Henrietta Dugdale

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Henrietta Dugdale
Henrietta Dugdale c. 1845
Born
Henrietta Augusta Worrell

(1827-05-14)14 May 1827
London, United Kingdom
Died17 June 1918(1918-06-17) (aged 91)
Point Lonsdale, Victoria, Australia
NationalityAustralian
OccupationSuffragist
Spouse(s)J. A. Davies (m.1848–1852)
William Dugdale (m.1853–?)
Frederick Johnson (m.1903–his death)

Henrietta Augusta Dugdale (née Worrell; 14 May 1827 – 17 June 1918) was a pioneer Australian who initiated the first women's suffrage society in Australia. Non-conformist, provocative and quick-witted, her campaigning resulted in breakthroughs for women's rights in Australia.

Early life and education[edit]

Henrietta Augusta Worrell was born at St Pancras London on 14 May 1827,[1] the second surviving daughter of John Worrell and Henrietta Ann (née Austin).[2] Her claim of a first marriage at 14[3] does not fit with her official marriage in 1848 to a merchant navy officer J. A. Davies, with whom she came to Australia in 1852.[4] After Davies' death she married ship's captain William Dugdale in Melbourne in March 1853. They settled at Queenscliff where sons Einnim, Carl and Austin were born. Dugdale was a vegetarian.[5][6]

After separating from William Dugdale in the late 1860s, she moved to the Melbourne suburb of Camberwell where she remained until a few years before her death on 17 June 1918 at Point Lonsdale. Her third husband Frederick Johnson, whom she married in 1903, predeceased her.

Career[edit]

Dugdale's campaign for 'equal justice for women' began with a letter to Melbourne's Argus newspaper in April 1869.[7] It peaked during the 1880s in radical public debate as a member of Melbourne's Eclectic Society and the Australasian Secular Association, through her utopian allegory A Few Hours in a Far-Off Age[8] and in the formation in May 1884 of the Victorian Women's Suffrage Society, the first of its kind in Australia. That same year, Henrietta wrote a scathing judgement of the Victorian courts, and their inability to protect women from violent crimes. Published in the Melbourne Herald, her words cut straight to the core of the issue: 'Women's anger,' she wrote, 'was compounded by the fact that those who inflicted violence upon women had a share in making the laws while their victims did not.'[citation needed]

Dugdale was acknowledged as a suffrage pioneer when Australian women attained the vote and the associated right to stand for federal parliament in June 1902[9] (a world first) and when the State of Victoria[10] belatedly followed suit in December 1908.[11] Dugdale died on 17 June 1918 in Point Lonsdale, Australia.[1]

Legacy[edit]

A street in the Canberra suburb of Cook is named for her.[12]

In 2013, Dugdale was nationally recognised as a critical first-wave Australian feminist, and The Dugdale Trust for Women & Girls, is named in honour of her life's work. Dugdale was inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women in 2001.[13] The Dugdale Trust for Women & Girls is a national harm-prevention institution for which The Victorian Women's Trust operates as trustee.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Brownfoot, Janice N. "Dugdale, Henrietta Augusta (1827–1918)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISSN 1833-7538. Retrieved 7 July 2019.
  2. ^ Susan Priestley (2011). Henrietta Augusta Dugdale An Activist 1827–1918. Melbourne Books. p. 11. Archived from the original on 21 March 2012.
  3. ^ "Mrs Dugdale". Table Talk: 6. 20 October 1899 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. ^ Susan Priestley (2011). Henrietta Augusta Dugdale An Activist 1827–1918. Melbourne Books. p. 58. Archived from the original on 21 March 2012.
  5. ^ Pearce, Sharyn. (1992). The Shameless Scribbler: Louisa Lawson. Sir Robert Menzies Centre for Australian Studies. p. 4
  6. ^ Magarey, Susan. (2001). Passions of the First Wave Feminists. UNSW Press. p. 26. ISBN 0-86840-780-1
  7. ^ "An Appeal to Mr. Higinbotham". The Argus. 13 April 1869. Written under the pseudonym "ADA".
  8. ^ Henrietta Dugdale (1883). A Few Hours in a Far-Off Age.
  9. ^ "Women's Suffrage: A City Celebration". The Mercury. Hobart. 20 June 1902. p. 2. Retrieved 9 July 2019.
  10. ^ "Australia's major electoral developments Timeline: 1788 – 1899 – Australian Electoral Commission". Aec.gov.au. 21 June 2012. Retrieved 21 June 2012.
  11. ^ "Australia's major electoral developments Timeline: 1788 – 1899 – Australian Electoral Commission". Aec.gov.au. 21 June 2012. Retrieved 21 June 2012.
  12. ^ "Australian Capital Territory National Memorials Ordinance 1928-1972". Australian Government Gazette. Periodic (National: 1974–1977). 13 April 1976. p. 1. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
  13. ^ Melbourne, National Foundation for Australian Women and The University of. "Dugdale, Henrietta Augusta - Woman - The Australian Women's Register". www.womenaustralia.info. Retrieved 8 August 2019.

Further reading[edit]

External links[edit]

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Henrietta Dugdale
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