Florence Annie Conybeare

Florence Annie Conybeare (13 September 1872 – 29 February 1916) was a British campaigner for the Women's Suffrage movement. She was a fundraiser and Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) worker during the First World War, and an active member of the Women's Liberal Federation.

Florence Conybeare was born Florence Annie Strauss on 13 September 1872 at 10 St. Johns Villas, Brixton Road, Brixton, London. She was the eldest daughter of Gustave Strauss, a successful German-speaking Bohemian glass merchant and patented inventor, who emigrated to Britain and later became a naturalised British subject. Florence's father was born in 1843 in Gablonz, North Bohemia, a town in the Czech Republic known for glass and jewellery production. Florence's mother was Frances Lehmaier (b. 1852 New York, USA; d. 1893 London, England). Florence was the elder sister of Bernard Edwin Strauss (born 1874) and Lily Julia Strauss (1877-1955), who later married George May, 1st Baron May, and became Lady Lily Julia May, 1st Baroness of Weybridge.

In 1881, Florence (8) was living with her father (38) and mother (29) in Bleak House, 7 Elgin Gardens, Effra Road, Brixton, in the Borough of Lambeth, London. She lived there with her brother Bernard Edwin (6 yrs) and sister Lily (4 yrs). Their household was run by four domestic servants and a cook.

By 3 April 1891, aged 18, Florence Strauss had moved to 2 West Bolton Gardens, Kensington, London—with her parents. No-one is listed as head of the household on that day as her parents were not present for census purposes. There were six servants looking after the household.

On 15 October 1896, Florence Annie Strauss, a twenty-four-year-old spinster from West Kensington, married the 43-year-old bachelor, former Liberal MP for Camborne, Cornwall, and practising barrister, Charles Augustus Vansittart Conybeare. The marriage was conducted in accordance with to the rites and ceremonies of the Theistic Church. The service was officiated by Charles Voysey, a freethinking Yorkshire vicar who was deposed for publishing heretical sermons and for denying the doctrine of everlasting hell. The church was situated in Swallow Street, Piccadilly, in the District of Westminster, London. Florence's brother and sister, Bernard and Lily, also got married in the same Theistic Church in 1900 and 1903, respectively.

...
Wikipedia