Published in November 2018. Copyright © Hive Studios/Dr Keith Munro, 2018. Every effort has been made to trace the copyright holders and obtain permission to reproduce material used in this publication. Hive Studio Books Ráth Mór Centre Bligh’s Lane Derry BT48 0LZ www.hivestudio.org T: (028) 7127 7487 ISBN 978 1 9993479 1 8 A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief extracts/samples embodied in factual/academic reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law. 2 Te emancipation of women, the achievement of full equality between the sexes, is one of the most important, though less acknowledged prerequisites of peace. Te denial of such equality perpetrates an injustice against one half of the world’s population and promotes in men harmful attitudes and habits that are carried from the family to the workplace, to political life, and ultimately to international relations. Tere are no grounds, moral, practical, or biological, upon which such denial can be justifed. Only as women are welcomed into full partnership in all felds of human endeavour will the moral and psychological climate be created in which international peace can emerge. From a document on World Peace released on United Nations Day 1985 by the Universal House of Justice. 3 Contents About the book 10 Prologue 12 Dedication 13 Acknowledgments 14 Endorsements 15 CHAPTER ONE 19 Te donkey incident Early education and introduction to politics CHAPTER TWO 22 Education – Boyle to Londonderry CHAPTER THREE 24 Transfer to Dublin’s fair city and freedom Music, music, music CHAPTER FOUR 27 Meeting ‘him’ – & – ‘him’ meeting ‘me’ Big changes CHAPTER FIVE 32 Teosophy & psychic experiences Blavatsky & Besant – Founder and Protagonist of Teosophy Te Krishnamurti episode. Was he the new Messiah? CHAPTER SIX 40 Te awakening of her childhood passion for justice Meeting her destiny in Manchester 4 CHAPTER SEVEN 44 Arousing Irish women to action Formation of the Irish Women’s Franchise League CHAPTER EIGHT 52 Te Pankhursts visit Ireland CHAPTER NINE 61 Peaceful deputations Militant resurgence and then Holloway prison CHAPTER TEN 66 Back to Ireland – more smashing of windows A month in Tullamore jail CHAPTER ELEVEN 74 Why the ‘sudden’ move to India? CHAPTER TWELVE 77 Transition before India Attending Emily Davison’s funeral Te Women’s Church Charlotte Despard’s visit to Liverpool CHAPTER THIRTEEN 84 Te tide of events rises India calls and the picture shifts CHAPTER FOURTEEN 87 Settling IN & unsettling OUT CHAPTER FIFTEEN 91 New pastures Te Scout Movement – Indian style A School Parliament Indian Women’s Sufrage on the horizon Te spontaneous beginning with Gretta as the catalyst 5 CHAPTER SIXTEEN 98 Deputation to the Viceroy & the Secretary of State for India CHAPTER SEVENTEEN 105 Te Board of National Education Jim goes east & Gretta goes west Headmistress of Besant Girl’s School in Mangalore Getting to know the Collector CHAPTER EIGHTEEN 115 Forces of division increase A chance meeting with the Maharaja of Kumar Difculties with the implementation of Votes for Women Sad news from Ireland Famous visitors to Adyar – artistic heights Unannounced visit of Rabindranath Tagore CHAPTER NINETEEN 123 Te frst non-Indian woman magistrate in India Madras Presidency Legislative Council election – 31 October 1923 CHAPTER TWENTY 126 Europe between the wars CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE 138 Te birth of the All-India Women’s Conference CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO 143 Te 2nd AIWC Session – Delhi Te Child Marriage Act CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE 147 Te 2nd western tour – ‘Girdling the Earth’ Meeting with Sir Patrick Geddes at Montpelier An observer seat at the League of Nations for Gretta Meeting Paderewski 6 CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR 154 Across the ‘pond’ – but not a smooth ride Meeting Nathalia Crane – young American poet Experiencing a Quaker meeting Meeting an old friend – Dudley Digges Gretta kept awake by nearby slaughter of cattle CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE 160 Te conception of the All-Asian Women’s Conference Home again, home again – jiggety jig Gretta launches the All-Asian Women’s Conference CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX 165 Gretta observes the increasing agitation for Home Rule Crisis call to the USA because of Jim’s ill-health CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN 169 Setting of home to India with a detour to the League of Nations CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT 172 Gretta takes the overland route to India Stopover in Haifa, Israel Meets the Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE 176 Back in beloved India Into the thick of it – arrested Convicted and incarcerated in ‘the prison on the hill’ CHAPTER THIRTY 187 ‘We two