Social historian Esther Freeman tells the story of Eva Slawson, one of many female Londoners who rebelled against patriarchy in the early 1900s
It was 4am on a July morning in 2013. While still dark, the air was warm and the dawn chorus was just beginning.
I’d got little sleep that night, partly because I was sleeping on the floor of a warehouse; partly because I was anxious. Because five of my friends were going to climb the Shard, which at the time was Europe’s tallest building.
These women were not thrill seekers. They were Greenpeace activists, undergoing this extraordinary feat to draw attention to the disaster unfolding in the Arctic due to climate change.
As support crew, my feet stayed firmly on the ground. While watching them climb, I had time to think. They reminded me of the suffragettes, also driven to extremes after all reasonable methods had failed. Or the Miss World protestors, who’d stormed the stage in 1970. These women sacrificed their liberty, and even their lives, for rights we enjoy today.
When I got home, I was still thinking about these women. You could say I became a bit obsessed. I decided to quit my job, and retrain as a social historian.
It was the beginning of a new journey, which took me through archives and libraries; gave me the privilege of interviewing Emmeline Pankhurst’s great-granddaughter; and one of those Miss World protestors. I’ve pulled some of these stories together in my new book, Great Women of London: A History Of The Rebels Who Inspired Others.
Below is an extract from the book about Eva Slawson, a suffragette from Waltham Forest, who challenged all notions of what it meant to be a woman in Edwardian society.
Eva Slawson – a rebel who inspired other women
Rising up from the lush marshes of the Lea Valley, on the edge of Epping’s ancient woodlands, was the pretty village of Leyton. Until the coming of the railways in the mid 19th Century, it was a place where London’s wealthy merchants and bankers built grand houses in which to retire.
In 1840, the opening of Lea Bridge Road station, and later Low Leyton and Leytonstone, radically changed this rural landscape. The elite watched in horror as rows of yellow-bricked workers terrace houses went up. Their leafy retreat turned into a suburban dormitory for clerks and workmen, who could commute quickly and cheaply into the East End.
In 1903, 21-year-old Eva Slawson sat in one of these newly built workers’ homes, writing a letter to her friend, Ruth Slate. They’d met at church, both girls from lower middle-class Nonconformist Methodist families, and sharing a frustration with religious doctrine.
They felt there must be more to life. They longed for a mission that was noble and self-sacrificing; something more than years of dreary clerical labour. Yet these dreams were discouraged, particularly by Ruth’s family. Such a cause required money, which neither of them had.
Yet the world around them was changing. In 1908, Eva joined the Leyton branch of the ILP (Independent Labour Party). At her first meeting she felt out of place as a line of men filed into the hall. Of the 90 branch members, she was one of only ten women. She found a more comfortable political home within the women’s movement, joining the Women’s Freedom League to campaign for equal suffrage.
Eva’s social and political outlook grew following the publication of Edward Carpenter’s Love’s Coming of Age. This short series of essays on gender roles explored the spectrum of sexual identities, acceptance of open relationships and the stifling nature of traditional marriage.
Eva wrote to Ruth, describing the book as, “full of suggestion and as I read my mind wanders off along various lines”. She went on to say, “my views on marriage are altering to an alarming extent – I really believe some people would call my opinions immoral!”
In 1911, Eva met Minna Simmons, an older, married woman. Their meeting left an impression on Eva, who described Minna as “the type of woman of the future – maternal, calm, sensitive, spiritual and strong […] she interests me exceedingly”.
After Minna’s husband died, Eva moved into her home in Walthamstow. The relationship soon acquired a new dimension through physical proximity. In her diary Eva describes sleeping in Minna’s arms.
There was clearly an erotic dimension to this intimacy, as Eva recorded: “Such waves of love pass through me at times. I quiver with feeling” and “(t)onight in bed it seems our very souls and bodies mingled in love and sympathy.”
In 1914, Ruth secured a scholarship to study at Woodbrooke Settlement, a Quaker institution for religious and social study. In this atmosphere, she quickly joined the pacifist movement promoted by the Quakers. Eva also took a pacifist stance, despite the risks. She wrote in her diary about the limiting opportunities for women who didn’t support the war effort.
By 1916, Eva had also secured a scholarship to Woodbrooke. It took time for her to settle as she was less used to socialising than Ruth, battling depression and low self confidence. She eventually found her feet, attending ‘no conscription’ meetings run by the Quakers, where conscientious objectors were discussed. Eva supported exemption from military service on conscience grounds, a radical position that put her at odds with the general public.
On 27th February 1916, she wrote to Ruth about her new friends, who were opening up alternative worlds to her. They described their work in Nottingham, training and educating young women in ‘needlework, cookery and debates’, while encouraging them to organise within the workplace for their rights.
Eva wrote that ‘if I can not get work within the Labour or Cooperative movements, I really think I would like this kind of work.’ Yet this dream would be cut short.
To discover Eva’s full story you can buy a copy of Great Women of London online here
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