vaccination activists
494:Dundee, Perth and Cupar Advertiser
428:, 7 April 1871, p.4; N. Durbach,
14:
512:(2003), p.149 suggests July 1870.
110:– 5 October 1899), was a British
742:, 1 November 1899, vol 19, p.152
720:The Women's Suffrage Movement...
539:The Women's Suffrage Movement...
526:The life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D
1:
300:against proposals to build a
104:
33:
861:British anti-vivisectionists
389:, working class suffragist.
383:, working class suffragist.
377:, working class suffragist.
365:, London, unveiled in 2018.
488:, 8 November 1856, p.1 and
462:1881 census RG11/2482, p.28
359:statue of Millicent Fawcett
91:Women's Liberal Association
74:Activist and public speaker
65:Statue of Millicent Fawcett
882:
453:1871 census RG10/3455/0089
318:Local Government Act 1894
297:Nineteenth Century Review
724:London Evening Standard
320:had created a system of
202:Priscilla Bright McLaren
135:Contagious Diseases Acts
770:. Gov.uk. 24 April 2018
444:, 30 November 1866, p.3
281:Charles Stewart Parnell
206:Lilias Ashworth Hallett
818:. iNews. 24 April 2018
754:Women's History Review
730:, 10 October 1899, p.5
652:Leneman, Leah (1995).
629:, 7 February 1880, p.6
568:Leneman, Leah (1995).
426:Lincolnshire Chronicle
424:, 23 October 1881,p1;
349:Posthumous recognition
253:
241:wrote vividly of her:
602:Further Reminiscences
243:
101:Jessie Hannah Craigen
30:Jessie Hannah Craigen
726:,11 April 1900,p.2;
615:Women's suffrage...
422:Reynolds's Newspaper
312:Later life and death
123:cooperative movement
866:British suffragists
558:(1902), pp.153,126
556:Women's suffrage...
496:, 7 June 1861, p.5.
545:, 3 June 1884, p.5
687:Pall Mall Gazette
627:Manchester Times
543:Yorkshire Gazette
363:Parliament Square
96:
95:
79:Years active
50:(aged 63–64)
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642:(2002), pp.59-60
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486:Clerkenwell News
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288:Third Reform Act
266:Josephine Butler
159:Clifton, Bristol
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38:
35:
16:
881:
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613:H. Blackburn,
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275:and suffragist
258:Free Trade Hall
222:Helen Blackburn
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196:As a suffragist
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119:Irish Home Rule
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87:Political party
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51:
47:
36:
32:
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12:
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5:
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740:The Zoophilist
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554:H. Blackburn,
547:
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506:Dundee Courier
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471:H. Blackburn,
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302:Channel Tunnel
218:Mary Priestman
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46:5 October 1899
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20:Jessie Craigen
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718:E..Crawford,
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707:Essex Herald
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697:(2006), p.216
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665:1-873644-48-5
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638:S.S. Holton,
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617:(1902), p.148
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579:1-873644-48-5
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537:E..Crawford,
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528:(1827), p.128
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475:(1902), p.127
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442:Dover Express
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432:(2005), p.111
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375:Selina Cooper
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147:Dover Express
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71:Occupation(s)
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846:1830s births
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820:. Retrieved
810:
798:. Retrieved
795:The Guardian
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772:. Retrieved
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739:
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728:Essex Herald
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484:For example
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387:Dora Thewlis
381:Annie Kenney
352:
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331:
315:
296:
292:Leah Leneman
285:
277:Helen Taylor
270:
262:Lydia Becker
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199:
190:Dr Johnson's
163:
146:
144:
125:and against
100:
99:
97:
48:(1899-10-05)
851:1899 deaths
604:(1912), p.8
174:recitations
131:vaccination
127:vivisection
108: 1835
82:1850s-1890s
37: 1835
840:Categories
409:References
338:Zoophilist
214:Anna Maria
178:temperance
141:Early life
133:, and the
248:Mrs. Gamp
235:Stornoway
231:Lands End
182:Quakeress
166:Highlands
61:Monuments
822:25 April
800:24 April
774:24 April
722:,p.150;
674:34146764
588:34146764
541:, p.150;
369:See also
343:Uckfield
273:feminist
212:sisters
208:and the
121:and the
115:suffrage
357:of the
306:Chelsea
186:Alnwick
170:Italian
155:Retford
151:Ordsall
691:et al.
672:
662:
586:
576:
355:plinth
334:Ilford
210:Quaker
54:Ilford
322:urban
153:near
824:2018
802:2018
776:2018
670:OCLC
660:ISBN
584:OCLC
574:ISBN
324:and
316:The
264:and
216:and
43:Died
26:Born
693:,
361:in
229:to
842::
793:.
668:.
582:.
268:.
204:,
137:.
105:c.
34:c.
826:.
804:.
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103:(
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