Bessie Hatton
Bessie Lyle Hatton (22 November 1867 – 25 March 1964) was an English actress, playwright, journalist, and feminist, and took part in the struggle for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom.
Life[edit]
Hatton was born on 22 November 1867 in Claines, Worcestershire. Her father was Joseph Hatton, a novelist and journalist, and her mother was Louisa Johnson, her elder brother was explorer Frank Hatton. She was educated at a convent school in Ardennes and at Bedford College, London, however she left college to join Frank Benson's company who were performing Shakespeare.[1] She performed in Judah at the Shaftesbury Theatre with Gertrude Warden in 1890.[2]
On the advice of her father and despite her concerns that it might interfere with her acting career,[1] Hatton authored several popular works of fiction, including The Village of Youth and Other Fairytales (1895)[3] and her play Before Sunrise.[4] This play was staged at the Royal Albert Hall on 11 December 1909 for the Women's Freedom League.[5]
In June 1908 she and fellow actress and writer Cicely Mary Hamilton founded the Women Writers' Suffrage League.[6] The organisation was open to both men and women, and each affiliation. Hatton was the organising secretary, took part in events, and organised entertainment for the suffrage meetings.[1]
When World War I broke out, The Women Writers Suffrage League helped establish a library at Endell Street Military Hospital, and helped organise recreation at the hospital. Hatton never married. She died on 25 March 1964.[1]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d Hughes-Johnson, Alexandra (12 September 2019). "Hatton, Bessie Lyle (1867–1964)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi:10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.369196. ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
- ^ "Shaftesbury Theatre". Morning Post. 30 June 1890. p. 6.
- ^ Elizabeth, Crawford (2001). The women's suffrage movement : a reference guide, 1866-1928. London: Routledge. pp. 278–9. ISBN 9780415239264. OCLC 44914288.
- ^ Bessie Hatton (1909). Before Sunrise. Privately printed.
- ^ Votes for women and other plays. Croft, Susan, 1958-, St. John, Christopher (Christopher Marie), Robins, Elizabeth, 1862-1952., Nightingale, Helen M., Chapin, Alice., Hamilton, Cicely, 1872-1952. Twickenham: Aurora Metro Press. 2009. p. 221. ISBN 9781906582012. OCLC 268792352.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link) - ^ Robins, Elizabeth (1913). Way Stations. Hodder and Stoughton. p. 106. OCLC 654476659. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
methods proper to writers.
External links[edit]
Anna Andes analyses 'Before Sunrise' in her essay 'Burgeoning New Women of Suffrage Drama: Envisioning an Autonomous Self' http://www.thelatchkey.org/Latchkey6/essay/Andes.htm in The Latchkey: Journal of New Women Studies
- 20th-century English novelists
- English suffragists
- English feminists
- English feminist writers
- English stage actresses
- English women dramatists and playwrights
- English women novelists
- Women of the Victorian era
- British women travel writers
- English travel writers
- British women science fiction and fantasy writers
- 20th-century English women writers
- 1867 births
- Members of the Women Writers' Suffrage League