We can find direct mention of the Appeal just twice; once, listed in the “books received” section of The Economist for 24 March 1860, and again as part of a larger article, published the same day, on “Slavery among the bleachers and dyers” in a magazine called The Builder , which describes the Appeal as a “forcible” contribution to the topic. It is an emotive example of an early petition for women’s rights, penned at the time of the first major push to protect working women and children. £3,500 [130633] 171 (WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE.) Women’s Freedom League sash owned by the Hodgson sisters. [c.1908] Original heavy grosgrain-type material (110 × 5.5 cm) striped in green, white, and gold, the words “Women’s Freedom League” in black block capitals across the white, hook and thread fastening at ends. Colours a little faded and some discolouration marks to parts, else well-preserved. An original Women’s Freedom League sash once belonging to the suffragette Hodgson sisters ; rare with such a clear provenance. Formed in 1907 in a break from the WSPU, the Women’s Freedom League (WFL) favoured non-violent forms of protest—passive re- sistance to taxation, non-cooperation with the census—rather than attacks on persons and property. Prompted by the WSPU settling on their official colours in June 1908, the present colour scheme of green, white, and gold was adopted by the WFL soon thereafter; before this they had used red and white, or yellow and black, for their badges and banners. Edith, Florence, and Grace Hodgson are presumed to have been active members of the WFL at its origins, as the family collection from which this sash came also held items of WSPU ephemera, suggested by Crawford as evidence of their move from the one organisation to the other. The presence in their col- lection of badges associated with the WFL picket of 1909 and Edith and Florence’s absence from the 1911 census charts their continued involvement with the group, and they continued supporting the WFL with financial donations until at least 1932. See Elizabeth Crawford’s blog post, “Suffrage Stories: The Hodgson Sisters and their Suffrage Souvenirs” (https://womanandhersphere.com) for further details of the family. £5,000 [128846] 172 (WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE.) Hand-painted WSPU donation tin. [c.1908–17] Cylindrical tin container (height 131 mm, diameter 88 mm), removable lid with coin slot, thick twine cord threaded through holes in lid and bottom. Surface painted in gilt, the front illustrated with purple, green, and white paint depict- ing a female knight in armour holding the WSPU pennant, striding ahead of the curled Votes for Women banner in the background; with a printed illus- tration, “Convicts and Lunatics have no vote for Parliament. Should all Wom- en be classed with these?”, pasted to the opposite side. Tin rusted and gilt flaked in places, cord browned, pasted illustration chipped and soiled, else a well-preserved example, the coloured paint remaining particularly bright.
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170 (WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE.) An appeal to the women of the United Kingdom by women: On a subject demanding immediate attention. London: Houlston and Wright, 1860 Octavo (211 × 137 mm), pp. 8. Disbound. Creased, pencilled shelf mark to top margin of title page, one small spot to pp. 5–6, a near-fine copy. first edition of this genuinely scarce pamphlet, an ear- ly and important call to arms signalling the rising tide of female activism in Britain and predating the UK’s suffrage movement by a decade. OCLC locates a single copy only, at the University of Min- nesota, who attribute the pseudonymous work to the Scottish poet and campaigner for women’s rights Isa Knox ( née Craig, 1831–1903). “Isa moved to London in 1857 and became part of the newly formed Langham Place circle and other feminist groups in order to work for ‘the elevation and refinement’ of women of her class. A protégée of Bessie Parks, she was one of the first staff members of the English Woman’s Journal and the first female assistant secretary of the Na- tional Association for the Promotion of Social Science, a position she held for ten years despite public scorn” ( ODNB ). The present pamphlet—which documents the dire conditions experienced by women and children in employment, reporting in particular on un- safe working environments and unhealthy hours—is certainly on a subject, and in aid of a cause, to which Knox was devoted. She was also a member of the Society for the Promotion of the Employment of Women (SPEW, see 142) and the Ladies’ Sanitary Association, as well as being the co-founder of the Telegraph School, in an attempt to direct women into the new and more educationally beneficial profession of telegraph clerks.
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