Maud Joachim
Maud Joachim | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | February 16, 1869 Paddington, London |
| Died | February 16, 1947(aged 77) Steyning,England, United Kingdom |
| Nationality | British |
| Education | Girton College |
| Known for | Suffragette |
Maud Joachim(1 August 1869 – 16 February 1947) was a member of theWomen's Social and Political Union,one of the groups of suffragettes that fought for women to get the right to vote in theUnited Kingdom.She was jailed several times for her protests. Joachim was one of the firstsuffragettesto go on hunger strike when imprisoned, a protest at not being recognised as political prisoners.[1]
Early life and education
[edit]Maud Amelia Fanny Joachim was born to Ellen Margaret (nee Smart) and Henry Joachim in Paddington, London, on 1 August 1869.[2]She had three sisters, Gertrude was older than her and Dorothy and Nina were younger. Her father, a wool merchant had been born inHungaryand became a naturalized British subject in 1856, and received a certificate of naturalization in February 1874 following theNaturalization Act 1870(33 & 34 Vict.c. 14).[3]Her paternal uncle was the violinist and composerJoseph Joachim.Joachim was educated atGirton Collegebetween 1890-1893, studyingMoral Science.[4][5]
Suffragette activism
[edit]Joachim was militant and a member of the hard lineWomen's Social and Political Unionwhich was led byEmmeline Pankhurst,becoming involved in 1907.[1]She enjoyed the camaraderie and reflected that she was now with people with the same purpose.
Imprisonments
[edit]- In February 1908 Joachim when groups of suffragettes were delivered to the front door of theHouse of Commonstransported inpantechnicon vans,this event was called the "Pantechnicon Raid", the group was arrested, and she was sentenced to six weeks imprisonment.[6]
- In June she was arrested again after an attempt to visit the Prime Minister, along with Mrs Pankhurst,Emmeline Pethick- Lawrence,Jessie StephensonandFlorence Haig.Maud Joachim was thwarted and a crowd rushed the police. Joachim was sentenced to three months inHolloway Prison.[5]
- In 1909 she was in Scotland working in Aberdeen. That November she joined a protest that disturbed a talk byWinston Churchillat his constituency inDundee.She was arrested along withHelen Archdale,Catherine CorbettandAdela Pankhurstand sentenced to ten days in Dundee Prison. During their sentence the five women went on hunger strike.[7][5][8]
In an imaginative protest organised withKatherine Douglas Smith,Joachim held up traffic in theWest Endby the two riding black bay horses up theStrand,at the same time advertising a suffragette meeting at theRoyal Albert Hall.
Residency at Eagle House
[edit]Joachim was invited to Eagle House in 1910. A plaque was made and her photograph was recorded by Colonel Linley Blathwayt.[9]
Eagle Housenear Bath in Somerset had become an important refuge forsuffragetteswho had been released from prison after hunger strikes.Mary Blathwayt's parents planted trees there between April 1909 and July 1911 to commemorate the achievements of suffragettes includingEmmeline Pankhurst,Christabel Pankhurst,Annie Kenney,Charlotte Despard,Millicent FawcettandLady Lytton.[10]Joachim planted aThujopsis Dolabrataconifer on 17 June 1910. The trees were known as "Annie's Arboreatum" after Annie Kenney.[11][12]There was also a "Pankhurst Pond" within the grounds.[13]
Alongside a number of other WSPU members, in 1913 Joachim moved away from the organisation and radical action as violent protest escalated to arson. She moved her energies towards the socialistEast London Federation of Suffragettes,which offered practical support to working class women alongside campaigning for the vote.
