Elsie and Mathilde Wolff Van Sandau

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Elsie Wolfe Van Sandau and Matilde Wolfe Van Sandau
Years active1910–1914
OrganizationWomen's Social and Political Union
Known forSuffragette activism including window-smashing and imprisonment: Elsie awarded hunger strike medal. Mathilde known for vegetarianism and woman's chess.
RelativesGrandfather Dr. E Schwabe, private chaplain to the Duchess of Kent
HonoursElsie Wolfe van Sandau - Hunger Strike Medal for Valour

Elsie and Mathilde Wolff Van Sandau (died in 1926, aged 83)[1] were British suffragette sisters: Elsie was arrested for smashing shop windows, went on hunger strike and was awarded the Women's Social and Political Union Hunger Strike Medal 'for Valour'. Mathilde was a musician and suffragette, and was imprisoned twice,[2] also for smashing windows, and was a founder of London's women's chess club and an active vegetarian.

Life and suffrage activism[edit]

Elsie and sister Mathilde Wolff Van Sandau (also known as Matilda)[3] were the granddaughters of Dr. E. Schwabe, private chaplain to the Duchess of Kent.[4] Mathilde was a pianist, a music teacher and became a founder member of the London Ladies Chess Club,[5] and became a leader in vegetarian groups.[6]

Black Friday: police and a suffragette

The Wolff Van Sandau sisters joined the militant Women's Social and Political Union protesting on women's right to vote. They were among the three hundred women brutally attacked by police and men in the crowd for about six hours, on what is known as 'Black Friday' on 18 November 1910,[7] when the women's deputation approached the House of Commons but were prevented from entering. Over 100 women were arrested, including Miss Wolff de Sandau, as noted in the following day's Times newspaper[8] but all women were eventually released, without charge.[9]

Elsie's activism included joining the two hundred women, organised on 1st and 4 March 1912, to carry out what was a second wave of window smashing protests in Covent Garden, London.[4] This took place at the same time as the Parliament was debating a Conciliation Bill (for some women to get the right to vote, which was not passed).[10] Meanwhile, Mathilde, with Katie Mills, was arrested for smashing the windows of the Howick Place Post Office: postal services were seen by suffragettes as a 'symbol of oppressive male government'.[11]

Hunger strike[edit]

poster showing a suffragette being force-fed

Elsie Van Sandau was sent to prison and immediately went on hunger strike.[12] Suffragettes on hunger strike were frequently force-fed and objected to this 'treatment' as well as being treated as criminals not as 'political' prisoners.[13] A roll-call of those being released, excluding Patricia Woodlock, who got a longer sentence was created (probably for the WSPU welcome event).[14] In recognition of Elsie Van Sandau's suffering in prison, the WSPU awarded her a Hunger Strike Medal 'for Valour' designed by Christabel Pankhurst, with the ribbon in the colours of the women's suffrage movement – green, white and purple, representing 'hope, purity and dignity' – and a bar dated 4 March 1912.[15]

The presentation box was inscribed

ELSIE WOLFF VAN SANDAU – BY THE WOMEN'S SOCIAL & POLITICAL UNION IN RECOGNITION OF A GALLANT ACTION, WHEREBY THROUGH ENDURANCE TO THE LAST EXTREMITY OF HUNGER AND HARDSHIP, A GREAT PRINCIPLE OF POLITICAL JUSTICE WAS VINDICATED.

The National Archive record lists suffragette prisoners, including Elsie and Mathilde Wolff Van Sandau, who were officially pardoned when the WSPU discontinued militancy at the start of World War One.[16]

First women's chess club[edit]

In 1895, Mathilde had set up one of the first women's chess clubs,[17] being elected as the first vice-president of the London Ladies' Chess Club, which initially had to compete against men's clubs. She hosted chess committee meetings at her home 49 Elgin Crescent. Mathilde also advertised her music teaching and performances and availability for a more formal school engagement in the chess club magazine.[5]

Women leading in vegetarian societies[edit]

In 1897, Mathilde, a confirmed vegetarian, was among those who performed to an audience of 700, at the 4th International Vegetarian Congress of the International Vegetarian Union in London.[18] Later in her life, Mathilde Wolff van Sandau was chosen to be the honorary secretary of Brighton and Hove Vegetarian Society.[6]

In 1926, Matilda was lodging in Putney. She died in a local nursing home on 29 August 1926 aged 83 and was buried in Putney Vale Cemetery as Matilda Wolff.[1]

Hunger Strike Medal auctioned[edit]

Elsie's Hunger Strike medal came to light in a drawer[15] in a home in East Sheen, London a hundred years later, and it was auctioned in Derbyshire in June 2019.[12] It was sold privately for £12,500 and the valuer at Hansons Auctioneers,[4] Helen Smith, said of Elsie's action:

"Her decision to go on hunger strike shows she was willing to die for her cause. Would today’s generation of women have been so selfless? We’re very proud to sell this medal, which is worthy of a museum or an important suffragette collection."

The auctioneer Isabel Murtough remarked:

"I hope this find reminds people of the sacrifices Miss Wolff Van Sandau and her fellow suffragettes made a century ago to help women gain rights many of us now take for granted."

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "Solving a suffragette mystery – who was Miss Wolff van Sandau?". blogs.bl.uk. British Library Board. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
  2. ^ "Miss Matilda Wolff Van Sandau". Suffrage Resources. Retrieved 7 December 2019.
  3. ^ "Hunger strike medal awarded to Elsie Wolff van Sandau". www.peterharrington.co.uk. Retrieved 29 February 2020.
  4. ^ a b c "Medal awarded to suffragette 'prepared to die' for rights". hansonsauctioneers.co.uk. Retrieved 7 December 2019.
  5. ^ a b C (batgirl), S. B. (16 June 2013). "The Ladies' Chess Club: The First Year". Chess.com. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
  6. ^ a b The Animal's Defender and Zoophilist. 1914.
  7. ^ Sites of protest. Price, Stuart; Sanz Sabido, Ruth. London: Rowman & Littlefield International. 2016. ISBN 978-1-78348-765-3. OCLC 921868220.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  8. ^ "Suffragette Raiders Disorderly Scenes and Arrests at Westminster". The Times. 10 November 1910. Retrieved 9 December 2019.
  9. ^ Van Wingerden, Sophia A., 1967- (1999). The women's suffrage movement in Britain, 1866-1928. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Macmillan Press. ISBN 0-312-21853-2. OCLC 40269538.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  10. ^ "Priest House Suffragette Handkerchief" (PDF). Sussex Past. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 May 2021. Retrieved 7 December 2019.
  11. ^ Team, Stylist (22 September 2015). "Suffragette cities: walk a mile (or four) in the suffragettes' shoes". Stylist. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
  12. ^ a b "Suffragette's hunger strike medal found after 100 years". BBC News - local England - Derby. 30 May 2019. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
  13. ^ Atkinson, Diane (17 April 2018). Rise up, women! : the remarkable lives of the suffragettes. London. ISBN 978-1-4088-4404-5. OCLC 1016848621.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  14. ^ "ROLL CALL OF PRISONERS" (PDF). Elizabeth Freeman. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
  15. ^ a b Taub, Matthew (28 June 2019). "Found: A British Suffragette's Protest Medal in a Bureau Drawer". Atlas Obscura. Retrieved 7 December 2019.
  16. ^ SUFFRAGETTES: Amnesty of August 1914: index of people arrested, 1906-1914. 1914–1935.
  17. ^ The British Chess Magazine. Trubner & Company. 1895.
  18. ^ "International Congress 1897". ivu.org. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
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