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Home , Annie Kenney, Christabel Pankhurst, Emmeline Pankhurst, Millicent Fawcett, Suffragette, The Bill (series 13)

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Lady Elizabeth Edith “Betty” Balfour [née Lytton] (1867-1942)

Lady Betty Balfour was born at Hyde Park Gate on 12 June 1867, one of three daughters and of Hon. Edward Robert Bulwer-Lytton and his wife Edith (née Villiers). Her father was the first Earl of Lytton, a diplomat and poet (aka Owen Meredith). Betty together with her sisters Lady Constance (b. 1869) and Lady Emily (b. 1874) were educated by governesses who travelled with the family to their father‟s overseas postings including Lisbon, Madrid and Vienna before his posting to India in 1876 when he became Viceroy. Lady Betty had four brothers, two died in childhood, Edward (1865-1871) and Henry (1872-1874) and two, Victor (1876-1947) and Neville (1879-1951) who became second and third Earl of Lytton respectively. The family returned to Knebworth in 1880 following her father‟s resignation. The Hon. Edward Robert Bulwer-Lytton was created Earl of Lytton on his return. Lady Betty and her father (whose maternal grandmother was the women‟s rights campaigner Anna Wheeler (c.1780-1848)) were very close “He would take for granted that his children shared all his interests, whether in matters literary or political or domestic, and no direct instruction could have been so stimulating” (Lady Betty edited The History of Lord Lytton’s Indian Administration 1876-1880: Longmans 1890 and the Personal and Literary Letters of Robert, First Earl of Lytton, vols 1 & 2: Longmans 1906). As a cultivated with family and social connections Lady Betty held strong opinions. In 1887 Lady Betty married Gerald Balfour MP, the younger brother of . She was the perfect choice for an ambitious politician. Gerald‟s family were delighted by the match as a letter (LSE ref: 7EFA/096, dated 26 July 1887) from Lady to Emily Faithfull shows: I must write you for Gerald, who now wishes his relations & nearest friends told of his happiness. He is engage ed to Lady Betty Lytton, who is by common consent on of the most delightful girls alive. She is just 20 but with a mind very much older than her years. She is not pretty but with such a good & charming expression that she makes up for everything. She plays the violin & is very clever. I know you will care to know above all, that she is very deeply religious & with such a bright unworldly mind. Dear old Gerry is very calmly happy & peaceful. You will see him at Terling when we all go Saturday. There are only two drawbacks, they will be very poor (she is the last person to mind this), & we cannot feel quite happy yet about his health, but he is better, & is yachting. I am trying to be unselfish about losing him, & I hope succeeding. She has been so dear to me & anxious to make me feel how little difference she hopes she will make in my friendship with him. Alice will love her, & perhaps she will be the oil needed between us two! Yr Loving FB [Frances Balfour] A letter written by Gerald Balfour to Emily Faithfull can also be found at the LSE (LSE ref: 7EFA/095). In the letter he writes:

Dearest Miss F. This is to tell you a piece of news I know you will rejoice at. I am Engaged to be married to Lady Betty Lytton, Lord Lytton's eldest daughter. Perhaps you will have heard it before this reaches you, but I think you won't mind hearing it from me again. I am so happy, dear Miss F. and think muyself so lucky to win such a prize. But you shall judge of her for yourself. Send me your blessing and that will crown perfection! I shall be at Addison Road on Friday. Will you tell Mr. Chittenden? Ever affectly your GW Balfour.

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Lady Betty Balfour, Nelly (Eleanor) Balfour and Mrs Sidgwick [probably Eleanor Mildred Sidgwick nee Balfour, Gerald’s sister] at “Fisher’s Hill” 1903, from Susan Lushington’s photograph album (SHC ref 7854/4/47/3/10 page 21).

