Charlotte Despard
| Charlotte Despard | |
|---|---|
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| Born |
Charlotte French 15 June 1844 Ripple, Kent, England |
| Died | 10 November 1939 (aged 95) Dublin |
| Nationality | Irish |
| Known for | suffragist |
| Spouse(s) | Maximilian Carden Despard |
Charlotte Despard (née French) (15 June 1844 – 10 November 1939) was an Anglo-Irish suffragist, novelist, Sinn Féin activist, vegetarian and anti-vivisection advocate.
Charlotte French was born in Ripple, Kent, the daughter of Commander John Tracy William French of the Royal Navy (who died in 1855) and Margaret French, née Eccles (who died suffering from insanity in 1867). Her father was born in Woodbridge, Suffolk. Her brother John French became both a leading military commander during World War I and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, putting them on opposing political sides in later life.
She regretted her lack of education, although she did attend a finishing school in London. In 1870, she married businessman Maximilian Carden Despard, who died at sea in 1890; they had no children.
Charlotte published seven novels and has three unpublished novels. Her first novel was Chaste as Ice, Pure as Snow.
Following her husband's death when she was 46, Despard was encouraged by friends to take up charitable work. She was shocked and radicalised by the levels of poverty in London and devoted her time and money to helping poor people in Battersea. She lived above one of her welfare shops in one of poorest areas of Nine Elms during the week and converted to Roman Catholicism. In 1894 she stood and was elected as a Poor Law Guardian for Lambeth poor law union. She retired from the board in 1903.
She became good friends with Eleanor Marx and was a delegate to the Second International. She campaigned against the Boer War as a "wicked war of this Capitalistic government" and she toured the United Kingdom speaking against the use of conscription in the First World War, forming a pacifist organisation called the Women's Peace Crusade to oppose all war.
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