Mrs Despard and the Suffrage Movement

The biography of an activist who dedicated her long life to standing up for women, children, and the poor. Charlotte Despard, social reformer and suffragette, was always known as Mrs Despard, never Charlotte. Her name should be as familiar to historians as those of Emmeline Pankhurst and Millicent Fawcett—yet she remains overlooked. Born in 1844, she found solace in literature during a difficult childhood, identifying with Milton’s Satan and the romantic words of Shelley. She married Maximillian