Helena Swanwick

Helena Swanwick (1864 – 1939) was a British feminist and pacifist.

Related Topics:
1864 - 1939 - British - Feminist - Pacifist

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As a schoolgirl, she read On the Subjection of Women by John Stuart Mill, which influenced her to become a feminist. She married Frederick Swanwick in 1888 and worked as a journalist. She joined the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies and was editor of its weekly journal, The Common Cause from 1909–1912. She was a member of the Labour Party.

Related Topics:
John Stuart Mill - 1888 - Journalist - National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies - 1909 - 1912 - Labour Party

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On the outbreak of World War I, she was part of a faction that broke with the NUWSS because of her strong pacifist views. After the war she maintained her internationalist views, opposing the punitive terms of the Treaty of Versailles and serving as a delegate to a League of Nations meeting in 1929.

Related Topics:
World War I - Treaty of Versailles - League of Nations - 1929

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She committed suicide in 1939.

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Her brother was the well-known painter Walter Sickert. Her father Oswald Sickert was a Danish painter. Her mother Eleanor was English, the illegitimate daughter of a Fellow of Trinity College and an Irish dancer.

Related Topics:
Painter - Walter Sickert - Danish - English - Trinity College - Irish

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