Maud Arncliffe Sennett
| Maud Arncliffe Sennett | |
|---|---|
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| Born | 4 February, 1862 London |
| Died | 15 September, 1936 Midhurst, Sussex |
| Nationality | English |
| Citizenship | United Kingdom |
| Spouse(s) | Henry |
(Alice) Maud Arncliffe Sennett or Alice Maud Mary Sparagnapane with a stage name of Mary Kingsley (4 February, 1862 – 15 September, 1936) was an English actress and suffragist.
Sennett was born in London to a family who owned a Christmas cracker and confectionery business. Her mother was Aurelia Williams and her father was Gaudente Sparagnapane. Sennet became an actress taking the name Mary Kingsley. She went on the stage and toured mainland Britain and she also spent a year in Australia. Her confidence with public speaking would be a skill she would use again later.
She married in 1898 and she and her husband, Henry Robert Arncliffe Sennett, took over the family business. In 1906 she read an article by Millicent Fawcett and this led to her to join the London Society for Women's Suffrage. She joined a number of suffrage societies but she served on the executive committees of the Women's Freedom League, the Actresses' Franchise League and the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU)'s branch in Hampstead.
Sennett wrote in 1910, "I am an employee of male labour, and the men who earn their living through the power of my poor brain, the men whose children I pay to educate, whose members of Parliament I pay for, and to whose old-age pensions I contribute – these are allowed a vote, while I am voteless."
Her sister, Florence Gertrude de Fonblanque decided it was a good idea to mount a march from Edinburgh to London to draw attention to the cause of women getting the vote. It was decided to march from Edinburgh to London. Only six women set off but as they traveled from Scotland to London they gathered others and a large interest from the media. Sennett assisted the march by organising a reception for her sisters and the other marchers when they arrived.
In 1913 she realised that men as well as women might have an interest in getting women the vote after she met a Scottish businessman named Alexander Orr. She founded the Northern Men's Federation for Women's Suffrage after the death of Emily Davison. She had attended her funeral on behalf of the Actresses Franchise League and decided to take the same train as Emily's coffin. As she went north she met Orr and they realised that the public sympathy would lead to many men with some influence joining a suffrage organisation. She was at the centre of the organisation and she called the members "her bairns" and she intended to use their influence to petition the Prime Minister. A verse was written by artist John Wilson McLaren
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