collection bear witness to. Alice Stewart Ker described him as “the brickiest brick of anybody yet – gives any amount of time and trouble to us” (quoted in Crawford, p. 268). Muriel Matters’s brother acknowledged Hankinson’s “kindness in obtaining news from the prison at great personal inconvenience, and apparently some danger” (21 Dec. 1908). Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence described his visits as “a very bright spot in our existence” (6 Jul. 1912), and Marie Neill elaborated: “Those brutes seemed less brutal or their treatment tormented me less for I used to think to myself never mind Mr H is coming today . . . I thank you from the bottom of my heart” (5 Mar. 1913). Their gratitude culminates in the autograph album presented to Hankinson “in happy remembrance of Prison visitations”. The 28 signatories – 27 suffragettes, plus one sibling on behalf of her sister – give, in most cases, their dates of imprisonment and sentence details, and occasionally append a quotation. In April 1912, Hankinson’s visits came to an abrupt stop, after a wardress at Holloway reported that he had conducted whispered conversations with and passed unauthorized information to Violet Bland, Charlotte Marsh, and Florence White. A significant section of the collection – including a carbon copy of said report – records the subsequent dispute between him and the Prison Commission. Hankinson’s strenuous objections and the Commission’s unyielding responses form a tense exchange. Many of the letters received by Hankinson on the subject are covered with frustratedly scribbled draft replies on the remaining blanks, presenting an unusually complete picture of both sides of the correspondence. After pledging to obey prison regulations forbidding fraternization or communication beyond religious matters, Hankinson briefly resumed his schedule. By mid-1913, however, he had been quietly debarred by the Home Office. Hankinson enlisted the help of friends to lobby on his behalf – their letters in the collection – but he was never reinstated. Despite this, Hankinson kept in touch with the suffrage prisoners and continued to follow their lives, as is evidenced by the marked-up articles and interviews that he kept, particularly in the case of Amy Maud Hicks, Elsie Howey, Edmée Manning, and Marie Neill. Hankinson maintained ties with the suffrage movement and advocated for equal rights throughout the rest of his life, a dedication reflected in the care taken to compile and preserve this superb archive. Provenance: The Rev. Frederick Hankinson (1875–1960); bequeathed to Reginald Andrew Couzens (b. 1904), whom Hankinson met through the Unitarian church and considered a surrogate son; thence by descent, before appearing at auction as part of the Hankinson-Goode Collection. Bar a few lots in the same sale, Hankinson material is very scarce on the market, particularly in such a large quantity. Several letters to and from him are held at the National Archives. Together, 67 items, including autograph and typed letters signed, manuscripts, official notices, printed items, newspaper cuttings, and an autograph album. Categorized into: Hankinson’s prison visits (15), news specifically related to Amy Maud Hicks (2), Elsie Howey (4), Edmée Manning (2), and Marie Neill (2), expressions of thanks from suffragettes (8), Hankinson’s defence against the Prison Commission’s allegations and subsequent efforts to clear his name (26), autobiographical fragments (1), and miscellaneous pieces (7).
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Housed together in a grey archival box. Full inventory and condition reports available. ¶ Elizabeth Crawford, The Women’s Suffrage Movement: A Reference Guide 1866–1928 , 1999 (p. 268 for Hankinson’s lists and the autograph album presented to him). £30,000 [156424] 74 HARRISON, Jane Ellen. Reminiscences of a Student’s Life. London: Leonard and Virginia Woolf at the Hogarth Press, 1925 immortalized in A Room of One’s own: “could it be the famous scholar, could it be J– H– herself?” First edition, first impression, of the autobiography one of the first women to establish a reputation as a professional academic, and whose groundbreaking work influenced a generation of modernists. Born in 1850, Harrison fought an uphill struggle to be acknowledged as a scholar. “After leaving university, the academic posts she applied for went first to her male peers, then to the male students of her male peers; it was not until she returned to Newnham College, at the age of almost fifty, that she found an all-female community which gave her the validation, time and money she needed to produce the works which made her name – and which paved the way for female writers and public thinkers, such as Woolf, Power, Sayers, and H.D.” (Wade, p. 11). Small octavo. Original red and black marble-patterned cloth, spine label lettered and ruled in red, top edge red, others untrimmed. With dust jacket. With 6 plates. Cloth slightly bubbled but bright, a few gatherings proud, contents a touch foxed. A near-fine copy in very good jacket, spine rubbed and toned with small loss to title, a few chips and short closed tears to edges, lightly soiled, a scarce survival. ¶ Woolmer 64. Francesca Wade, Square Haunting , 2020. £750 [161805]
73 HANKINSON, Frederick. The papers of the Reverend Frederick Hankinson, spiritual adviser to militant suffragettes. c.1908–35 “your visits were a very bright spot in our existence” – emmeline pethick-lawrence The personal archive of Unitarian minister Frederick Hankinson, a diligently retained collection of official and private correspondence, contemporary news coverage, and special mementos from his time spent offering spiritual counsel to suffragettes in Holloway and Aylesbury prisons. Together they document vividly Hankinson’s commitment to the suffragettes, their reciprocal attachment to him, and his fight to remain in his role after being accused of collusion by the Prison Commission. Highlights include an autograph album gifted to Hankinson in 1912, signed by 27 suffrage prisoners, letters of heartfelt thanks from former prisoners and their family members, a presentation copy of the Roll of Honour of Suffragette Prisoners 1905–1914 , inscribed to Hankinson from Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence, and two short manuscripts by Hankinson, the first a list of all the suffrage prisoners he visited between 1907 and 1913, and the second an autobiographical piece on his journey to becoming a suffragist.
Frederick Hankinson (1875–1960) was sympathetic to the suffrage movement from a young age. In his autobiographical notes, dated 1935, he reflects on pivotal moments and influences which made him, as the title proclaims, “Without Knowing it a Suffragist”. He joined the Men’s League for Women’s Suffrage in 1907 and became a close friend of the Pethick-Lawrences. Hankinson began visiting militant suffragettes in Holloway, Brixton, and Aylesbury prisons as a voluntary chaplain. His handwritten visitation list names 45 suffragettes, with the Pethick-Lawrences, Charlotte Marsh, Muriel Matters, and Alice Stewart Ker among them. As Elizabeth Crawford explains, Hankinson was the suffragettes’ minister of choice, regardless of faith: “when Marion Wallace-Dunlop was imprisoned in Holloway in June 1909 and had begun the first hunger strike, she applied to see Hankinson, at Christabel Pankhurst’s express wish, [despite being a Free Thinker] . . . It is likely that Christabel wished to use Hankinson as a conduit of information and as means of monitoring the efficacy of this new tactic” (p. 268). This theory is reflected in the typed version of Hankinson’s list, produced in July 1914, with names redacted and denominations added. A portion of the archive comprises official paperwork from Holloway and Aylesbury, granting Hankinson permission to visit those who had specifically requested him. Hankinson was a welcome visitor to the militants, as the many warm letters and published testimonials in the
All items are fully described and photographed at peterharrington.co.uk
LOUDER THAN WORDS
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