Esther Roper
| Esther Roper | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born | 4 August 1868 |
| Died | 28 April 1938 (aged 69) Hampstead, London |
| Resting place | St John-at-Hampstead |
| Occupation | Organiser, suffragist |
| Partner(s) | Eva Gore-Booth |
Esther Roper (4 August 1868 – 28 April 1938) was an English suffragist and social justice campaigner who fought for equal employment and voting rights for working-class women.
Esther was the daughter of Edward Roper, a factory hand who later became a missionary, and Annie Roper, the daughter of Irish immigrants. She was educated by the Church Missionary Society.
She was one of the first women to study for a degree at Owens College in Manchester. In 1886 she was admitted as part of a trial scheme to establish whether females could study without harm to their mental or physical health. In 1897 with fellow student Marion Ledward, she founded and edited Iris, a newsletter for female students. Issued twice yearly until 1894 the publication highlighted issues impacting on women’s education, and encouraged networking between current and former students.
In 1891 Roper graduated from Owen’s College with a First class honours degree in Latin, English Literature and Political Economy. She maintained links with the college becoming a leading member of its women only Social Debating Society. In 1895 she helped establish the Manchester University Settlement in Ancoats to offer education and cultural opportunities to the local working poor. She was elected to its executive committee in 1896.
From 1893 until 1905 she held the salaried position of secretary of the Manchester National Society for Women’s Suffrage. Roper is credited with re-energising the organisation’s work which had lacked direction since the death of previous secretary Lydia Becker. Roper broadened the scope of the MNSWS votes for women campaign, steering the focus away from securing the interests of middle class women, to actively seeking out the involvement of working-class women as petition signatories and speakers for the cause. In 1897 the MNSWS changed its name to the North of England Society for Women’s Suffrage (NESWS) and became part of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies.
In 1896, suffering from exhaustion Roper holidayed at Scottish writer George Macdonald's guest house in Italy. There she met Irish poet and aristocrat Eva Gore-Booth. The couple fell in love and the following year Gore-Booth gave up a life of privilege to move in with Roper in a terraced house in Rusholme, Manchester. Esther later wrote of their meeting in Italy “For months illness kept us in the south, and we spent the days walking and talking on the hillside by the sea. Each was attracted to the work and thoughts of the other, and we soon became friends and companions for life.”
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