PRG 88/7/1-122 Letters by Catherine Helen Spence to Alice Henry 1900-1910
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__________________________________________________________ PRG 88/7/1-122 Letters by Catherine Helen Spence to Alice Henry 1900-1910 Transcribed by Dr Barbara Wall, Volunteer at the State Library of South Australia, 2010 Catherine Spence (1825-1910), Adelaide journalist, suffragist, tireless worker for women and children, celebrated campaigner for proportional representation, who wished above all to be thought of as a reformer, found a woman of like mind and interests in Alice Henry (1857-1943), a Melbourne journalist, women’s rights advocate and lecturer on female suffrage, who later moved to the USA where she became Secretary of the Chicago branch of the National Women’s Trade Union League of America. When Catherine Spence was passing through Melbourne in 1893 on her way to the United States to lecture on proportional representation and to attend the Charities, Correction and Philanthropy Congress held in Chicago in conjunction with the Chicago World Fair, Alice Henry made herself known to Spence. They had much in common: Scots background, interest in proportional representation, activities in journalism and reforms of all kinds. Their friendship meant a great deal to Spence who found in Henry someone who sympathised with her interests and to whom she could speak unreservedly. Their correspondence, for they were able to meet infrequently, covered many years. Henry preserved many of Spence’s letters to her and presented them to the State Library of South Australia. There are 122 items. They have been transcribed without alteration except for the addition of full stops where a following capital letter makes it clear that a sentence has ended. Spence used little punctuation in her letters and frequently ran sentences together without the use of capital letters. In such cases none have been added. She sometimes used spaces as a form of punctuation and these spaces have been retained. No question marks have been added. Spence’s handwriting is difficult to read. She was between 75 and 85 when she wrote these letters and she was writing to someone familiar with the persons and institutions and issues about which she was writing. It is not easy to decipher some of her words; sometimes it is impossible, especially when the words are proper names. The transcriptions reflect these difficulties. But the extraordinary width of her interests, her energy, her commitment to many kinds of reform, her wide circle of friends, acquaintances and correspondents, and her deep affection for Alice Henry are visible for all to see. Her world, from 1900 to 1910, comes alive as we read. Names Frequently Mentioned Two South Australian Government institutions for which Spence worked, two organisations, the Unitarian Church, the chief newspapers and periodicals for which she wrote or to which she often referred and some frequently mentioned family members and friends, are glossed here. Others are noted in the annotations. It has not been possible to identify all the people about whom Spence wrote. A brief explanation of proportional representation about which Spence wrote constantly is given at the end of this introduction. PRG 88/7/1-122 Spence letters transcript Page 1 of 330 __________________________________________________________ Institutions The Destitute Board The State Children’s Council The Destitute Board, ‘to superintend the relief of the Destitute Poor’, was set up in 1849. Spence was appointed to the Board in 1897. She was the only woman member and served until her death in 1910. The Destitute Board met weekly. Spence frequently visited the Destitute Asylum on other days. The State Children’s Council began in 1886. It had twelve honorary members and its task was to administer boarding-out licensing, adoption, and apprenticing of state children, and to supervise the reformatories and industrial schools. Spence was a member from 1886 until her death in 1910. The State Children’s Council met monthly. Organisations The Effective Voting League The National Council of Women The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union Effective Voting was the name invented by Spence’s brother John Brodie Spence for the system of proportional representation based on the work of Thomas Hare. Thomas Hare, (1806-1891), English barrister and member of Parliament, developed the system of proportional representation which is named after him. Spence refers to it as the Hare system or the Hare method. It is at present used in elections in Tasmania, where it is known as the Hare-Clark system. The Effective Voting League was founded by Spence in 1895. Spence frequently used the abbreviations PR, pro rep and EV when writing of proportional representation. The National Council of Women of South Australia, affiliated with the International Council of Women, was formed in 1902 by Mrs Elizabeth Nicholls, Mrs Rosetta Birks, Miss Catherine Helen Spence, Lady Way and others. It went into