Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
In the Museum of London lies a purple feather, once worn by the suffragette leader Emmeline Pankhurst. The plumed hat was an essential part of her ultra-feminine image - and she was not alone. For over half a century, from the High Victorian era to the Jazz Age, whatever your class, it was de rigueur to deck your head with plumage, wings - even entire birds. An insatiable global trade in feathers brought birdlife to the brink of extinction: snowy egrets, crested grebes, jewel-like hummingbirds. Not even the garden robin was safe. At its Edwardian peak, the plumage trade was worth a staggering 2m a year to Britain - 204m in today's money.
The struggle to save the birds was a woman's campaign. It captured the public's imagination a decade before Mrs Pankhurst began making headlines, and its aim was simple: to stamp out the fashion for feathers in hats. Leading the fight was a woman just as heroic as Emmeline Pankhurst, but of a very different mettle. Her name was Etta Lemon, and she was known as 'Mother of the Birds'.
Today, everyone has heard of the RSPB - but few are aware that Britain's biggest conservation charity was born through the determined efforts of a handful of women in 1891, led for half a century by the indomitable Mrs Lemon. While the suffragettes were slashing paintings and smashing shop windows, Etta Lemon and her local secretaries were challenging 'murderous millinery' in the female sphere of the department store, in the sacred space of church and, ultimately, in the male preserve of Parliament.
This book explores two very different heroines: Mrs Pankhurst and Mrs Lemon - one lionised, the other forgotten - and their rival, overlapping campaigns. Moving from Manchester to London; from the feather workers' slums to the highest courtly circles; from the first female political march to the first forcible feeding, Mrs Pankhurst's Purple Feather takes the reader on a novel journey through Victorian and Edwardian Britain to the First World War and beyond.
This is a highly original story of women stepping into the public sphere, agitating for change, fighting amongst themselves - and finally finding a voice.
Synopsis
'Shocking and entertaining. The surprising story of the campaigning women who changed Britain.' Virginia Nicholson
When Mrs Pankhurst stormed the House of Commons with her crack squad of militant suffragettes in 1908, she wore on her hat a voluptuous purple feather. This is the intriguing story behind that feather.
Twelve years before the suffragette movement began dominating headlines, a very different women's campaign captured the public imagination. Its aim was radical: to stamp out the fashion for feathers in hats. Leading the fight was a character just as heroic as Emmeline Pankhurst, but with opposite beliefs. Her name was Etta Lemon, and she was anti-fashion, anti-feminist - and anti-suffrage.
Mrs Lemon has been forgotten by history, but her mighty society lives on. Few, today, are aware that Britain's biggest conservation charity, the RSPB, was born through the determined efforts of a handful of women, led by the indomitable Mrs Lemon. While the suffragettes were slashing paintings and smashing shop windows, Etta Lemon and her local secretaries were challenging 'murderous millinery' all the way up to Parliament.
This gripping narrative explores two singular heroines - one lionised, the other forgotten - and their rival, overlapping campaigns. Moving from the feather workers' slums to the highest courtly circles, from the first female political rally to the first forcible feeding, Mrs Pankhurst's Purple Feather is a unique journey through a society in transformation.
This is a highly original story of women stepping into the public sphere, agitating for change - and finally finding a voice.
Synopsis
'Shocking and entertaining. The surprising story of the campaigning women who changed Britain.' Virginia Nicholson 'Full of fascinating historical detail and colourful characters... A great story, beautifully told.' Kate Humble
When Mrs Pankhurst stormed the House of Commons with her crack squad of militant suffragettes in 1908, she wore on her hat a voluptuous purple feather. This is the intriguing story behind that feather.
Twelve years before the suffragette movement began dominating headlines, a very different women's campaign captured the public imagination. Its aim was radical: to stamp out the fashion for feathers in hats. Leading the fight was a character just as heroic as Emmeline Pankhurst, but with opposite beliefs. Her name was Etta Lemon, and she was anti-fashion, anti-feminist - and anti-suffrage.
Mrs Lemon has been forgotten by history, but her mighty society lives on. Few, today, are aware that Britain's biggest conservation charity, the RSPB, was born through the determined efforts of a handful of women, led by the indomitable Mrs Lemon. While the suffragettes were slashing paintings and smashing shop windows, Etta Lemon and her local secretaries were challenging 'murderous millinery' all the way up to Parliament.
This gripping narrative explores two singular heroines - one lionised, the other forgotten - and their rival, overlapping campaigns. Moving from the feather workers' slums to the highest courtly circles, from the first female political rally to the first forcible feeding, Mrs Pankhurst's Purple Feather is a unique journey through a society in transformation.
This is a highly original story of women stepping into the public sphere, agitating for change - and finally finding a voice.
Synopsis
This hardback edition is now out of print and a new paperback edition with a new title ETTA LEMON: The Woman who Saved the Birds is being published on 1 June 2021. 'Shocking and entertaining. The surprising story of the campaigning women who changed Britain.' Virginia Nicholson
'Full of fascinating historical detail and colourful characters... A great story, beautifully told.' Kate Humble
When Mrs Pankhurst stormed the House of Commons with her crack squad of militant suffragettes in 1908, she wore on her hat a voluptuous purple feather. This is the intriguing story behind that feather.
Twelve years before the suffragette movement began dominating headlines, a very different women's campaign captured the public imagination. Its aim was radical: to stamp out the fashion for feathers in hats. Leading the fight was a character just as heroic as Emmeline Pankhurst, but with opposite beliefs. Her name was Etta Lemon, and she was anti-fashion, anti-feminist - and anti-suffrage.
Mrs Lemon has been forgotten by history, but her mighty society lives on. Few, today, are aware that Britain's biggest conservation charity, the RSPB, was born through the determined efforts of a handful of women, led by the indomitable Mrs Lemon. While the suffragettes were slashing paintings and smashing shop windows, Etta Lemon and her local secretaries were challenging 'murderous millinery' all the way up to Parliament.
This gripping narrative explores two singular heroines - one lionised, the other forgotten - and their rival, overlapping campaigns. Moving from the feather workers' slums to the highest courtly circles, from the first female political rally to the first forcible feeding, Mrs Pankhurst's Purple Feather is a unique journey through a society in transformation.
This is a highly original story of women stepping into the public sphere, agitating for change - and finally finding a voice.