Through Gerald‟s social and family contacts Lady Betty met and was influenced by the Souls. They were a group of influential members of society from aristocratic families such as the Balfours, Lyttletons, Tennents, Wyndhams, Charteris and Manners families who were connected by friendships, marriages, affairs and politics. Gerald‟s brother Arthur Balfour was also a leading member of the set. The Souls rejected being grouped with other social cliques of the time such as the Marlborough House crowd, preferring rounds of golf and literary discussions to bridge and hunting, and opening membership up beyond aristocratic circles. Lady Betty who was a talented musician, hosted parties and musical gathering at their home in Addison Road and later at “Fisher‟s Hill”, Woking. The Balfour‟s daughters Lady Ruth (b.1890), Lady Eleanor (b.1891), Lady Mary Edith (b.1894) and Lady Evelyn Barbara (b.1898) were little girls at the time of the move to Woking. Lady Betty had advanced views on women‟s education, as was exemplified by her encouraging all her daughters into higher education. Gerald and Betty‟s son Robert Arthur Lytton Balfour, (later third earl of Balfour) (b.1902) and their youngest daughter Lady Kathleen Constance Blanche (b.1912) were born after the move to Fisher‟s Hill.

In 1900 Gerald and Lady Betty commissioned Edwin Lutyens (husband of Lady Betty‟s sister Emily) to design a house to be built in Hook Heath, Woking. Gertrude Jekyll designed the gardens (Fisher‟s Hill garden plans, SHC Ref 4113/7/3-4). Jane Ridley in The Architect and his wife: a life of Edwin Lutyens said “the house that Ned built for his brother-in-law Gerald Balfour, also a golf playing politician, was really two houses. Ned designed a long rambling gabled brick house for the servants and children, recalling Surrey houses such as “Fulbrook”; and this be loosely linked to something quite different; a chunky square brick tower, banded by two projecting bay windows reaching up three floors, a foretaste of later twentieth century blocks of flats.” The light airy house suited the Balfours well and they soon moved into “Fisher‟s Hill” where they hosted social and musical gatherings attended by politicians of all parties and friends such as their neighbour Dr (who lived at Brattanby Cottage, Hook Heath Road), Susan Lushington (who stayed with the Balfours in July 1905, SHC Ref: 7854/4/2/315 a-b) and Sidney and Beatrice Webb. Anne Balfour (Anne Balfour-Fraser was the granddaughter of Gerald and Betty, daughter of Lady Ruth Balfour

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(b.1890)) recalled to Jane Ridley that the house and particularly the gardens were a magical place for children with a flavour of Kipling‟s Puck of Pook’s Hill.

Lady Betty‟s aunt Marie Teresa [Mrs C W] Earle, author of Pot-pourri from a Surrey Garden (1897) did not live far away, at “Woodlands” in Cobham and Lady Betty‟s sister, the , Lady Constance Lytton was to stay there, when she was unwell after she was forcibly fed whilst on hungerstrike in prison. It is possible that Gertrude Jekyll, who was a fellow patron of The College for Lady Gardeners at Glynde, was known to Lady Betty through this connection, before taking on the design of the Fisher‟s Hill garden. Lady Betty and Lady Constance shared strong views in favour of women‟s . Lady Betty preferring the Constitutional methods of the NUWSS and Lady Constance those of the WSPU. Lady Betty‟s sister-in-law Lady Frances Balfour served on the Executive Committee of the NUWSS. Lady Frances described her sister-in-law‟s action in the suffrage campaign, as one of the most difficult of all tasks, that of challenging the Conservative leaders and convincing them to support the cause. Lady Betty published a letter from Lady Frances to on 29 June 1909 in The Letters of Constance Lytton 1925 (the original letter is held at the Women‟s Library, LSE ref: 9/21/19) which described a demonstration by militants following a meeting held by them that Lady Frances and Lady Betty had attended at Caxton Hall. My dear Mrs Fawcett – I am just back from a night with the militants: Lady Betty and I went to the Caxton Hall first. The speeches were of a serious nature, almost like a service of dedication. There was no excitement, we were all asked not to move as the deputation left the hall, to remain seated in silent thought for three minutes, and then to follow and cheer our comrades on in the square. The deputation (was) led by Mrs , Mrs Mansel (a great friend of Lady Cox’s) and Mrs Solomon again. The others looked very highly strung and nervous. The passed out: their band, marshalled on the stairs and played them out. We followed some time after. The police in solid lines turned us into Victoria Street. We slowly battled our way to and up to : here we saw several arrests, the women showing great courage in the face of the rough rushes of the crowd round them. The crowd neither for or against, mearly interested in it as a spectacle. The Police kept us all moving, mounted men continually at work. We were finally driven up to the north end of Whitehall. B and I stood on the Treasury steps watching the crowd driven up by a wedge of police. The police on the pavement asked us to come down, and as we did so, two women exactly in front of us threw stones at the windows. Poor shots; I don’t think the glass was cracked. A policeman flew round at them, and had his arms around their necks before we could wink. Crowd and police made a rush together, and b and I were knocked flat, falling in a rather ignominious heap………” Both Lady Betty and her sister Emily Lutyens were extremely worried by their sister‟s militant activities. A letter dated 24 January 1910 from Emily to Betty explained the arrangements she had made with the prison authorities regarding Lady Constance‟s release (following forcible feeding), it was published in The Letters of Constance Lytton. In the letter she described their sister‟s condition and her state of health:

