Book celebrates special women from Battersea

In all probability, you could make a pretty good case for most areas of London being home to inspiring women down the ages, writes Yann Tear.

But when it comes to diversity and influence, writer Jeanne Rathbone has compiled a compelling argument for Battersea claiming to be extra special.

Her book Inspiring Women of Battersea is a love letter to the extraordinary women who at some stage lived in the area and left their mark.

In her tome, you will encounter novelists Pamela Hansford Johnson, Penelope Fitzgerald and Ethel Mannin, political leaders in suffragette socialist Charlotte Despard, Pre-Raphaelite artist Marie Spartali, and star of the silver screen Elsa Lanchester – the Lewisham-born actress who starred in the famous 1935 horror film Bride of Frankenstein.

And there is the story of Ida Cook and her sister Louise, two real life heroes who rescued Jews from Nazi Germany by helping them to smuggle out their valuables – enabling them to satisfy UK immigration requirements.

Others include the first female civil servant Jeanie Senior – sister of Lambeth MP Thomas Hughes, who was the author of Tom Brown’s Schooldays; a forerunner of women priests in Deaconess Isabella Gilmore (the sister of William Morris); the first British woman pilot Hilda Hewlett; and Wilhelmina Stirling founder of the De Morgan collection of paintings, drawings and watercolours.

Their homes ranged from an Italianate mansion to a leaky houseboat on the Thames, their occupations from manufacturing aircraft to writing for Mills and Boon (That was Ida Cook).

Jeanne said the book was a response to the lack of recognition of women’s contribution to Battersea in the commemorative plaques in this district.

The Battersea Society has unveiled plaques to some of these women. Her book contains a colourful map encouraging a walking tour of the places frequented by her heroines. Many of their homes survive today.

The Guardian columnist Zoe Williams writes in the foreword: “Nothing will make your heart sing more than the story of Charlotte Despard, whose fearless campaigning spored from one cause to another.

“If you ever felt the area to be at all distinctive, counter-cultural, independent of mind and will, the seeds of that were sown by these fascinating lives.”

Her book details the story of how one, Emily Duval, served two prison sentences for her political beliefs, with daughter Elsa suffering the same fate in the cause of universal suffrage.

There is also a piece on cabaret singer Evelyn Dove. She was the first woman of African heritage to be broadcast on BBC Radio in 1925, only three years after it was launched.

The Battersea poet Hilaire, who has written poems about some of these women which are included in the collection London Undercurrents, also has a piece in the book.

She said: “Jeanne highlighted the connections between many of these women … described how, in the course of researching the lives of these women, they have become like friends to her.”

Jeanne refuses to be drawn on which among the women in the book she admires the most.

“It is invidious to choose from among these women as I greatly admire them all,” she told South London Press.

“They are my women of Battersea, whom I love dearly and I refuse to say which are my favourites. I love that I am in contact with some of their descendants.

“They are so varied in their spheres of influence and achievement. How could I choose or rank them?

“From the brilliant novels of Penelope Fitzgerald starting when she was nearly 60, the story of the generosity of the beautiful, much-loved, very modern Jeanie Senior becoming the first woman civil servant as an Inspector of Workhouses left me in awe.

“The life of the widowed Anglo-Irish venerable, socialist, suffragette, Sinn Feiner, mother of Battersea Charlotte Despard greatly appealed. The doughty Wilhelmina Stirling collecting and promoting her sister and brother-in-laws’ art in Old Battersea House.

“Elsa Lanchester made me laugh, daring aviator Hilda Hewlett cheered me, I adore the Jewish rescuing, opera mad spinster sisters Ida and Louise Cook funded by Ida’s 127 Mills and Boon books made me wonder if I ever saw them shopping in Arding and Hobbs.

“The thought of elegant artist Marie Spartali and her awesome paintings in her nearby villa in Lavender Gardens next to Gilmore House where Isabella Gilmore, sister of Marie’s great friend William and Jane Morris practised socialism as she ran the diaconate all make my heart soar.”

Jeanne has been giving talks and leading walks on these. There are two upcoming talks – on March 2 at St Mary’s Church,

Battersea Church Road, at 6.30pm and at Northcote Road Library on March 9, at 5.30pm.

Inspiring Women of Battersea is published by the Battersea Society and available via its website.

 

Picture: Novelist and activist Ethel Mannin Picture: Reproduced with kind thanks to Jeanne Rathbone. Charlotte Despard
Picture: Reproduced with kind thanks to Jeanne Rathbone