Cicely Hamilton Author

Cicely Hamilton (1872-1952) was born as Cicely Hammill in 1872 in Paddington, London. She was taken in by foster parents after her mother disappeared. After becoming an actress, Cicely changed her last name to Hamilton to protect her family’s privacy. Not only was Hamilton an actress, she was also a writer, journalist and feminist who aided in the struggle for women’s suffrage in the United Kingdom. She founded the Women Writers Suffrage League with Bessie Hatton in 1908, which hosted many other famous women of literature, all in effort of obtaining rights for women and making their plight known. Hamilton wrote the famous suffrage song The March of the Women. Hamilton also wrote for magazines and freelanced as a journalist, informing the public about birth control and other rights women deserved. During World War I, she aided as a nurse and then as a performer to keep up morale amongst troops. Cicely Hamilton died in 1952 as an accomplished writer, actress and prominent figure for women’s rights. Christopher St. John (1871-1960) was a British author, playwright, and activist. Born Christabel Gertrude Marshal, St. John changed her name after her conversion to Catholicism in 1912. While studying to become a dramatist, St. John moved in with her boss’s daughter, Edith Craig, and the two quickly became an inseparable couple. Later, an artist named Clare Atwood also joined the relationship, which the three maintained for the entirety of their adult lives. Passionate about the women’s suffrage movement, St. John worked with other prominent leaders in the movement, writing articles and creating feminist literature to raise awareness and morale for the movement.