Tuker, Miss Mildred, Ashe House, Musbury
Mildred Anna Rosalie Tuker (1862 – 1954) was born Mildred Tucker on 24.8 1862 in Tettenhall, Wolverhampton. Mildred was the daughter of Rosalie du Chemin and Stephen Tucker and was privately educated before studying Moral Sciences at Newnham College, Cambridge, 1880 -1883. From 1893 – 1910 she travelled extensively ln Italy spending much of her time in Rome. Mildred was an author of numerous works on Italy and on ecclesiastical affairs in particular the historical position of women in the early church. Her first work appears to first have been published in 1887 and she would continue to work as a writer until the period just before the outbreak of the Second World War. Her most important works were ‘The School of York’ in 1887, ‘The Liturgy in Rome’ in 1897, ‘Handbook to Christian and Ecclesiastical Rome in 1897-1900, ‘Cambridge’ in 1907, ‘Ecce Mater’ in 1915, ‘The Liturgy in Rome’ in 1925 and ‘Past and Future of Ethics’ in 1938. Her articles on Catholicism were published in a wide range of periodicals such as ‘Hibbert’s Journal’ and the ‘Fortnightly Review’. Her papers are held by the Women’s Library Archives.[1]
Tuker moved to Ashe House, Musbury, Devon with Hope Malleson around 1909 and the first reference to her living in Devon is of her presiding over a well-attended meeting in support of Women’s Suffrage in Axminster, December 1909.[2] It is unclear why they chose to live in Devon, but they were to remain at Ashe House during the First World War before moving to Berkshire.[3] Tuker Joined the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) and the Catholic Women’s Suffrage Society and became actively involved in organising meetings in Axminster, Honiton. She also arranged an ‘at home’ for Mrs. Pankhurst at the Royal Clarence Hotel, Exeter before Mrs Pankhurst’s public talk in the evening [4] This was attended by WSPU members from East and Mid Devon.
Tuker took part in a number of marches in London in 1908 -1911 and was on occasion asked by Christabel Pankhurst to lobby MPs.[5]
In 1909 the Women’s Tax Resistance League was formed as a protest against the disenfranchisement of women and in 1913 Tuker and Malleson refused to pay Inhabited House Duty. After non-payment, a pair of antique silver bangles were seized and sold to recover the tax due. The bangles were bought back on their behalf by Mr Phillips. a Honiton solicitor and husband of fellow WSPU member Juanita Maxwell Phillips (q.v.),[6] and after the auction a protest meeting was held in Trinity Square Axminster where Tuker explained her reasons for non-payment of tax.[7] At a small meeting of invited guests at Barnfield Hall Exeter, in May, a letter from Tuker was read out in her absence (due to illness) in which she mentions that a Devon editor had refused to publish a paragraph relating to Women’s Tax Resistance on the grounds that it could be seen as an incitement to crime. This was despite the fact that the Tory press had reported threats of law breaking made by Sir Edward Carson should the Home Rule Bill be carried.[8]
Mildred also published a number of articles in the pages of ‘Votes for Women’, the WSPU’s official paper, and to help increase its readership she agreed to pay for the distribution of the paper to a number of libraries and social clubs across the country.[9]
Among the themes she returned to was the subordination of women by men throughout history compared with the equality and co-operation of men and women amongst the early Christians. In her review article “Men Amok” she challenged Harold Owen’s book “Women Adrift” for his views on sacred rights of men and natural law which he believes men are entitled and are being eroded by giving women greater voice.[10]
In ‘Ecce Mater’ (1915) subtitled ‘Women, the Gospel of the Kingdom, and the Problem of Civilisation’, she examined the gospels and notes that ‘not one derogatory term or suggestion of unequal status’ was made. She contended that subsequent Christion church literature had sought to ‘subordinate her status and vilify her character’ and that it is this process of female subordination that has led to a decline in civilisation. She posed the question of whether women can help to rebuild the new world.[11]
In addition to her suffrage and theological activities, Tuker was a member of the Pontifical Academy of Arcadia, Rome and a Lady of Justice of the Order of St John of Jerusalem as well as being on the expert adviser’s panel of the Society for the Overseas Settlement of British Women in 1927. She died on 17 Mar 1954 in London.
Malleson, Hope
Hope Malleson born in Middlesex 1863.[12] Her mother was Elizabeth Whitehead who founded the women’s working college in 1864, to provide adult education for women. She also signed the women’s first suffrage petition in 1866.[13]
Hope Malleson was also a student at Newnham College, where probably she first met Mildred Tuker. In 1891 Hope was living with her parents at Dixon House, Winchcombe, Gloucestershire. A visitor to the house was Mildred Tuker.[14] Hope and Mildred moved to Devon around 1909.
Hope co-wrote the text for the ‘Handbook to Christian and Ecclesiastical Rome’ and ‘Rome’ and in 1919 she published ‘A Woman Doctor of Hull 1864-1916: Mary Murdoch’. This was a biography of Mary Murdoch, the first woman to practise medicine in Hull and a suffragette. Hope also wrote a private memoir of her mother’s life.
Shortly before Hope’s death, she and Mildred moved to Stonehill Sandford, Crediton. Hope died and left bulk of estate to Mildred her ‘Life Long Comrade.’[15]
Entry created by Rachel Jasinska, November 2018
[1] www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
[2] Votes For Women (VfW) 17 Dec 1909.
[3] www.findmypast.co.uk Electoral Registers
[4] WT, 29/10/1910
[5] www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
[6] DEG, 19/04/1913
[7] DEG, 215/04/1913
[8] WT, 9 May1913.
[9] VfW 31 Mar 1911.
[10] The Vote 13 Jul 1912.
[11] VfW 26 Dec 1915.
[12] www.findmypast.co.uk Birth Records.
[13] The Suffragette, 1 May 1914.
[14] www.findmypast.co.uk 1891 Census.
[15] WMN, 1 Sep 1933.