Biographies

Elizabeth Robins

Elizabeth Robins, the first child of Charles Robins and Hannah Crow, was born in Louisville, Kentucky in 1862. Elizabeth's mother, an opera singer, was committed to an insane asylum when she was a child. Charles Robins was a follower of Robert Owen and held progressive political views. Charles Robins sent Elizabeth to Vassar to study medicine but at eighteen she ran away to become an actress.

In 1885, Elizabeth Robins married the actor, George Richmond Parks. Whereas Elizabeth was in great demand, George struggled to get parts. On 31st May 1887, he wrote Elizabeth a note saying that "I will not stand in your light any longer" and signed it "Yours in death". That night he committed suicide by jumped into the Charles River wearing a suit of theatrical armour.

In 1888 Elizabeth travelled to London where she introduced British audiences to the work of Henerick Ibsen. Elizabeth produced and acted in several plays written by Ibsen including Hedda in Hedda Gabler Rebecca West in Rosmersholm, Nora in A Doll's House and Hilda Wangel in The Master Builder. These plays were a great success and for the next few years Elizabeth Robins was one of the most popular actresses on the West End stage.

In 1898 Elizabeth Robins joined with William Archer to form the New Century Theatre to sponsor non-profit productions of Ibsen. The New Century Company produced several plays including John Gabriel Borkman and Peer Gynt. 1898 also saw the publication of her popular novel The Open Question.

In 1900 Elizabeth travelled to Alaska in an attempt to find her brother who had gone missing while on an expedition. Later she wrote about her experiences in Alaska in the novels, Magnetic North (1904) and Come and Find Me (1908).

Elizabeth was a strong feminist and initially had been a member of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies. However, disillusioned by the organisation's lack of success, she joined the Women's Social and Political Union. Elizabeth was also active in the Actresses' Franchise League and the Women's Writers' League.

Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence commissioned Elizabeth to write a series of articles for her journal Votes for Women. She also asked her to write a play on the subject. The play, Votes for Women (1907) was performed by suffragists all over Britain. Robins also used the same story and characters for her novel The Convert (1907).

Both Votes for Women and The Convert deal with how men sexually exploit women. The heroine in the story, Vida Levering, a militant suffragette, rejects men because in the past, a lover, Geoffrey Stoner, a Tory MP, forced her into having an abortion because he feared he would lose his inheritance. The heroine was initially named Christian Levering and was based on Elizabeth's close friend, Christabel Pankhurst. When Emmeline Pankhurst raised fears about what the play might do to Christabel's reputation, Elizabeth agreed to change the name to Vida. Elizabeth Robins, like her heroine in Votes for Women, turned down offers of marriage from many men, including the playwright, George Bernard Shaw and the publisher William Heinemann.

In 1907 Elizabeth Robins became a committee member of the WSPU. When the British government introduced the Cat and Mouse Act in 1913, Elizabeth Robins used her 15th century farmhouse at Backsettown, near Henfield in Sussex, as a retreat for suffragettes recovering from hunger strike. It was also rumoured that Backsettown was used as a hiding place for suffragettes on the run from the police.

Elizabeth wrote a large number of speeches defending militant suffragettes between 1906 and 1912 (a selection of these can by found her book Way Stations). However, Elizabeth herself never took part in these activities and so never experienced arrest or imprisonment. Emmeline Pankhurst told her it was more important that she remained free so that she could use her skills as a writer to support the suffragettes. It was also pointed out that as Elizabeth was not a British citizen she faced the possibility of being deported if she was arrested. Elizabeth once told a friend that she would "rather die than face prison."

Like many members of the WSPU, Elizabeth Robins objected to Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst's dictatorial style of running the organisation. Elizabeth also disapproved of the decision in the summer of 1912 to start an arson campaign. When the Pankhursts refused to reconsider this decision, Elizabeth Robins resigned from the WSPU.

Although Elizabeth Robins rejected her father's plans to have her trained as a doctor, she retained a strong interest in medicine. In 1908 Elizabeth became great friends with Octavia Wilberforce, a young woman who had a strong desire to become a doctor. When Octavia's father refused to pay for her studies, Elizabeth arranged to take over the financial responsibility for the course.

After women gained the vote, Elizabeth Robins took a growing interest in women's health care. Elizabeth had been involved in raising funds for the Lady Chichester Hospital for Women and Children in Brighton since 1912. After the First World War joined Louisa Martindale in her campaign for a much more ambitious project, a fifty-bed hospital run by women for women. Elizabeth persuaded many of her wealthy friends to give money and eventually the New Sussex Hospital for Women was opened in Brighton.

Elizabeth Robins also became involved in the campaign to allow women to enter the House of Lords. Elizabeth's friend, Margaret Haig, was the daughter of Viscount Rhondda. He was a supporter of women's rights and in his will made arrangements for her to inherit his title. However, when he died in 1918, the House of Lords refused to allow Vicountess Rhondda to take her seat. Elizabeth Robins wrote numerous articles on the subject, but members of the House of Lords refused to change its decision. In fact, it was not until 1958, long after Viscountess Haig's death, that women were first admitted to the House of Lords.

Elizabeth also believed that single women should be able to adopt children. Eventually, Elizabeth and her partner, Dr. Octavia Wilberforce, were granted permission to adopt and bring up a child. Their daughter, Margaret Robins, was later to become one of the leaders of the Women's Trade Union League in the United States.

Elizabeth remained an active feminist throughout her life. In the 1920s she was a regular contributor to the feminist magazine, Time and Tide. Elizabeth also continued to write books such as Ancilla's Share: An Indictment of Sex Antagonism that explored the issues of sexual inequality. Elizabeth Robins died in Brighton in 1952.

Biographical Links

Octavia Wilberforce
Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence
Christabel Pankhurst
Emmeline Pankhurst

Source Database

5.6
5.10
5.13
6.4
6.5
6.6
7.12
10.3
13.10
16.10
17.17
20.3

Internet Links

Votes for Women by Elizabeth Robins: Electronic Text Resource Service
http://www.indiana.edu/~letrs/vwwp/
robins/votes.html

The Papers of Elizabeth Robins: Fales Library, New York University
http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/research/
fales/coll_mss/robins/

Women on the Web: Oscar Silverman Library
http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/units/ugl/
center/women.html

Library of Congress: North American Suffrage Collection
http://lcweb2.loc/ammem/vfwhtml/vfwhome.html

Further Reading

Elizabeth Robins, Way Stations, Hodder & Stoughton (1913)
Elizabeth Robins, Both Sides of the Curtain: An Autobiography, Heinemann (1940)
Elizabeth Robins, The Convert, The Woman's Press (1980)
Elizabeth Robins, Ancilla's Share: An Indictment of Sex Antagonism, Hutchinson (1924)
Angela John, Elizabeth Robins: Staging a Life, Routledge (1995)
Marie Roberts (ed.), The Militants, Routledge (1995)
Marie Roberts (ed.), The Suffragettes, Routledge (1995)

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