Cicely Hamilton
Encyclopedia
Cicely Mary Hamilton born Hammill, was an English actress, writer, journalist, suffragist, lesbian and feminist. She is now best known for the play Diana of Dobson's
, with a setting in an Edwardian department store
.
, London and educated in Malvern
. After a short spell in teaching she acted in a touring company. Then she wrote drama, including feminist themes, and enjoyed a period of success in the commercial theatre.
In 1908 she and Bessie Hatton founded the Women Writers' Suffrage League
. This grew to around 400 members, including Ivy Compton-Burnett
, Sarah Grand
, Violet Hunt
, Marie Belloc Lowndes, Alice Meynell
, Olive Schreiner
, Evelyn Sharp
, May Sinclair
and Margaret L. Woods. It produced campaigning literature, written by Sinclair amongst others, and recruited many prominent male supporters.
Hamilton supplied the lyrics of "The March of the Women
", the song which Ethel Smyth
composed in 1910 for the Women's Social and Political Union
.
Hamilton wrote A Pageant of Great Women, a highly successful women's suffrage play based on the ideas of her friend, the theatre director Edith Craig
. Hamilton played Woman while Craig played Rosa Bonheur, one of the 50 or so great women in the play. It was produced all over the UK from 1909 until the First World War. Hamilton was a member of Craig's theatre society, the Pioneer Players. Her play Jack and Jill and a Friend was one of the three plays in the Pioneer Players' first production in May 1911.
During World War I
Hamilton initially worked in the organisation of nursing care, and then joined the army as an auxiliary. Later she formed a repertory company to entertain the troops. After the war, she wrote as a freelance journalist, particularly on birth control
, and as a playwright for the Birmingham Repertory Company. In 1938 she was given a Civil List pension.
She was a friend of EM Delafield and was portrayed in A Provincial Lady Goes Further as "Emma Hay".
Diana of Dobson's
Diana of Dobson's is a 1908 feminist play by Cicely Hamilton. It was revived at the Orange Tree Theatre at Richmond in 2007, with a cast including Edward Bennett.-Plot:...
, with a setting in an Edwardian department store
Department store
A department store is a retail establishment which satisfies a wide range of the consumer's personal and residential durable goods product needs; and at the same time offering the consumer a choice of multiple merchandise lines, at variable price points, in all product categories...
.
Biography
Hamilton was born in PaddingtonPaddington
Paddington is a district within the City of Westminster, in central London, England. Formerly a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965...
, London and educated in Malvern
Malvern, Worcestershire
Malvern is a town and civil parish in Worcestershire, England, governed by Malvern Town Council. As of the 2001 census it has a population of 28,749, and includes the historical settlement and commercial centre of Great Malvern on the steep eastern flank of the Malvern Hills, and the former...
. After a short spell in teaching she acted in a touring company. Then she wrote drama, including feminist themes, and enjoyed a period of success in the commercial theatre.
In 1908 she and Bessie Hatton founded the Women Writers' Suffrage League
Women Writers' Suffrage League
The Women Writers' Suffrage League was an organization in the United Kingdom formed in 1908 by Cicely Hamilton and Bessie Hatton.The organization stated that it wanted "to obtain the vote for women on the same terms as it is or may be granted to men. Its methods are those proper to writers - the...
. This grew to around 400 members, including Ivy Compton-Burnett
Ivy Compton-Burnett
Dame Ivy Compton-Burnett, DBE was an English novelist, published as I. Compton-Burnett. She was awarded the 1955 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for her novel Mother and Son.-Life:...
, Sarah Grand
Sarah Grand
Sarah Grand was a British feminist writer active from 1873 to 1922. Her work revolved around the New Woman ideal.- Early Life and Influences of Frances Elizabeth Bellenden Clarke:...
, Violet Hunt
Violet Hunt
Isobel Violet Hunt was a British author and literary hostess. Her father was the artist Alfred William Hunt, her mother the novelist and translator Margaret Raine Hunt. Her younger sister Venetia married the designer William Arthur Smith Benson .-Biography:Hunt was born in Durham; the family moved...
, Marie Belloc Lowndes, Alice Meynell
Alice Meynell
Alice Christiana Gertrude Thompson Meynell was an English writer, editor, critic, and suffragist, now remembered mainly as a poet.-Biography:...
, Olive Schreiner
Olive Schreiner
Olive Schreiner was a South African author, anti-war campaigner and intellectual. She is best remembered today for her novel The Story of an African Farm which has been highly acclaimed ever since its first publication in 1883 for the bold manner in which it dealt with some of the burning issues...
