nationalphotographicarchive

She looks a lot like Oscar Wilde in last week's photo !

In her less glamorous prison dress

www.loc.gov

“Abby Scott Baker (1871-1944)

Abby Scott Baker, of Washington, D.C., came from a multi-generational military family. She was one of Alice Paul's earliest associates and helped Paul and Burns plan their first major event–the March 3, 1913, national suffrage parade on the eve of Woodrow Wilson's inauguration. She served as treasurer of the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage (CU) in 1914 and quickly became one of the most effective lobbyists for both the CU and its successor, the National Woman's Party (NWP).

Baker traveled the country as part of the CU's "Suffrage Special" train tour of western states in April-May 1916. The envoys set off with fanfare from Union Station in Washington, D.C., and Baker was in charge of handling the press for the tour. The support that she helped raise from women in states that had already granted women's suffrage culminated in a June 1916 meeting in Chicago to form what was at first called the Woman's Party of Western Voters, or Woman's Party, for short (later, the NWP). When the NWP was more formally organized in relation to the CU in March 1917, Baker was elected to the NWP executive committee and served as its press chairman (1917-18) and political chairman (1917; 1919-21).

Baker was among the first demonstrators to picket the White House; she was arrested in September 1917 and sentenced to 60 days in the Occoquan Workhouse. In February-March 1919, she served as publicity manager and speaker for the "Prison Special," a three-week lecture tour by NWP activists who spoke to packed audiences about their jail experiences in an effort to generate support for the suffrage cause.

Baker was an important lobbyist during the key years (1917-20) that the NWP pressured for passage of what became the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Known as the diplomat of the NWP, Baker was a significant presence in the organization's ongoing tactic of asserting personal influence upon leading authorities in public and private life. When the NWP's patriotism was challenged, she reminded critics that her three sons were fighting in World War I. In the midst of the ratification process for the 19th Amendment, Baker was among the NWP members who attended the Democratic National Convention of 1920 in San Francisco and successfully brokered a pro-suffrage plank as part of the party platform. She subsequently lobbied the presidential candidates from both political parties, James M. Cox and Warren G. Harding, to support the women's rights cause.

After suffrage was achieved, Baker became a member of the NWP's Committee on International Relations and the Women's Consultative Committee of the League of Nations. She also represented the NWP at the League's 1935 international conferences in Geneva where the issue of equal rights was discussed.”

Here she is in c. 1916 looking older more mature.
Via The Library of Congress

Harris & Ewing opened in Washington in 1905. Earliest date?
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harris_%26_Ewing

From Australian Dictionary of Biography ...

"John Mitchel (1815-1875), Irish nationalist, was born on 3 November 1815 at Camnish, near Dungiven, County Derry, Ireland, the third son of Rev. John Mitchel, a Presbyterian minister, and his wife Mary, née Haslett. He was educated at Dr Henderson's school at Newry, where he began a lifelong friendship with John Martin, and at Trinity College, Dublin. He later described himself as a Unitarian Presbyterian. In 1837 he married Jane Verner of Newry, by whom he had three sons and two daughters. ... "

via - adb.anu.edu.au

beachcomber australia Didn't they spend [have to spend] a long time in Van Diemen's Land? Or am I raving? Again.

From the DIB ...

" ... In April 1836 he was apprenticed attorney to John Henry Quinn of Newry, and fell in love with Jenny Verner (qv) (under Mitchel), barely sixteen years old. In November 1836 they eloped but were discovered in Chester, and Mitchel spent eighteen days in Kilmainham jail on a charge of abduction. They eloped again and on 2 February 1837 were secretly married at Drumcree, Co. Armagh. Jenny was disowned by the Verners, but accepted by the Mitchels, and the young couple settled in Newry. .. "

Via - www.dib.ie

National Library of Ireland on The Commons Yes indeed. I am reading all about it and trying to find exactly where. Somewhere near Bothwell, Tasmania, in Nant Cottage on 200 acres. Near the current Nant Distillery ? - maps.app.goo.gl

" Nant Cottage
Mitchel searched the Bothwell district for a house and farm that could accommodate his family and decided on a 200-acre property called Nant, located on the Clyde River, which he stocked with sheep and cattle. Nant Cottage is located nearly three miles from Bothwell village and here the family resided in relative peace surrounded by rich pastoral land, rolling hills and a view of the steep escarpment of the surrounding mountains in the distance. "
via - www.utas.edu.au (click on 'Bothwell')
(includes photo of cottage, which looks so very similar to Irish ones)

The wonderful market building is still there in Preston!
Streetview: maps.app.goo.gl

Location Preston Market

www.preston.gov.uk

The newly elected Liberal government introduced the 1906 Education Bill to bring more state control over religious education in schools, favoring a non-denominational approach.
The Catholic community across England—with Lancashire and Preston showing a particularly strong, united front—vigorously opposed the bill. They argued it undermined the fundamental right to have distinct Catholic schools staffed by Catholic teachers for Catholic children.
Following massive public protests like this one and intense resistance from the Catholic Church, the bill was ultimately rejected by the House of Lords and never became law.

I wonder what they would make of our Educate Together Schools?

The meeting at the covered market took place on 20th May. The Lancashire Evening Post reported on it the next day. The article began:

CATHOLIC PROTEST.
THOUSANDS CONDEMN AN “ILLIBERAL AND TYRANNICAL” MEASURE
MEMORABLE DEMONSTRATION AT PRESTON.
Not within the religious life of Preston has there been such a remarkable demonstration as that made by the Catholics of the town yesterday in defence of their schools and in condemnation of the Government’s Education Bill. It is impossible accurately to gauge the numbers those who gathered under and near the Covered Market and within its neighbourhood. It was officially stated that there were 30,000 Catholics present, and this number wa.s swelled by the presence of thousands of others drawn by sympathy and curiosity.

While the demonstration was essentially Catholic, having been organised the local Catholic Parents’ Education League, it was voluntarily participated in by many adherents the Anglican Church, who, feeling that a common cause was being espoused, raised their voice in harmony in vigorously protesting against what they characterised as the Government’s attempt to confiscate their schools.

In the Preson Herald the estimate of the numbers of those present was 50,000.

There were processions with banners from each of the Catholic churches in the town, which converged at the covered market.

Rory Sherlock Suck Diesel Thank you both for the exact location in Preston.