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She is terribly thin, her face so pinched, but a good colour and I think very pretty with her short hair. Her body is like the pictures of famine people in India” Lady Betty comments that Constance (aka. Jane Warton) was forcibly fed on eight occasions whilst in prison. On the same day (24 January 1910) wrote to Lady Betty (published in The Letters of Constance Lytton) saying that Constance had achieved a lot by her actions: Con has indeed gained a victory over the Government which will make it much more difficult to continue forcible feeding. Lady Betty was very active politically, being a member of the Primrose League. Together with the Countess of Selbourne, Alice Balfour, Lady Rayleigh, Lady Robert Cecil, Lady Edward Spencer Churchill, Lady Lockyear, the Countess of Meath, Viscountess Midleton, Lady Strachey, Constance Jones, Margaret Tuke and Louisa Twining she helped to establish the Conservative and Unionist Women‟s Franchise Association (CUWFA) in 1908. She became Dame President of the Woking Habitation of the Primrose League but resigned in 1910 because of the position taken by her local Conservative MP, Donald Macmaster on the 1910 Conciliation Bill. In 1909 Betty became president of the Edinburgh Branch of the NUWSS and was also vice-president of the International Women‟s Franchise Club. Lady Betty Balfour was an active local politician, she was Woking‟s first female councillor, representing the St John‟s ward. Balfour Road in Westfield was named after her rather than her famous brother-in-law, former Conservative PM, Arthur James or Gerald, her MP husband.

Letterhead (SHC ref 7854/4/45/1/150) In 1910 the CUWFA published An Analysis of the Debate in the House of Commons on the Women’s Franchise Bill, July 11th and 12th, 1910 by Lady Betty Balfour. The pamphlet expresses Lady Betty‟s own views clearly and reveals why she was well regarded by suffragists. She summarised the debate under three headings: 1. The thin end of the wedge argument 2. The dangers of Woman Suffrage to the State 3. The evils to women themselves that would ensue from their enfranchisement She considered the arguments of the Anti-suffragist speakers of both the Unionist and Liberal Parties including the Prime Minister. She pointed out that if women were enfranchised they