, Evelyn Sharp
Evelyn Sharp
Evelyn Genevieve "Sharpie" Sharp was an American aviator.- Early life :Born Lois Genevieve Crouse on October 20, 1919 in Melstone, Montana, she was adopted by John and Mary Sharp two months later. Her family later moved to Ord, Nebraska where she learned to fly at age fourteen and first flew solo...
, May Sinclair
May Sinclair
May Sinclair was the pseudonym of Mary Amelia St. Clair , a popular British writer who wrote about two dozen novels, short stories and poetry. She was an active suffragist, and member of the Woman Writers' Suffrage League...
and Margaret L. Woods. It produced campaigning literature, written by Sinclair amongst others, and recruited many prominent male supporters.
Hamilton supplied the lyrics of "The March of the Women
The March of the Women
"The March of the Women" was the anthem of the English women's suffrage movement. It was composed in 1910 by Ethel Smyth as a unison song with optional piano accompaniment, with words by Cicely Hamilton. Smyth dedicated the song to the Women's Social and Political Union...
", the song which Ethel Smyth
Ethel Smyth
Dame Ethel Mary Smyth, DBE was an English composer and a leader of the women's suffrage movement.- Early career :...
composed in 1910 for the Women's Social and Political Union
Women's Social and Political Union
The Women's Social and Political Union was the leading militant organisation campaigning for Women's suffrage in the United Kingdom...
.
Hamilton wrote A Pageant of Great Women, a highly successful women's suffrage play based on the ideas of her friend, the theatre director Edith Craig
Edith Craig
Edith Ailsa Geraldine Craig was a prolific theatre director, producer, costume designer and early pioneer of the women's suffrage movement in England...
. Hamilton played Woman while Craig played Rosa Bonheur, one of the 50 or so great women in the play. It was produced all over the UK from 1909 until the First World War. Hamilton was a member of Craig's theatre society, the Pioneer Players. Her play Jack and Jill and a Friend was one of the three plays in the Pioneer Players' first production in May 1911.
During World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
Hamilton initially worked in the organisation of nursing care, and then joined the army as an auxiliary. Later she formed a repertory company to entertain the troops. After the war, she wrote as a freelance journalist, particularly on birth control
Birth control
Birth control is an umbrella term for several techniques and methods used to prevent fertilization or to interrupt pregnancy at various stages. Birth control techniques and methods include contraception , contragestion and abortion...
, and as a playwright for the Birmingham Repertory Company. In 1938 she was given a Civil List pension.
She was a friend of EM Delafield and was portrayed in A Provincial Lady Goes Further as "Emma Hay".
Works
- The Traveller Returns (1906) play
- Diana of Dobson's (novel, play 1908)
- Women’s Votes (1908)
- Marriage as a Trade (1909)
- How the Vote was Won (1909) play
- A Pageant of Great Women (1910) play
- Just to Get Married (1911) play
- Jack and Jill and a Friend (1911) play
- William - an Englishman (1920) novel (Reprinted by Persephone BooksPersephone BooksPersephone Books is an independent publisher based in Bloomsbury, London. Founded in 1999 by Nicola Beauman, Persephone has a catalogue of 93 "neglected novels, diaries, poetry, short stories, non-fiction, biography and cookery books, mostly by women and mostly dating from the early to...
in 1999) - The Child in Flanders: A Nativity Play (1922)
- Theodore Savage: A Story of the Past or the Future (1922)
- The Old Adam (1924) play
- The Human Factor (1925)
- The Old Vic (1926) with Lilian BaylisLilian BaylisLilian Mary BaylisCH was an English theatrical producer and manager. She managed the Old Vic and Sadler's Wells theatres in London, and ran an opera company, which became the English National Opera , a theatre company, which evolved into the English National Theatre, and a ballet company, which...
- Lest Ye Die (1928)
- Modern Germanies as seen by an Englishwoman (1931)
- Modern Italy as seen by an Englishwoman (1932)
- Modern France as seen by an Englishwoman (1933)
- Modern Russia, as seen by an Englishwoman (1934)
- Modern Austria as seen by an Englishwoman (1935)
- Life Errant (1935) autobiography
- Modern Ireland as seen by an Englishwoman (1936)
- Modern Scotland as seen by an Englishwoman (1937)
- Modern England as seen by an Englishwoman (1938)
- Modern Sweden. as seen by an Englishwoman (1939)
- The Englishwoman (1940)
- Lament for Democracy (1940)
- The Beggar Prince (1944) play
- Holland To-day (1950)