Maud Pember Reeves

Maud Pember Reeves
Maud Pember Reeves
	Reeves, date unknown
Born	Magdalene Stuart Robison; 24 December 1865; Mudgee,New South Wales,Australia
Died	13 September 1953(aged 87); Auckland,New Zealand
Occupation	Political activist
Known for	Feminism, membership of theFabian Society
Notable work	Round About a Pound a Week(1913)
Spouse	William Pember Reeves (m.1885; died 1932)
Children	3, includingAmber Reeves

Maud Pember Reeves(24 December 1865 – 13 September 1953) (bornMagdalene Stuart Robison) was a feminist, writer and member of theFabian Society.She spent most of her life inNew ZealandandBritain.

Early life

She was born inMudgee,New South Wales,Australia, to bank manager William Smoult Robison; the family moved toChristchurch,New Zealand in 1868. In 1885 she married the journalist and politicianWilliam Pember Reevesand became interested insocialismand thesuffragistmovements, having become involved in the suffrage issue throughJulius Vogel.^[1]^[2]Women's suffrage in New Zealandwas granted in 1893, Maud having joined theCanterbury Women's Institutein 1892, and been an activist on its behalf, collecting signatures for a petition.^[3]^[4]^[5]

In 1896 the family moved toLondonafter William's appointment asAgent-General,the representative of New Zealand government within theBritish Empire.

London associations

In the late 1890s, Maud Pember Reeves joined thePioneer Club.^[6]

The couple became friends with a number of left-wing intellectuals, such asGeorge Bernard Shaw,H. G. Wells,andSidneyandBeatrice Webb.Maud joined the Fabian Society which promoted social reform.

Fabian Women's Group

Reeves was one of the founders of the Fabian Women's Group (FWG), withCharlotte Wilson.^[2]WithCharlotte ShawandBessie Hutchins,she had pressed in 1907 on the Fabian Society executive for action onsex equality,supported also byMillicent Murby,but encountered reluctance.^[7]She hosted the first meeting of the FWG in the family home. Other members of the FWG includedBeatrice Webb,Alice Clark,Edith Nesbit,Susan Lawrence,Margaret Bondfield,andMarion Phillips.^[2]

During thesuffragistprotests of 1908, 11 members of the FWG were imprisoned.^[8]Lady Glasgow (née Dorothea Hunter-Blair), wife ofDavid Boyle, 7th Earl of Glasgow,spoke for theWomen's National Anti-Suffrage Leagueand claimed the1893 New Zealand general electionwas disorderly, from the standpoint of one married to theGovernor-General of New Zealandat the time. Maud Pember Reeves andAnna Stoutcontradicted her directly, stating they were eyewitnesses in a way she was not.^[9]

A further concern of the FWG was theeconomic independenceof women.^[10]Members who wrote on this area included alsoMabel AtkinsonandBarbara Drake.^[11]In 1913 Reeves published asFabian Tract#162 a survey of poverty inLambeth,a poor borough inSouth London,calledRound About a Pound a Week,a work that was reprinted in 2008 byPersephone Books.^[12]

World War I

During theFirst World War,Reeves served on a government committee concerned with women's issues. She was director of the Education and Propaganda department of theMinistry of Food;^[13]and in 1917–1918, she directed withConstance Peelthe women's service of the Ministry concerned with voluntaryrationing.^[14]

Family

William and Maud Reeves had two daughters, thefeministwriterAmber Reeves(born 1887) and Beryl (born 1889); and one son, Fabian Pember Reeves (1895–1917). He was killed in theFirst World War,aged 21 while a Flight Lieutenant in theRNAS.Maud gave her (legal) name as Magdalene (or Magdalen) Stuart Reeves on their New Zealand birth certificates.

References

^Fry, Ruth."Magdalene Stuart Reeves".Dictionary of New Zealand Biography.Ministry for Culture and Heritage.Retrieved23 April2017.
^^a ^b ^cAlexander, Sally."Reeves [née Robison], Magdalen Stuart [known as Maud Pember Reeves] (1865–1953), suffragist and socialist".Oxford Dictionary of National Biography(online ed.). Oxford University Press.doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/41214.(Subscription orUK public library membershiprequired.)
^Macdonald, Charlotte; Penfold, Merimeri; Williams, Bridget R. (1991).The Book of New Zealand Women.B. Williams Books. p. 508.ISBN 978-0-908912-04-9.
^Burton, Antoinette (3 May 2011).Empire in Question: Reading, Writing, and Teaching British Imperialism.Duke University Press. p. 267.ISBN 978-0-8223-4902-0.
^Coney, Sandra (1993).Standing in the Sunshine: A History of New Zealand Women Since They Won the Vote.Viking. p. 23.ISBN 978-0-670-84628-3.
^Woollacott, Angela (30 August 2001).To Try Her Fortune in London: Australian Women, Colonialism, and Modernity.Oxford University Press. p. 102.ISBN 978-0-19-534905-4.
^Oakley, Ann (6 July 2021).Forgotten Wives: How Women Get Written Out of History.Policy Press. p. 79.ISBN 978-1-4473-5584-7.
^Storia della storiografia.Editoriale Jaca Book. 2005. p. 86.ISBN 978-88-16-72046-6.
^Pugh, Martin (2000).The March of the Women: A Revisionist Analysis of the Campaign for Women's Suffrage, 1866-1914.Oxford University Press. p. 92.ISBN 978-0-19-820775-7.
^Alexander, Sally (May 1995).Becoming A Woman: And Other Essays in 19th and 20th Century Feminist History.NYU Press. pp. 162–163.ISBN 978-0-8147-0636-7.
^Rowbotham, Sheila (1 July 2011).Dreamers of a New Day: Women Who Invented the Twentieth Century.Verso Books. p. 1905.ISBN 978-1-78168-374-3.
^Round About A Pound A Week – Reeves
^Ross, Ellen (2007).Slum Travelers: Ladies and London Poverty, 1860-1920.University of California Press. p. 209.ISBN 978-0-520-24905-9.
^Bilton, David (30 November 2016).Sea and Air Fighting: Those Who Were There.Pen and Sword. p. xii.ISBN 978-1-4738-6705-5.

Authority control databases
International	ISNI VIAF WorldCat
National	Germany United States Netherlands Israel
People	Trove
Other	IdRef SNAC