Maud Arncliffe Sennett

Maud Arncliffe Sennett
Born 4 February 1862
London
Died 15 September 1936 (1936-09-16) (aged 74)
Midhurst, Sussex
Nationality English
Citizenship United Kingdom
Spouse(s) Henry

(Alice) Maud Arncliffe Sennett or Alice Maud Mary Sparagnapane with a stage name of Mary Kingsley (4 February 1862 – 15 September 1936) was an English actress and suffragist.

Life

Sennett was born in London to a family who owned a Christmas cracker and confectionery business. Her mother was Aurelia Williams and her father was Gaudente Sparagnapane. Sennet became an actress taking the name Mary Kingsley. She went on the stage and toured mainland Britain and she also spent a year in Australia. Her confidence with public speaking would be a skill she would use again later.[1]

She married in 1898 and she and her husband, Henry Robert Arncliffe Sennett, took over the family business. In 1906 she read an article by Millicent Fawcett and this led to her to join the London Society for Women's Suffrage.[2] She joined a number of suffrage societies but she served on the executive committees of the Women's Freedom League, the Actresses' Franchise League and the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU)'s branch in Hampstead.

Sennett wrote in 1910, "I am an employee of male labour, and the men who earn their living through the power of my poor brain, the men whose children I pay to educate, whose members of Parliament I pay for, and to whose old-age pensions I contribute – these are allowed a vote, while I am voteless."[3]

Her sister, Florence Gertrude de Fonblanque decided it was a good idea to mount a march from Edinburgh to London to draw attention to the cause of women getting the vote. It was decided to march from Edinburgh to London.[4] Only six women set off but as they traveled from Scotland to London they gathered others and a large interest from the media.[5] Sennett assisted the march by organising a reception for her sisters and the other marchers when they arrived.[4]

In 1913 she realised that men as well as women might have an interest in getting women the vote after she met a Scottish businessman named Alexander Orr. She founded the Northern Men's Federation for Women's Suffrage[6] after the death of Emily Davison. She had attended her funeral on behalf of the Actresses Franchise League and decided to take the same train as Emily's coffin.[7] As she went north she met Orr and they realised that the public sympathy would lead to many men with some influence joining a suffrage organisation. She was at the centre of the organisation and she called the members "her bairns" and she intended to use their influence to petition the Prime Minister. A verse was written by artist John Wilson McLaren

We've come from the North, and the heather's on fire,
To fight for the women–our only desire;
At last we've been roused thro' the treachery shown
By knaves at Westminster–the knaves we disown!'[8]

However the Prime Minister refused to see them.[1]

Sennett and the Women's Freedom League came into conflict with Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst when the First World War started. Emmeline and Chritabel negotiated with the government and agreed to stop all political activities and to organise a pro-war demonstration. In exchange they were given freedom of all the prisoners and £2,000 towards costs. All of the prisoners released were told that their new role was to work for the war effort. Sennett objected to this approach and gave money to Sylvia Pankhurst who took a similar line.[2]

Sennett's support was strong and focused. She spent a lot of time in London and decided to resign in 1916 as President of the NMFWS but the membership would not accept it. She was persuaded to stay in post.[9] The organisation continued until 1919.[7]

Sennett died in Midhurst, Sussex, from tuberculosis in 1936. Her husband arranged for her autoboigraphy to be published. He married again. When her sister, Florence, died in 1949 she had "Originator and leader of the women's suffrage march from Edinburgh to London 1912" carved on her gravestone at her request.[4]

Works

  • Manifesto on Venereal Disease (1916)

References

  1. 1 2 Elizabeth Crawford, 'Sennett, (Alice) Maud Mary Arncliffe (1862–1936)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 4 November 2017
  2. 1 2 "Maud Arncliffe Sennett". Spartacus Educational. Retrieved 23 November 2017.
  3. ↑ Arncliffe Sennett, Maud. "Why I Want The Vote". The Vote 1910. Web. 1 February 2017.
  4. 1 2 3 Elizabeth Crawford, 'Fonblanque, Florence Gertrude de (1864–1949)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 17 Nov 2017
  5. ↑ "Northern Men and Votes for Women | History Today". www.historytoday.com. Retrieved 4 November 2017.
  6. ↑ "Maud Arncliffe-Sennett: c.1910, Women's Freedom League". Museum of London Prints. Retrieved 4 November 2017.
  7. 1 2 "Christmas crackers and women's suffrage - Untold lives blog". blogs.bl.uk. Retrieved 4 November 2017.
  8. ↑ "'Men from the North': The Northern Men's Federation for Women's Suffrage, 1913–1918". UK Parliament. Retrieved 4 November 2017.
  9. ↑ Claire Eustance (16 December 2013). The Men's Share?: Masculinities, Male Support and Women's Suffrage in Britain, 1890-1920. Routledge. pp. 193–200. ISBN 978-1-136-18144-3.
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