Later life
[edit]Joachim ran an unemployment bureau and managed a toy factory for theEast London Federation of Suffragettesduring the First World War. She later worked withSylvia Pankhurston her anti-fascist Ethiopian campaign.[4]
In the1939 Register,Joachim was listed as living on private means in Somerset Terrace in St Pancras London[2]and later moved to Mouse Cottage,Steyning,where she lived until her death on 16 February 1947.[4]
Personal life
[edit]Joachim was avegetarian.[14]She was given aHunger Strike Medal'for Valour' by WSPU, the box engraved with "Presented to Maud Joachim by the Women's Social and Political Union in recognition of a gallant action, whereby through endurance to the last extremity of hunger and hardship a great principle of political justice was vindicated".[15]An inscription on the back of one of the medal's bars commemorates her being FED BY FORCE 1/3/12 (1st March 1912).[16]
Death
[edit]Maud Joachim died inSteyningin 1947.[5]On her death Joachim left legacies to fellow suffragettes Sylvia Pankhurst andKatherine Douglas-Smithas well as Girton College.[17]Dorothy Bagnold Sowter of theWomen's Pioneer Housingwas executor of her will.[18]
Commemoration
[edit]Joachim's WSPU medal was offered for auction at Bonhams on 3 October 2023 and sold for £41,600 inc. premium.[19]Glasgow Women's Libraryset up a fundraising campaign to buy it, raising £28,000 from c.500 individual donations with the rest of the purchase price supported by the Scottish Government’s National Fund for Acquisitions.[1]The medal featured as the star object in the exhibitionWe Deserve A Medal: Militant Suffrage Activismat the library (1 February-31 May 2024).[20]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^abcBrown, Naomi (26 September 2023)."Help us fundraise to acquire Maud Joachim's medal recognising the first hunger strike in Scotland".Glasgow Women's Library.Retrieved30 September2023.
- ^ab"1939 England and Wales Register".www.ancestry.co.uk.Retrieved30 September2023.
- ^"Naturalisation Certificates and Declarations, 1870-1916".www.ancestry.co.uk.Retrieved30 September2023.
- ^abc"Maud Joachim · Suffragette Stories".suffragettestories.omeka.net.Retrieved30 September2023.
- ^abcd"Maud Joachim".Spartacus Educational.Retrieved18 June2018.
- ^"Domestic Servant raids Parliament: The Case of Charlotte Griffiths – Suffragette and Working Woman".28 February 2018.
- ^Atkinson, Diane (2019).Rise up women! The remarkable life of the suffragettes.Bloomsbury. pp. 177–178.ISBN9781408844052.
- ^"HH55/323".www.nrscotland.gov.uk.Retrieved25 September2023.
- ^"Suffragette Alice Perkins 1910, Blathwayt, Col Linley".Bath in Time, Images of Bath online.Retrieved2 January2018.
- ^"Eagle House".historicengland.org.uk.Retrieved25 November2008.
- ^Hammond, Cynthia Imogen (2017).Architects, Angels, Activists and the City of Bath, 1765-1965 ": Engaging with Women's Spatial Interventions in Buildings and Landscape.Routledge.ISBN9781351576123.
- ^Hannam, June (Winter 2002)."Suffragette Photographs"(PDF).Regional Historian(8).
- ^"Book of the Week: A Nest of Suffragettes in Somerset".Woman and her Sphere. 12 September 2012.Retrieved27 October2017.
- ^Crawford, Elizabeth. (2003).The Women's Suffrage Movement: A Reference Guide 1866-1928.Taylor & Francis. p. 311.ISBN9781135434021
- ^Brooks, Libby; correspondent, Libby Brooks Scotland (22 September 2023)."Glasgow Women's Library appeals for help to buy suffragette medal".The Guardian.ISSN0261-3077.Retrieved22 September2023.
- ^GWL (19 October 2023)."Maud Joachim's Hunger Strike Medal comes to GWL".Glasgow Women's Library.Retrieved26 October2023.
- ^"Katherine Douglas Smith · Suffragette Stories".suffragettestories.omeka.net.Retrieved30 September2023.
- ^"England & Wales, National Probate Calendar".www.ancestry.co.uk.Retrieved30 September2023.
- ^"Bonhams: HUNGER STRIKE MEDAL - MAUD JOACHIM Hunger strike medal awarded by the WSPU to Maud Joachim, 1912".www.bonhams.com.Retrieved30 September2023.
- ^"We Deserve A Medal: Militant Suffrage Activism".Glasgow Women's Library.29 January 2024.Retrieved31 January2024.