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Hattie Mahood

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Harriet Emma Mahood
Mahood as a young woman
Born23 November 1860 (1860-11-23)
Liverpool
DiedApril 1940(1940-04-00) (aged 79)
Ormskirk
Known forBaptist Deacon, Suffragist and Temperance Campaigner

Harriet Emma Mahood (1860–1940), known as Hattie or Harriett, was the first female deacon in the Baptist Church, a British constitutional women's suffrage campaigner and a strong supporter of the Temperance Movement. A Blue Plaque has been installed in her home town, and her work is also commemorated on a suffrage statue in Liverpool.

Life

Harriet Emma Mahood née McDougall was born in Liverpool on 23 November 1860. Her father was a Temperance Hotelkeeper, and she came a Temperance activist.[1]

At the age of 21, she married the hotel's manager, William Mahood. Instead of continuing in the hotel business, they started a floristry and fruit business, first in the Liverpool area and later in London.[1] They had three sons.[2]

By 1894 Mahood was back in Liverpool where she was involved with the Mission of Love which provided accommodation and food for the homeless.[3]

An article by Mahood appeared in 1901 in The Forum periodical. Its title was “The Liberal Party: a menace to English democracy”. This was one of a number of articles that she contributed to The Forum and Nineteenth century and after; another was “The Modesty of Englishwomen”.[4][5] This article was also favourably reviewed in The Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser of 3 April 1901, which stated that: “Mrs Mahood has some searching criticism of modern ideals” and she is quoted as condemning “an extreme want of reserve, self-respect and dignity….of the girls of today.”[6]

Mahood was a member of the congregation of the Baptist Pembroke Chapel, Liverpool under 'outspoken' pastor Reverend Charles F. Aked[7] and through a report made to the chapel by Emily Hobhouse, she heard of the conditions prevailing in the Concentration Camps that the British had set up for Boer men, women and children in South Africa.[1]

Mahood subsequently wrote to the Daily News saying "During the early stages of the war fever I was hopeful that the spectacle of Englishmen going to war with the Boers in order to obtain the franchise for the Uttlanders of the Transvaal would have been too much for the sense of humour of women, the ‘Uttlander of society’ at home."[8]

The connections between temperance and contemporary societal issues were the subject of a discussion opened by Mahood at the spring conference of the Cheshire County Union of the British Women’s Temperance Association in 1907.[9]

The following year, she was one of the speakers in favour of the Licensing Bill going through Parliament. For example, in the Parr Hall, Warrington, where a crowd of hundreds attended, Mahood was reported as supporting this Bill because its provisions ‘meant a drastic step in temperance reform’ and ‘the evils of drink had long been a curse in the land'.[10] She also addressed this topic at the local Clarion Club in the Clarion Café in Kensington (Liverpool).[11]

At the Wirral Women’s Suffrage Society, Mahood moved the vote of thanks to Mrs Allen Bright and speaker Mrs Abadam at its meeting in  New Brighton in April 1908, when the society there affiliated to the NUWSS and was declared as constitutional and non-party.[12] Mahood spoke outside St George’s Hall Liverpool in June[13] and, alongside Ada Broughton, in Seacombe in July 1908.[14]

"Suffragist protest in court" is the title of a newspaper article from the same year, which covers a court case in which Mahood was one of sixteen local women who were formally applying for the right to a Parliamentary vote. They were represented by Mr. W. Swancott Morgan, with arguments to show that women were entitled to the vote. Mr Morgan presented historical evidence in favour of this argument, but the case was ultimately rejected.[15]

Mahood was appointed the first female Deacon in the Baptist Church in England in 1910. The news item reporting this appointment also notes her membership of the Pembroke Chapel, and describes her as an "ardent advocate of women's suffrage".[16]

"The ethics of militant tactics" was the subject of a talk also in 1910 by Mahood in New Brighton.[17] In June, she spoke at Birkenhead along with suffrage leaders Dr Alice Ker and Ada Flatman at the town's Park Gates.[18] She took part in two major suffrage events in the summer of 1910. The first was again at the Park Gates, Birkenhead after a procession through the town of all the local men's and women's suffrage societies, and other reform organisations such as the Independent Labour Party, the Artists’ Suffrage League and the Pembroke Social Reform League; many of the organisations’ contingents carried banners.  Mahood was on the second platform, and moved support for the Conciliation Bill.[19] The Birkenhead News reported the demonstration extensively. Mahood was asked: "Do women aspire to enter Parliament if they get a vote?" She answered: "When you have got one right, there is no reason why we should not ask for another."[19]

