Gertrude Richardson

Gertrude Richardson
Gertrude Richardson (c. 1912)
Born	Gertrude Matilda Twilley 1875 Leicester, England
Died	1946
Nationality	British, Canadian
Occupation	Socialist, feminist

Gertrude Richardson (born Gertrude Matilda Twilley; 1875–1946) was an English-born pacifist, feminist and socialist who was prominent in the fight for women's rights in Manitoba, Canada before World War I (1914–18). During the war she became disillusioned with the women's movement, since many of its members supported the fighting. She suffered from recurrent physical and mental illness after the war, and ended her life in a mental hospital.

Gertrude Matilda Twilley was born in Leicester, England in 1875 to a working-class family. She married, but was abandoned by her husband within a year. The marriage was never consummated, but was also never annulled or invalidated. Her family was involved in the peace movement during the Second Boer War (1899–1902). Gertrude collected petitions and gave out anti-war literature for the Stop the War Committee. She had poor health, and the stress of the war and the death of her father seem to have contributed to a nervous breakdown. She was periodically hospitalized from 1901 to 1906.

Gertrude Twilley was deeply religious, and felt that a true Christian should feel compassion for all suffering people and should work for economic and social justice. For the sake of justice women should have the vote, and women's moral sensitivity could work good against the greed and violence of men, Gertrude therefore became involved in the women's suffrage movement in Leicester. She also wrote for the Midland Free Press, a weekly socialist paper published in the Midlands of England.

In 1911 Gertrude and her mother moved to Canada to stay with her brother Fred on his homestead in the Roaring River district of Manitoba, to the south of the town of Swan River. Gertrude settled in easily, and began to publish verse and articles in the Swan River Star. The Manitoba Grain Growers' Association had taken a position in favor of suffrage in 1911. The Roaring River Suffrage Association was founded in March 1912, with both men and women as members. Getrude Twilley was president and her sister Fannie Livesey was secretary. They thought they were the first suffrage group in Manitoba. Gertrude married Robert Richardson, a successful local farmer, and took his name. He was at least twenty-five years older than Gertrude. They adopted a child.