5 would still be outnumbered in the electorate by seven men to one woman. That did not place men of the country under a majority of women because women would still be ineligible to sit in Parliament. Future generations may wish to extend Woman Suffrage to enable women to take a fuller role in public life but that was a matter for them and did not need consideration at this point. Lady Betty argued that legislation passed in Australia and New Zealand since women have had the parliamentary franchise has shown that no change in emphasis or type. She commended the precedent set by the Colonies in this matter. She tackled head on the well-worn argument that women should have no voice in the framing of laws regarding the armed forces and Empire because they could not bear arms in defence of their country. She pointed out that men who are too weak to bear arms are still able to vote, so, why should this inability preclude women? She said that legislators ignored the views of the Oriental population of the Empire when they passed the 1884 Franchise Bill to extend the franchise to agricultural labourers and even to disloyal nationalist Irish peasantry, so the government could easily disregard the views of this group on government by women and extend the franchise to women. In this pamphlet she challenged Asquith‟s expressed view that women voters would “enormously increase the danger of having fitfulness and capricious movement [in the electorate] followed by intervals of indifference”. She wrote that women are no more likely to be inconsistent than men. That if women‟s steadiness, orderliness and constancy made them suitable for housekeeping, teaching and nursing, then they were suited to political activity, as their vote was probably more stable and reliable than that of a man. She tackled the argument that if women were enfranchised it would lead to government by women. Saying that rather than taking refuge in precedent, the government should follow that set by the Colonies and lead the Sovereign States of Europe, by granting an extension franchise to women because it was right to do so. She then turned to consider the argument that it was injurious to women for them to have the vote, as they did not suffer disadvantage and that the vote would not redress women‟s grievances. Lady Betty says that it was no longer possible to deny that many women of all classes and backgrounds did indeed want to vote and were growing resentful at having it withheld. She took the arguments used by in her writings (1863) against the higher education of women and said that women have not become less womanly, or poorer mothers as a result of education and that was a brilliant example of the benefits of higher education for women. She said that even the most ardent Anti-Suffragist would not wish to see the doors of Universities close to women. Lady Betty had privileged access to members of the Government and her views were regarded with by leading politicians. She acted as a conduit through which both strands of the suffrage campaign communicated with the Government. She commented that she and Lady Selbourne often had to patch things up after the militants aggravated the Government by their actions. On 8 May 1911 Lady Betty‟s brother-in-law Arthur J Balfour wrote to her expressing his frustration about the way he was regarded by the suffrage campaigners: I am always greatly embarrassed and even grieved at the view your suffrage friends take of me, and my efforts for the Cause. Do what I will, I cannot help their exaggerating the services which I have rendered in the past, and still more those which I am likely to be able to render in the future; and I know if things do not go their way they will end in thinking I have fed them with false hopes. (From The letters of Constance Lytton)

