Blurb:
It is 1905. Edwardian England.
Harriet Loxley, the daughter of a vicar and niece to a prominent Nottingham lace manufacturer, spends her days playing cricket with her brother, scouring the countryside for botanical specimens, and never missing an opportunity to argue the case for political power for women. Given the chance to visit the House of Commons, Harriet witnesses the failure of a historic bill for women’s voting rights. She also meets the formidable Pankhurst women.
When Harriet gets the chance to study biology at Bedford College, London, she finds her opportunity to be at the heart of the fight. From marching in the street, to speaking to hostile crowds, to hurling stones through windows, just how far will Harriet go?
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Motivations, Conflicts and Challenges
Strait Lace is the story of Harriet Loxley.
It is 1905. Harriet is the third child of the Reverend Robert Loxley and his wife Maria. The Reverend Loxley is the vicar of Lenton, a village on the edge of Nottingham. His elder brother, George, inherited the Nottingham lace manufacturing firm, where Harriet’s older brother works, as does her brother-in-law, Wesley. Robert and Maria have ensured a good education for all their children, until age eighteen, but only one, their fourth child, Will, has been subsidized to attend university. Left behind by the companion of her youth, her brother who accompanied her on long bike rides botanizing and who ensured she got to play cricket with the local lads, Harriet feels trapped in a worthwhile but unsatisfying existence.
The Loxleys are the sort of family that discusses politics over breakfast and Harriet has never had any scruples about advocating votes for women. When Will, now private secretary to a local member of parliament, gets her an invitation to attend a vote on a bill granting women the vote, Harriet seizes her chance to go to London. Upon meeting Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughter, Sylvia in the House of Commons lobby Harriet’s academic interest in women’s rights explodes into a desire for action.
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| Suffragette poster designed by Mary Lowndes, 1909, published by Brighton and Hove Women's Franchise. Artists' Suffrage League, via Wikimedia Commons |
Motivations, conflicts and challenges? The structure novelists are supposed to use – the scaffolding of the story arc and the starting point of the three-act story structure? I don’t plan my writing like that. I’m sure many people would say I should and it’s the route to best-selling success – but I don’t. I think of a character, put them in a situation and ask them how they are going to deal with it. When they’ve dealt with it, I ask them what they are going to do next.
But the motivations, conflicts and challenges are still there.
Motivations
Harriet is in many ways an ordinary product of her middle class environment. She’s well educated, loves nice clothes, is determined to remain slim and recognizes she has a position in society. On the other hand she bowls a mean cricket ball and doesn’t just draw flowers, she makes detailed scientific notes. At school she was she told should apply for Cambridge. But there was only money for her brother Will to go.
What does Harriet want?
Besides wanting women to vote, Harriet wants what her brother has, a chance to study at degree level and a life in politics. She feels trapped in her worthwhile but unsatisfying existence helping her mother with her father’s parish duties and caring for her elder sister’s children.
Harriet, you want to vote? What are you going to do about that?
I’m going to badger my brother into getting me an invitation to attend a debate.
Harriet, the bill failed. What are you going to do about that?
I’m going to keep in touch with the extraordinary Sylvia Pankhurst.
Harriet, you are living in London now? What are you going to do about working for the vote?
I’m going to find the headquarters of the Women’s Social and Political Union.
Conflicts
Harriet’s family, mostly, is supportive of her desire to vote. Harriet isn’t surprisingly modern. She likes the way she dresses. She is nervous about stepping outside social norms. So. where’s the family conflict?
Harriet’s brother-in-law, Wesley, is a thorn in her side, he is always contradicting and opposing her. But he’s only one man and she is sure he loves her really. Or does he? Wesley has the makings of a villain. Will he turn out that way?
Harriet is well-educated at a girls high school; a lot of middle class girls were by 1900. She even received a good grounding in sciences and has done a good deal of amateur botanizing. Where’s the societal conflict?
At first a degree course is beyond Harriet’s reach due to money. The Reverend Loxley’s savings must finance the promising second son. That problem is overcome when Harriet’s uncle finances her further education. But science? Studying science is not ladylike.
Harriet applies to art college with her sister but secretly seeks out somewhere to study biology. When her sister gets a scholarship to the Slade and Harriet gets a place at Bedford College their father is so overcome with pride he forgets all possible objections to his daughter going off to London. Besides, they will live with his sister-in-law who will keep a strict and proper eye on them.
Harriet, you want to help the women’s cause, can you overcome your sense of propriety, not to mention your aunt’s watchful eye, and put yourself on public view?
I think I can chalk pavements. I’m good at drawing.
Harriet falls head over heels in love with Thomas Bardhill, a young doctor working in a dispensary in London’s East End.
Harriet, what about this young man? Can’t you wait? You can’t marry and pursue your degree. You will lose your place at college.
No, not now I’ve felt this passion. No, I can’t wait. I’ll pursue a clandestine affair for as long as I can.
Challenges
Challenges come in ways expected and unexpected. Harriet’s brother-in-law repeatedly challenges her opinions. She’s used to that.
Harriet’s mother challenges her to pursue her own desires and not to try to please others. She didn’t expect that.
Christabel Pankhurst challenges Harriet to disrupt political meetings. Harriet backs away and offers to chalk pavements.
The big challenge, the one all the women fighting for the vote faced, is the government’s intransigence. It is the great mystery of the history of the period. Why, with bill after bill going through Parliament (and, as the first decade of the century progressed, bill after bill passing), did the government remain so stubborn?
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| Marie Newbys Women’s Social and Political Union medal, Barnstable Museum via Wikipedia Commons |
The women of the Pankhurst’s militant Women’s Social and Political Union are rising to the challenge.
How far will you go, Harriet?
Rosemary Hayward
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