Bessie Hatton

Bessie Lyle Hatton (22 November 1867 – 25 March 1964) was an English actress, playwright, journalist, and feminist, and took part in the struggle for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom.

Portrait of Bessie Hatton by Herbert Rose Barraud, 1909.

Life

Hatton was born on 22 November 1867 in Claines, Worcestershire. Her father was Joseph Hatton, a novelist and journalist, and her mother was Louisa Johnson, her elder brother was explorer Frank Hatton. She was educated at a convent school in Ardennes and at Bedford College, London, however she left college to join Frank Benson's company who were performing Shakespeare.[1]

On the advice of her father and despite her concerns that it might interfere with her acting career,[1] Hatton authored several popular works of fiction, including The Village of Youth and Other Fairytales (1895)[2] and her play Before Sunrise.[3] This play was staged at the Royal Albert Hall on 11 December 1909 for the Women's Freedom League.[4]

In June 1908 she and fellow actress and writer Cicely Mary Hamilton founded the Women Writers' Suffrage League.[5] The organisation was open to both men and women, and each affiliation. Hatton was the organising secretary, took part in events, and organised entertainment for the suffrage meetings.[1]

When World War I broke out, The Women Writers Suffrage League helped establish a library at Endell Street Military Hospital, and helped organise recreation at the hospital. Hatton never married, and would go on to die on 25 March 1964.[1]

References
  1. Hughes-Johnson, Alexandra (12 September 2019). "Hatton, Bessie Lyle (1867–1964)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
  2. Elizabeth, Crawford (2001). The women's suffrage movement : a reference guide, 1866-1928. London: Routledge. pp. 278–9. ISBN 9780415239264. OCLC 44914288.
  3. Bessie Hatton (1909). Before Sunrise. Privately printed.
  4. Votes for women and other plays. Croft, Susan, 1958-, St. John, Christopher (Christopher Marie), Robins, Elizabeth, 1862-1952., Nightingale, Helen M., Chapin, Alice., Hamilton, Cicely, 1872-1952. Twickenham: Aurora Metro Press. 2009. p. 221. ISBN 9781906582012. OCLC 268792352.CS1 maint: others (link)
  5. Robins, Elizabeth (1913). Way Stations. Hodder and Stoughton. p. 106. OCLC 654476659. Retrieved 8 March 2018. methods proper to writers.

Anna Andes analyses 'Before Sunrise' in her essay 'Burgeoning New Women of Suffrage Drama: Envisioning an Autonomous Self' http://www.thelatchkey.org/Latchkey6/essay/Andes.htm in The Latchkey: Journal of New Women Studies

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