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Lady Betty was always in demand for CUWFA speaking engagements across the country; in Kendal, Penzance, Gloucester, Cambridge, Ulster and Bath; putting the case in favour of woman suffrage. Her family connection to prominent politicians enabled her to put the case in favour of woman suffrage to leaders in power, she wrote letters, such as the one held in the Parliamentary Archives dated 18 February 1912. In the letter Lady Betty Balfour wrote to thanking him for his promise to speak and vote for the Conciliation Bill and she expressed her regret that there was a lack of enthusiasm for the bill amongst conservative supporters of women‟s suffrage. (Parliamentary Archives ref: BL/25/2/31). Throughout the years of campaigning, even when she was pregnant, Lady Betty‟s speaking commitments were heavy, in the November of 1913 she spoke in Worcestershire, Lancashire, Cheshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire and Gloucestershire. Lady Betty did not condone violence, and when, in , the twelfth century St Mary‟s Church in Whitekirk, East Lothian was reportedly burned down by , she became chairman of the restoration fund. Lady Betty was a talented musician, neighbour and friend of the composer and fellow suffragist, Ethel Smyth (although differing as to the method of campaigning, Lady Betty being a member of the NUWSS and Ethel a member of the WSPU). In her autobiographical book As Time went on Ethel Smyth describes Lady Betty as “my neighbour and very great friend”. Ethel wrote to Lady Betty from Holloway Prison on 6 asking her to keep a neighbourly eye on her house whilst she was away. Part of this letter is reproduced in The Letters of Constance Lytton and displays a close friendship with Lady Betty and Lady Constance. Ethel describes the scene at the Police Court and that Constance had attended as a member of the public. I am thankful that she [Constance} is not here this time. The adoration of the suffragettes for “Lady Conny” is a thing to see, not tho’ to wonder at” On 1922 Woking News and Mail p 6 reports the Woking Musical Society “Dame Ethel Smyth concert to open the Season”. The programme was to include pieces from “The Boatswain‟s Mate” and “Fete Galante to be conducted by Dame Ethel Smyth. Lady Betty‟s daughters also attended with their celebrated Jazz band. An archive collection of letters and photographs held at Surrey History Centre relating to the Lushington family, reveal a close friendship as well as a shared interest in music, particularly between Lady Betty and Susan Lushington. A letter sent in 1913 (SHC ref 7854/3/8/100) from Margaret Lushington to her father Vernon refers to attending a musical gathering at Betty‟s where a performance of a Brahms Sonata was given, “The Parry trio went well but Sue‟s Handel in A was really magnificent. Betty was very pleased, I think, and at once asked if there was any other day we could come” Margaret also wrote that “I really loved Gerald Balfour he is so kind and courteous. Another document (SHC ref 7854/4/45/1/150-151) written on the reverse plain side of CUWFA: Woking Branch headed note paper, gives the programme for a dance at Fisher‟s Hill in 1920. There are also letters from Betty Balfour to Susan including this dated 9 September 1929 (SHC ref 7854/4/17/5/1): K and I loved our time at “Kingsley” – I always think it is an enchanted spot – I should like to bring Ethel Smyth there some day

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In 1925 William Heineman published The Letters of Constance Lytton edited by Lady Betty Balfour [a 2014 reprint published by CUP is held in SHC Library: 920 LYT]. This book sheds light on Constance‟s role in campaigning for women‟s suffrage and her relationship with many of the leading figures of the movement such as Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence, Christabel and , and . It also reflects Lady Betty‟s attitude to her sister‟s treatment, when she was detained for suffragette activity. Constance was to spend the rest of her life suffering from prolonged ill heath as a result of force feeding whilst in prison. Lady Betty died of a perforated duodenal ulcer at her home “Fisher‟s Hill” Cottage on 28 March 1942. Susan Lushington received a number of letters of condolence from friends following Lady Betty‟s death, including this dated 5 April 1942 (SHC ref 7854/4/43/3/16) from Sybil Campbell. Dearest Susan I know you must be feeling sad over dear Betty Balfour’s death. Such a loss to everyone who knew her! It does seem so hard she should be the one to go not poor Gerald but I have always felt she had too many old relations to look after and must have been so tired of it all, gallant soul that she was. On 11 April 1942 Gerald Balfour wrote to Susan: My dear Sue Thank you so much for your dear sympathy. Darling Betty was indeed a rare and radient being, and it is so hard to lose her. We were so happy together in our cottage life. Her dying before me was utterly unexpected by either of us, but I am consoled by the thought that in all probability it will shorten the interval of separation. I am leaving Fisher’s Hill early next month for Whithingham, where I hope to end my days. Dear Nellie is to be there with me. (SHC ref 7854/4/17/4/8 a-d).

Contributed by Miriam Farr, „‟ project volunteer

Bibliography and sources

Books held at Surrey History Centre: Kathy Atherton: Suffragettes, Suffragists and Antis: the fight for the vote in the Surrey hills; Cockerel Press, 2017 Diane Atkinson: Rise Up Women: the remarkable lives of the suffragettes; , 2018 Betty Balfour: Letters of Constance Lytton; CUP, 2014 [originally published by Heineman as The life and letters of Lady Constance Lytton, 1925] Elizabeth Crawford: Women’s Suffrage Movement: a reference guide 1860-1928; , 2001 June Purvis: Christabel Pankhurst: a Biography; Routledge, 2018