together again’ College fnancial crisis Vacation in the Nilgiri Hills Te Untouchable 7 CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE 191 Art Advisor to the Maharaja of Travancore CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO 197 Te Maharaja of Travancore opens temples to all castes Jim & Gretta spark a highly signifcant reform in Hinduism Jim enrolled into the Hindu Faith A small temple for untouchables – at Madanapalle CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE 203 Back to women’s issues Jim’s retirement and the ghost of insecurity CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR 208 Verbal attack in semi-paradise Meeting Dr Montessori Recording their memoires – ‘We Two Together’ CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE 214 Developing child welfare in Kotagiri A cable to HG Wells - ‘Te Rights of Man’ CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX 217 Frightening health issues & accidents for Jim and Gretta Te Failure of the Cripps Mission Te All India Educational Conference in Srinagar, Kashmir Gretta crashes to the ground Gretta’s inability to serve becomes a reality CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN 224 Te autumn leaves of Gretta’s life start to fall Gretta attends her last All India Women’s Conference CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT 231 Jim’s swan-song Termination of the Art Advisor’s job 8 CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE 235 Jim packs up in Travancore and goes home to Adyar Plans to write a magnum opus on Mrs Besant and her legacy Gretta attends her last Session of the AIWC CHAPTER FORTY 238 Jim fnishes his half of “We Two Together” Gloomy about the immediate future for mankind Jim ponders their future CHAPTER FORTY-ONE 241 Acorn to oak 9 About the Book To do full justice to the life and works of Margaret Cousins would take many volumes. Tese I hope will be written in future by historians better equipped. While Gretta did become well known in Ireland and England during the frst ffteen years of the twentieth century, this was relatively short-lived when she and her husband James emigrated to India in 1915. Once settled in Madras (Chennai) their fame grew exponentially, especially for Gretta. Tis story comes from the mind and the personal experiences of Gretta herself as well as her husband. He became well known in his own right as poet, teacher and playwright, immersed in the Cultural Revival in Ireland during the frst decade and a half of the 20th century. Later during the Indian period he became a journalist, teacher of English and Geography as well as lecturer in Teosophy and an expert in the Arts of India. Te apex of his career was his appointment as Art Advisor to the Maharaja of Travancore. His creative poetry continued to grow and mature throughout his life. He consistently supported Gretta’s eforts in seeking sufrage for women and in seeking full equality with men. Although the focus during the Irish years is on the Irish Women’s Franchise League founded by the Cousins and the Sheehy-Skefngtons, it should be stated that there were other sufrage movements, both in Ireland and England working for women’s franchise during that period in history. Tis book draws closely on Gretta’s own words and themes. In this way we can, perhaps, catch a glimpse of their lives from her and Jim’s point of view. Both were inextricably intertwined from the beginning when they met in Dublin. In a very real sense this book is not about her, rather it is from her. ‘We Two Together’, published in Madras (Chennai) in 1950, is a book of some 780 pages. Te hope is that this much shorter book, a distillation if you wish, will be easier to absorb and hopefully will inspire. Jim and Gretta’s command of English was such that they use some words with a meaning we are not familiar with some 68 years later. Teir style is ‘of their time’. Te extensive quotes by Gretta and Jim have been kept as accurate as possible to the original. Te reader must also appreciate that Jim was a poet and his prose has a poetic ring to it. Large swathes of their life experience have had to be cut out. What I have attempted to do is to pick out historic, unusual and interesting events – but there is more, much more. Te chapters are purposefully kept short, with many footnotes, that are largely about people or words that are not familiar. Irish culture and Indian 10 culture are both very diferent. Both Gretta and Jim seemed to have been airbrushed from Irish history. Perhaps this is their time. Ireland and beyond should know of this remarkable woman from Boyle, in the county of Roscommon, and her amazing husband – Jim. 11 Prologue As a child, growing up in the 1950s in Belfast, I was aware of a famous great- aunt and uncle who lived in India. Tat was about it. Great-aunt Gretta Cousins died in India in 1954.