With Devon Women in Public and Professional Life, 1900–1950: Votes, Voices, and Vocations, Julia Neville, Mitzi Auchterlonie, Paul Auchterlonie, Ann Roberts, and Helen Turnbull fill a gap in the existing literature on women's history by examining the issues from a local perspective. They do so by focusing on the contributions of individuals, rather than organizations, as previous works have done, examining the lives of eight Devonian women who made a significant contribution to the county but were not nationally known. These women were prominent in many fields, including politics, medicine, teaching, charity work, and rural life. That they were involved in a wide variety of public works is evidenced by the appendix, which lists the many organizations that they supported. Their biographies exemplify the broader topic of the changing role of women in the first half of the twentieth century. Neville and colleagues’ stated intention was to use “biography as a medium for exploring the history of Devon . . . [and to] investigate how women have contributed to the public, professional and civic life of Devon” during this time (2). The authors have ably achieved what they set out to do, and the reader's understanding of women's participation in public life is the richer for having read this book.
The book covers the years from 1900 to 1950. With universal suffrage achieved, the interwar period is often regarded as a time when the women's movement made little progress, but this book illustrates the extent to which women were gaining in independence at this time. Readers will be disabused of the notion that following the relative independence they enjoyed in the First World War, women sank back into subservience and obscurity once the hostilities were over. The reader quickly realizes that this was a pivotal period in women's history, as opportunities began to expand in many areas. In the introduction, Paul Auchterlonie sets the book in the context of other works on women's participation in local affairs and includes a summary of legislation relating to women's rights and the development of women's organizations.
The first chapter, co-authored by Mitzi and Paul Auchterlonie, is devoted to political activist Lady Eleanor Acland of Killerton. Together with her Liberal MP husband, she supported the women's suffrage campaign, serving as vice-president of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies and helping to form the Liberal Women's Suffrage Union. During the war, Acland worked with Belgian refugees and subsequently became a firm advocate of the peace movement. The Auchterlonies bring her story to life with the use of quotations from letters, speeches, and newspaper accounts.
Clara Daymond's (née Townshend) story is written by Neville. Daymond came from a working-class background. Her builder husband belonged to the Salvation Army; this organization became just one of many vehicles for her involvement in public life. She served on the committees of the British Women's Temperance Association and the Women's Co-operative Guild and was one of the Board of Guardians, responsible for the administration of the workhouse. She became a borough councilor and concentrated her efforts on local politics, championing the women's cause and working to aid the poor.
Roberts provides a chapter on Mabel Ramsay, who qualified as a doctor in Edinburgh, later focusing on public health and women's roles. Setting up a medical practice in Plymouth, Ramsay was active in the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies. Ramsay's story becomes a vehicle for considering wider issues, such as the boycott of the 1911 census and the 1918 influenza epidemic.
After reading mathematics at Cambridge and teaching in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Jessie Headridge spent three decades as head teacher of Exeter Episcopal Middle School for Girls. She oversaw a transition from preparing girls to be assets to their husbands to equipping them to be independent women. Neville recounts Headridge's story in the context of the general broadening of the curriculum for girls to encompass more traditionally masculine subjects.
Neville and Turnbull provide a chapter on Florence Gascoyne-Cecil, the daughter of an earl and the wife of the bishop of Exeter, whom Gascoyne-Cecil assisted in his vocation. Having lost three sons in the First World War, she supported the League of Nations and peace organizations and worked for various women's welfare charities, including the Exeter Diocesan Association for the Care of Friendless Girls. Parochial church councils began to admit female members, and Gascoyne-Cecil was elected to the Diocesan Conference and was also active in the Mothers’ Union.
In another chapter, Neville introduces Georgiana Buller, the daughter of Sir Redvers Buller, who worked with the Voluntary Aid Detachment and organized hospital provision during the First World War. She was a fund-raiser for charities that supported disabled children and was involved with St. Loye's college. Neville and Turnbull provide a chapter on Jane Grey Clinton, the wife of a principal landowner and a firm advocate of Conservative politics. She supported the Devonshire Nursing Association committee and was active in the Girl Guides, where her emphasis was on domestic skills. She was also instrumental in advocating the formation of Women's Institutes in Devon.
Neville's chapter on Mary Sylvia Calmady-Hamlyn describes how she inherited the family estate at Bridestowe and was heavily involved in agricultural organizations, including the Women's War Agricultural Committee; she also became a justice of the peace. A practicing Catholic, she supported the Women's Institute, although she became dissatisfied with the movement, which she felt was not sufficiently inclusive.
The conclusion compares the backgrounds, experiences, and achievements of the eight women. There is a black-and-white image of each woman. As noted, a useful appendix lists all the organizations with which the chosen women were involved. There is also an extensive bibliography, listing manuscript and printed sources, and an index.
The authors’ extensive research includes a broad range of contemporary sources. The number of causes that these women collectively espoused is eye-opening and the authors are to be commended for highlighting an important aspect of women's history from a new perspective.