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Jane Ridley: The Architect and his wife: a life of Edwin Lutyens; Chatto and Windus, 2001 Ethel Smyth: As time went on: Longmans, 1936 Newspapers (accessed at Surrey History Centre): Woking News and Mail Surrey Advertiser Archives held at Surrey History Centre: Farrer correspondence (SHC ref 2572/-) „Fisher‟s Hill‟ garden plans by Gertrude Jekyll (SHC ref 4113/7/3-4) Lushington Papers and correspondence: SHC refs: 7854/3/8/59, 7854/3/8/62, 7854/3/8/100, 7854/4/2/315, 7854/4/11/3/36, 7854/4/3/37, 7854/4/17/4/8, 7854/4/17/5/1, 7854/4/17/5/2, 7854/4/17/5/3, 7854/4/17/5/4, 7854/4/17/5/5, 7854/4/17/5/7, 7854/4/40/1/5, 7854/4/43/3/16, 7854/4/45/1/150-151, 7854/4/43/16/38 Photograph album compiled by Susan Lushington (SHC ref 7854/4/4/47/3/10) Online sources: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography entries for: Balfour [nee Lytton], Elizabeth Edith [Betty], Countess of Balfour by Claire Percy; Balfour, Arthur James, first earl of Balfour by Ruddock Mackay and H C G Matthew; Balfour [nee Campbell], Lady Frances, suffragist, leader and churchwoman by Joan B Huffman; Balfour, Gerald William, second earl of Balfour by Janet Oppenheim; Lytton, Lady Constance Georgina Bulwer; Lytton, Robert Edward Bulwer, first earl of Lytton [pseud. Owen Meredith] by David Washbrook. Accessed via https://www.surreycc.gov.uk/libraries/learning-and-research/adult- online-reference-shelf#people Letters from Betty Balfour in the Bonor Law papers held in the Parliamentary Archives: http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/rd/2e431048-d8d2-475d-87c7-bc2a1789410f http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/rd/2abc3294-d4c8-49fa-a31d-f410f010be39 http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/rd/0de4329b-7bfe-4fff-bc94-09c93a938f37

Lady Betty corresponded with Bonar Law about the Guildford „memorial‟ (i.e. testimonial), to accompany the Electoral Reform Bill, June 1917, which was to be presented to the House of Lords (according to Parliamentary Archives catalogue).

British Census records on Ancestry.co.uk

Who was Who volumes

Websites: Hook Heath Residents‟ Association page on historic residents http://www.hhra.co.uk/the- history-of-hook-heath.htm

9 http://www.thepeerage.com/p8102.htm https://suffragettestories.omeka.net/bio-betty-balfour

Iain Wakeford articles on Woking history http://wokinghistory.org/onewebmedia/2012%20Apr-Jun.pdf

Women‟s Library http://www.lse.ac.uk/library/collections/catalogues

For global university library catalogues online see https://www.worldcat.org/

Other publications not held at SHC: Mitzi Auchterlonie: Conservative Suffragists: the women’s vote and the Tory Party; Taurus, 2007 Mitzi Auchterlonie: “To work for Women’s Enfranchisement by educative and constitutional methods consistent with Unionist principles” The quiet campaign of the Conservative & Unionist Women’s Franchise Association, 1908-1914; Conservative History Journal, Issue 7, Winter 2008 Lady Betty Balfour: An analysis of the debate in the House of Commons on the Women’s Franchise Bill, July 11th and 12th 1910; Conservative and Unionist Women‟s Franchise Association, 1910 Lady Betty Balfour: The Two Ideals; Conservative and Unionist Women‟s Franchise Association, 1912 Beatrix Campbell: Iron Ladies: why do women vote Tory? Hachette, 1987 Sydney and Beatrice Webb: The Letters of Sydney and Beatrice Webb; Volume 2, Partnership; edited by Norman Mackenzie; CUP, 2008