SUFFRAGIST, MONA CAIRD – Hampstead, NW6

 

She was born in 1854 daughter of John Alison, inventor of the vertical boiler, and Matilda Hector. She wrote stories and plays beginning in her early childhood, which reveal a proficiency in French and German as well as English.

In 1877, she married farmer James Alexander Henryson-Caird, son of Sir James Caird on whose land in Cassencary he worked. Her husband was supportive of her, and although he resided primarily at Cassencary, she spent only a few weeks a year there, spending much of her time in London and traveling abroad. She associated with literary people, including Thomas Hardy who was an admirer of her work, and educated herself in many areas of the humanities and science. The Cairds had one child, Alister James in 1884, and remained married until his death in 1921.

Active in the women's suffrage movement from her early twenties, Caird joined the National Society for Women's Suffrage in 1878, and later the Women's Franchise League, the Women's Emancipation Union (WEU), and the London Society for Women's Suffrage. Her essay "Why Women Want the Franchise" was read at the 1892 WEU Conference.

In 1908, she published the essay "Militant Tactics and Woman's Suffrage" and participated in the second Hyde Park Demonstration for women's suffrage.

She died in 1932.