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Lydia Becker LY D I A B EC K E R A Cameo Life/ Sketch MA R I O N HO L MES T H R E E FE NCE NET . ’ P! B L I WO M N S FR DO M L A ! SHE D BY THE E EE E G E , R W . C 1 , O B E RT STR EET , A D ELPHI , . Lydia B eck er A CAMEO L I F E SKETCH / By MA RI O N HO L MES Th e Nu rse ry of I dea l s . I T is rather the fashion nowadays -to scoff at th e : - woman of the early and mid Victorian period as a , timid and fooli sh creature given to swooning on th e m m e slightest pretext , and the victi of a ysterious prid in physical delicacy and weakness ; Probably th e average woman of the fifties and sixties was not q uite - - Th e so strong and self reliant as h er sister of t o day . “ average man still held to the clinging ivy and the ” stalwart oak ideal as being the best and most n atural v r m relation between the sexes , and the a e age wo an , with the deeply ingrained habit of mak ing herself t o man h n pleasing , umoured him by no doubt ofte x e aggerating her weaknesses and ma sk ing her strength . “ But God Almighty made the women to match . s in r t h e the men in those days a all othe s , and intellectual and patriotic men of the mid- Victorian era , had no lack of help - meets fit for them : great souled women who h elped to foster and bring to a vigorou s o th e - born b abes s y uth comparatively new of , progres r f m o . and, e r 4 L YDI A BECKER, Th e Pio ne e r Wo me n . What a magnificent roll call of names rings down from the fifties and si xties ! Name s of pioneer women wh o set valiantly to work to clear the ground of the n r weeds and rubbish of ce tu ies , and with infinite perse verance to beat out a path to a j ust-er and fuller existence for their sex . - of One after the other the citadels education, s art social v cience , , _ ser ice , politics were attacked , and — one after the other with the exception of the last t h e portals of these jealously guarded male monopolies w d . were gru gingly opened The eapons of abuse , mis r - u a epresentation , and personal ill s ge were all freely th e used against the women in fight , but they glanced h r off a mlessly the shields of courage and a high , unfaltering' purpose that the last - century Amaz ons V b . ore erily , there were giants on the earth in those d ays— both masculine and feminine — but more par “ i l t cul ar y feminine . The very sound of their names sets women’ s b lood atingle to - day with pride in the heritage that h a s been bequeathed to them by those pioneers . They roll off the tongue like a call to arms ! Florence N k a ightingale , Josephine Butler , Lydia Bec er , Sophi B M B ich on Jex rs. od V lake , , iscountess Amberley , ’ M L r n I Tod r a e . sabella , Priscilla B ight These , and m t any o hers equally courageous , have laid down their weapons now , but there are some of their comrades in — a rms still fighting in the ranks a very precious possession for the women of the twentieth century r . A d s c D r. m M Faw ett , Garrett nderson , Ma a e Belloc , l nh lm E E i . Wo sto o e s . Mrs lmy , Miss m ly Davie , Mrs H — aslam names indeed to conj ure with . Th e Le a de r of Vo tes for Wo me n . Lydia E rnestine Becker was pre -eminently th e ’ " l eader : of the Women s Sufirage Movement during its e — m n n arly years . It was her judgement ore tha a v I - S A CAMEO L FE KETCH . 5 ei h a s— t other p p that moulded its policy , and brough this hotly contested question from a stage of general contemptuous scorn to that of an equally gene ral respect for its inherent justice . b a 24th 1 827 r She was born on Fe ru ry , , at Coope h Street , Manc ester , and was the eldest of fifteen —4 t H r children a typical nine eenth century family . e n G d father , Ha nibal Leigh Becker , was of erman escent , t E t n of his fa her , rnes Hannibal Becker . being a ative E Thuringia , who came to ngland when quite a young s H r m an . e , and ettled in business in Manchester o c th e m ther was a member of an old Lan ashire family , ’ D uncoft s of Hollinwood . " He r E a rly D a ys . ’ Th e first few years of Lydia s life were spent in Manchester but when she was still very young the ’ famil i ov ed Al A . y n to tham , near ccrington They lived n of in a large house on risi g ground, with a fine view n th e Pendle Hill , and in this beautiful cou try home “ greater part of her life was passed . There was an interval of some years during which they lived in R M r B eddish , where . ecker had calico printing works , but they went back again to Al tham . Our life at R eddish was a quiet and uneventful ’ “ t one , writes one of Miss Becker s sisters in the mids h of lovely scenery and flowers . The agitations in t e political life of the period to some extent affected us . I rememb er the excit ement when it was thought th e Chartist s might find their way to our peaceful valley ; 1 848 e also the year of revolutions , , when Louis Philipp E ‘ ’ And landed in ngland as Mr . Smith . the stormy discussions connected with th e Anti - Corn L aw League were reproduced in miniature in our j uvenile circle I n te re s t in S c ie nce . In 1 850 we moved from R eddi sh back t o A h lt am . The drives and walks about presented great E 6 LYDIA BECKER , attractions to us , as the scenery was on a bolder , g rander scale than that round our prett y valley at u th R eddish . Lydia entered with zest into the st dy of e I ' rememb er plants of the neighbourhood . her pleasure in finding some which were new to her . Botany and astronomy were always her favourite “ studies , as a friend of her youth expressed it , Lydia knew and loved every little flower that grew . The intense delight l n nature cul tivated during those years e — in the country rem ain ed with her all her life a never failing source of pleasu re and int erest. In the midst ” of of in t the anxieties her political work London , wri es ’ . Histor o Women s S u m e Dr Helen Blackburn in her y f fi g , she foun d her best refreshment in a run down to the gardens and conservatories at K ew. Visitors to the . office could always know wh en Miss Becker was in residence by the flowering plant s she always gathered round her . A Vi si t to Ge rm a ny . — — In 1 844 when she was about seventeen Mis s Becker paid a long visit to relatives in Germany . I h ave had the privilege of reading th e letters that she sent to her home circle during that time , and they show that she possessed even at that age unusual Th powers of shrewd observation and reflection . e are stilted language of the period in which they written , probably makes a lack of humour and the serious bent of her mind more obvious than they would otherwise be . She frequently expresses keen appreciation of t h e beautiful scenery with which she was surrounded , but , on a holiday j aunt , when the heads of most girls of her a ge would have been filled with thoughts of pleasure ’ “ and for amusement , she wrote home asking political ” n “ ews . I miss the newspapers more than all the ” E h e s . nglish comforts put together , said H o no urs fro m th e H o rt i c u lt u ra l S oc i e ty . W t o R hen she returned home eddish , at the end of 1 845 w the year , a great bonfire was kindled, rites — K A CAMEO LIFE S ETCH . 7 Miss E sther B ecker . Soon after her return she i G b egan to give us lessons n erman . As a teacher her powers were remarkabl e she seemed to go right down 1 862 to the bottom of things In (I think), she won the gold medal from the Horticultural Society of South Kensington for the best collection of dried plants made within a year . She adopted the plan of drying the plants very quickly under great pressure and in heat .
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