Scrapbook [of Mrs Spencer Graves] relating to women's suffrage

This material is held atWomen's Library Archives

  • Reference
    • GB 106 10/05
  • Dates of Creation
    • 1905-1928
  • Language of Material
    • English
  • Physical Description
    • 1 A box (1 volume - 99 pages)

Scope and Content

This scrapbook consists of press cuttings and ephemera. The album is subtitled 'The Fight as I saw it' and is subdivided into two sections: 1905-1918 and 1918-1928. In addition to press cuttings, the earlier section includes a rich collection of suffrage ephemera comprising a wide range of material: a paper rosette worn in a procession, tickets, invitation cards, a serviette, pamphlets, programmes, postcards, stamps and fliers. The later section covers subjects such as women's work in the First World War, Scottish Women's Hospitals, women in Parliament and obituaries of Emily Davies. It consists mainly of press cuttings and printed ephemera but also included are postcards of the Bimbo Toy Factory; a postcard of 'The London Suffragist' ambulance; and an original photograph of Emily Davies. Also included are two letters from Millicent Garret Fawcett to Mrs Graves.

Administrative / Biographical History

Beatrice Mary Graves (-1950) née Leake was the daughter of Robert Leake MP of The Dales, Whitefield, Lancashire. In 1882 she married the Hon W Spencer Paget Graves, a Commander in the Royal Navy, and was widowed in 1909. She was, from 1910, Honorary Treasurer of the London Society for Women's Suffrage. She died in 1950.

Access Information

This collection is available for research. Readers are advised to contact The Women's Library in advance of their first visit.

Other Finding Aids

Fonds Description (1 folder only)

Related Material

The Women's Library holds 2 letters of Mrs Spencer Graves in the Autograph Letter Collection (9/01/0571 and 9/01/1094) and there is further correspondence amongst the records of the London Society for Women's Suffrage (2LSW/1/E/2/35). A photographic postcard of the Scottish Women's Hospital at Reni, 1917, was removed by the Visual Materials Indexer, Veronica Perkins, in 1989 and is now TWL.2002.665 in the Postcard Collection.