In the same month, Liverpool was the scene of another rally, which attracted a huge crowd in front of St. George's Hall in a demonstration organised by the WSPU. Mahood said of the event that "they must agitate and carry out their programme to final and practical success". She said she believed in the justice, the chivalry and the fair play of the British people; the audience replied, "hear, hear".[20]

Suffragette leader, Mrs Drummond was the guest of the Wallasey branch of the WSPU in March 1911, when it was noted that Mahood was joint Honorary Secretary of this branch along with Mrs. F. Heathcote.[21] That year, Mahood spoke again in Birkenhead on "the moral effect of the struggle for the vote,”[22] and she was chief speaker in Southport in May.[23]

Mahood refused to take part in the 1911 census; her name was instead signed by her son, Ronald, with whom she lived.[1]

Mahood's name is again (after some years ) mentioned in connection with the Mission of Love in 1912, when her support in the “cleaning and clothing of poor children” is noted in the local press.[24] Krista Cowman’s  analysis of Engendering Citizenship The Political Involvement of Women on Merseyside, 1890 – 1920 states that Mahood "gave up the WSPU, socialism and Pembroke chapel following a breakdown in health in 1912."[11]

The next year, Mahood wrote a long article, "The Stumbling Block in English Politics", on the suffrage cause, for The Forum periodical.[25]

Mahood was an avid writer of letters to the editor, some refuting points raised by anti-suffrage correspondents with arguments and emotion. In 1913, she exchanged letters on the subject of the cat and mouse act with a Mr Hayward. In one letter Mahood stated that there was one ‘one remedy to stop the suffragist agitation, viz, votes for women.’[26] Mahood returned to the subject more strongly on 23 July 1913, when she asserted that "in dealing with the militant suffragettes, the authorities had resorted to barbarism".[27]

During World War One, in 1916, she applied to a local tribunal for exemption from military service of her working foreman and only man employed (Jas. Ashcroft) at Mahood Bros where he worked as a nurseryman. In her application, she noted that her two sons were her partners in the business and were on active service abroad. The tribunal granted exemption (until the end of the following month).[28]

Also that year, Mahood presided over a meeting of smaller tenants of the Burscough estates and explained what actions she had taken in support of them.[29]

Mahood ’s activities from then until her death in 1940 are not known; but she continued to live with her sons at the nursery farm. Her death was announced in the Ormskirk Advertiser.[2]

Death and legacy

Her 1940 obituary noted that she was descended from the Penderels' of Boscobel House, who had sheltered Charles II of England in his flight after the Battle of Worcester, and notes that Mahood herself had visited the location many times; her son's house where she had lived was itself called "Boscobel".[2] The obituary also noted that she had been a deacon of the Pembroke Chapel and had been editor of Doctor Aked's "Plain Truth"; and that she made regular contributions of magazine articles to The Forum and Nineteenth century and after;  and it stated her active involvement in the suffrage movement.[2]

In 2018, to mark the centenary of the Representation of the People Act 1918, Mahood’s contribution was featured in an exhibition at the Chapel Gallery, Ormskirk (from October 2018 – January 2019) and many of her letters were on public display.[30]

A booklet about her was also produced by the Images of Burscough local heritage group, thanks to financial support from the National Lottery heritage Fund.[31]

Blue Plaque for Harriet Emma Mahood by Images of Burscough; includes notice details and National Lottery Heritage Fund logo: original image by Michael Dawson

More permanently, a Blue Plaque has also been placed on a wall in Burscough in her honour; a video of its installation was made.[32]

Mahood's name is also on the base of a statue[33] dedicated to Mary Bamber and other local suffrage campaigners in Liverpool Museum.[1]

