It was a great pleasure and privilege to speak in St Mary’s Church on International Women’s Day about my great-great-aunt Constance, whose ashes rest in the Mausoleum in Knebworth Park. The Mayor of Stevenage, Sherma Batson, had invited guests from around the county to honour the important role Constance played in the battle for Women’s Rights. Constance was a militant suffragette who, on hunger strike in Liverpool Prison, suffered forced feeding that led to a stroke and her early death in 1923, five years before the fight was won and women were given the vote.
I read from a eulogy by her cousin Adela Smith: “All that can be written or said of Con will always fall short of what those intimate with her knew her to be. How can one describe her presence, the grace of her figure, the charm of her manner, her laughter, or her intense feeling? Above all, it is beyond power to show the fullness of that noble golden heart, which could rise in defence of another’s wrong, but could never retaliate by anger or vituperation.”
Constance was further honoured that day by the premiere of a very fine play commissioned by the Mayor and Stevenage Arts Guild. The play was written by Ros Connelly who wrote the similar piece about Constance’s fellow suffragette, Emily Wilding Davidson, performed as part of our Village Festival in June 2013. At Knebworth House, throughout our summer season, we will continue the tribute with a special exhibit about Constance, her life and her struggle for the vote – work from which we will all benefit on 7th May, and into which she threw herself “with all the ardour of her great soul”.
Henry Lytton Cobbold
www.knebworthhouse.com