Sophia Lonsdale

Sophia Lonsdale (1852-1936) was a British philanthropist and social activist.[1]

Lonsdale was the daughter of John Gylby, canon of Lichfield, and the granddaughter of Anglican bishop John Lonsdale. A vocal anti-suffragist, Lonsdale's name appeared on the list of signatories to "A Woman's Protest Against Female Suffrage" published in The Nineteenth Century in 1889.[2] Lonsdale was an early organizing member of the Women's National Anti-Suffrage League and part of the group's executive committee together with Mary Ward.[3] Her letter published in The Times in 1907 encouraged readers to sign a petition against the woman's vote, which was presented to Parliament after collecting 37,000 signatures.[4]

In 1892, Lonsdale opened a girls' high school in Lichfield which would eventually become The Friary School.[5] Much of her work focused on poor relief, as a member of the Charity Organization Society and board of guardians member of the Lichfield union.[6] Lonsdale published The English Poor Laws: Their History, Principles, and Administration in 1902.[7] She wrote the introduction to The Slippery Slope, and Other Papers on Social Subjects by William Amias Bailward, published in 1920.[8]

Her memoirs, The Recollections of Sophia Lonsdale, were edited by her cousin Violet Martineau and published in 1936.

References
  1. The Times/1936/Obituary/Sophia Lonsdale  – via Wikisource.
  2. "Female Suffrage: A Women's Protest". The Nineteenth Century. Henry S. King & Company. 26: 361. 1889.
  3. Bush, Julia (2007). Women Against the Vote: Female Anti-Suffragism in Britain. OUP Oxford. ISBN 9780199248773. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
  4. Harrison, Brian (2012). Separate Spheres: The Opposition to Women's Suffrage in Britain. Routledge. ISBN 9780415623360. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
  5. Greenslade, M W, ed. (1990). "Lichfield: Education". A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 14, Lichfield (Education British History Online ed.). London: Victoria County History. pp. 170–184. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
  6. Auchterlonie, Mitzi (2007). Conservative Suffragists: The Women's Vote and the Tory Party. I.B.Tauris. pp. 53, 213. ISBN 9780857711595. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
  7. Fowler, Simon (2014). The Workhouse: The People, The Places, The Life Behind Doors. Pen and Sword. ISBN 9781783831517.
  8. The Slippery Slope/Introduction  – via Wikisource.
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