A short film about Mahood, written and presented by Daniel Frampton, has been produced and can be viewed online.[34]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Broady-Hawkes, Dot (8 February 2018). "Suffragette Harriett made her stand for sobriety – and women's rights". southportvisiter. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d "Death of Mrs Mahood: link to the flight of King Charles II". The Ormskirk Advertiser. 4 April 1940. p. 4.
  3. ^ "Mission of Love Social Department". The Liverpool Mercury. 5 December 1894. p. 6.
  4. ^ Mahood, Harriet E. (April 1901). "The Modesty of Englishwomen". The Nineteenth Century. 49. London: 598–600 – via https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Women_from_Birth_to_Death/. {{cite journal}}: External link in |via= (help)
  5. ^ Code of Federal Regulations: Containing a Codification of Documents of General Applicability and Future Effect as of December 31, 1948, with Ancillaries and Index. Division of the Federal Register, the National Archives. April 1901. pp. The Nineteenth Century page 588.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  6. ^ "Literary Notices". The Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser. 3 April 1901. p. 7.
  7. ^ "History of the Liverpool Pembroke Athletic Club" (PDF). pp. 6–7.
  8. ^ "Letters to the Editor". The Daily News. 17 August 1901. p. 2.
  9. ^ "Chester County Union of NBWTA: Spring Conference at Chester". The Crewe Chronicle. 16 March 1907. p. 8.
  10. ^ "Public v Brewer". The Widnes Examiner. 11 April 1908. p. 8.
  11. ^ a b Cowman, Krista (1994). Engendering Citizenship - The Political Involvement of Women on Merseyside (1890 -1920) (PDF). York: University of York - Centre for Women's Studies. pp. 334, 390.
  12. ^ "Wirral Women's Suffrage Society". The Birkenhead News. 28 April 1909. p. 3.
  13. ^ "Women's Freedom league: Liverpool Branch". Women's Franchise. p. 677.
  14. ^ "Programme of events". Votes for women. 2 July 1909. p. 888.
  15. ^ "Suffragist Protest in Court". The Birkenhead News. 22 September 1909. p. 5.
  16. ^ "First Baptist Woman Deacon". The Eastern Press. 21 January 1910. p. 10.
  17. ^ "The campaign throughout the country". Votes for women. 28 January 1910. p. 284.
  18. ^ "Reports from organisers: Liverpool". Votes for women. 24 June 1910. p. 640.
  19. ^ a b "Women's Suffrage: Support for Conciliation Bill". The Birkenhead and Cheshire Advertiser. 13 July 1910. p. 3.
  20. ^ "Women and the vote: successful Liverpool demonstration". The Birkenhead News. 20 July 1910. p. 6.
  21. ^ "Reports from around the country :North-Western Counties". Votes for women. 17 March 1911. p. 384.
  22. ^ "Reports from around the country : North-Western Counties". Votes for women. 24 March 1911. p. 412.
  23. ^ Crawford, Elizabeth (2006). The women's suffrage movement in Britain and Ireland : a regional survey. London: Routledge. p. 20. ISBN 978-1-136-01054-5. OCLC 830323451.
  24. ^ "Mission of Love Anniversary: a praiseworthy mission". The Liverpool Daily Post and Mercury. 29 June 1912. p. 5.
  25. ^ Mahood, H.E. (1912). The Forum. Forum Publishing Company. p. 451.
  26. ^ "Letters of note". The Daily Citizen. 15 July 1913. p. 3.
  27. ^ "Letters of note". The Daily Citizen. 23 July 1913. p. 3.
  28. ^ "Lathom and Burscouigh Tribunal". The Ormskirk Advertiser. 5 October 1916. p. 5.
  29. ^ "Local and district news: The Burscough estates: meeting of the smaller tenants". The Ormskirk Advertiser. 24 August 1916. p. 5.
  30. ^ "Votes for Women". Issuu - Local Life - West Lancashire Edition. October 2018. p. 6. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
  31. ^ Mackinlay, Catherine (16 March 2020). "Heritage plaques honour for suffrage campaigner and WW2 code breaker". LancsLive. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
  32. ^ The Blue Plaque Project - Installation at Burscough Wharf, 23rd September 2020, retrieved 15 May 2021
  33. ^ "Taking liberties". National Museums Liverpool. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
  34. ^ Frampton, Daniel. "Harriett Emma Mahood, Burscough Community Blue Plaque Project, 2021". Youtube. Retrieved 19 August 2021.
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