abeyance about 1908 but began again in 1920. The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union of South Australia, known as W. C. T. U., was founded in 1889 to promote temperance and Christianity in order to improve people’s lives. It lobbied for women’s rights. Spence, a whisky drinker in a mild way, was not a member but she was closely connected with the organisation and worked with many of its members on many occasions. The Unitarian Church Spence joined the Unitarian Christian Church in Wakefield Street, Adelaide, in 1856 and was an active member until her death. She worked for the Church in many ways, particularly with the Church’s Children’s Library, which she helped to form in 1859, and with the services. She took the services and preached when the Minister asked for help from the mid 1880s until her death. Newspapers and Periodicals Adelaide The Advertiser, a daily newspaper. The Herald, formerly The Weekly Herald, Labor and Democratic Organ of South Australia, ran from 1894 to 1910 when it became The Daily Herald. The South Australian Register, a daily paper, and its weekly paper The Adelaide Observer. These two were the papers for which Spence wrote frequently for many years. PRG 88/7/1-122 Spence letters transcript Page 2 of 330 __________________________________________________________ Melbourne The Age, a daily newspaper. The Argus, a daily newspaper, and its weekly paper The Australasian. Alice Henry wrote for these papers The Australian Woman’s Sphere: a monthly periodical edited by Vida Goldstein, published in Melbourne 1900-1905. Sydney The Bulletin, Australia’s most famous weekly, founded in 1880. The Daily Telegraph, a newspaper. The Sydney Morning Herald, a daily newspaper. Family These people are glossed only when they are first mentioned. Louie Galloway Louisa Ruth Galloway (born 1870) was the daughter of Louisa Ferguson Galloway née Cumming, the sister of John Brodie Spence’s wife Jessie, and cousin to Elsie Spence, Daisy Stephen and Lucy Morice. She was very close to the family and spent much of her life with one or other of them. The Handysides Andrew Dods Handyside (1835-1904) was Spence’s cousin, son of Jane Handyside, née Brodie, sister of Spence’s mother Helen Brodie Spence. He arrived in Victoria from Scotland in 1853 and married Mary Ann Murray, daughter of Spence’s sister, Jessie Murray. They came to the South East of South Australia in 1868, where Andrew became a pastoralist and Member of Parliament. Of their children one son Charles, born 1874, and three daughters survived them. One daughter married in England, but Jessie Murray Handyside (born 1870) and Jeanie Brodie Handyside (born 1879) saw Spence frequently. Jessie married Herbert Richard Trude in July 1909 and went to live in Western Australia. Jean married Henry Hulatt Bradshaw in December 1907. Arthur Handyside (1843-1904) was Andrew Dods Handyside’s brother. He was a medical practitioner, born in Scotland, where he remained. Mrs Morice Louise (Lucy) Morice, née Spence (1859-1951), daughter of Spence’s brother John, kindergarten teacher, social reformer and close ally of Spence. She married James Percy Morice in 1886. Her son, John Patrick Spens Morice, known as Pat, was born in 1892. Lucy and James Morice lived in Scarborough Street, New Glenelg. The Murrays Spence’s sister Jessie (1821-1888) married Andrew Murray (1813-1880) in 1841. They had ten children, not all of whom survived. From 1877 the family lived at Yarragon, Gippsland, Victoria where Spence often visited. She frequently mentions nieces Catherine Helen Murray, known as Nina (1852-1933), and Margaret Brodie Murray, known as Madge (1858-1935), who worked as a postmistress. John David Murray (1850-1922) and George Houston Murray (1854-1938) are also mentioned. The Miss Madeline Murray whom Spence was much concerned with in her last year or so was no relation. Elsie Spence The unmarried daughter of John and Jessie Spence was Agnes Helen Spence (1865-1949). She was known as Elsie or Helen. She lived with her mother much of the time. Her great friend was her cousin Louie Galloway. PRG 88/7/1-122 Spence letters transcript Page 3 of 330 __________________________________________________________ John Spence John Brodie Spence (1824-1902), accountant, company director, Adelaide manager of the English, Scottish and Australian Bank from 1864-1878, member of the Legislative Council, and at his death Chairman of the Board of the State Bank. He was Spence’s brother, a year older than Spence, and her close friend and ally all her life. His wife, Jessie Spence, neé Cumming, survived him. She died in 1910, shortly before Catherine herself. John and Jessie Spence lived in High Street, Glenelg. Mrs Stephen Margaret (Daisy) Stephen, née Spence (1865-1936), youngest daughter of Spence’s brother John. She married George Alexander Stephen in 1887. Their daughter, Mary Dunbar Stephen, was born in Melbourne in 1899. They lived in Melbourne. Laura Symon Laura Louise Symon, née Stow, was the granddaughter of Spence’s uncle, Alexander Brodie.