Maud Pember Reeves | |
|---|---|
 Reeves, date unknown | |
| Born | Magdalene Stuart Robison (1865-12-24)24 December 1865 Mudgee,New South Wales, Australia |
| Died | 13 September 1953(1953-09-13) (aged 87) Auckland, New Zealand |
| Occupation | Political activist |
| Known for | Feminism, membership of theFabian Society |
| Notable work | Round About a Pound a Week (1913) |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3, includingAmber Reeves |
Maud Pember Reeves (24 December 1865 – 13 September 1953) (bornMagdalene Stuart Robison) was a feminist, writer and member of theFabian Society. She spent most of her life inNew Zealand andBritain.
She was born inMudgee,New South Wales, Australia, to bank manager William Smoult Robison; the family moved toChristchurch, New Zealand in 1868. In 1885, she married the journalist and politicianWilliam Pember Reeves and became interested insocialism and thesuffragist movements, having become involved in the suffrage issue throughJulius Vogel.[1][2]Women's suffrage in New Zealand was granted in 1893, Maud having joined theCanterbury Women's Institute in 1892, and been an activist on its behalf, collecting signatures for a petition.[3][4][5]
In 1896, the family moved toLondon after William's appointment asAgent-General, the representative of New Zealand government within theBritish Empire.
In the late 1890s, Maud Pember Reeves joined thePioneer Club.[6]
The couple became friends with a number of left-wing intellectuals, such asGeorge Bernard Shaw,H. G. Wells, andSidney andBeatrice Webb. Maud joined the Fabian Society which promoted social reform.
Reeves was one of the founders of the Fabian Women's Group (FWG), withCharlotte Wilson.[2] WithCharlotte Shaw andBessie Hutchins, she had pressed in 1907 on the Fabian Society executive for action onsex equality, supported also byMillicent Murby, but encountered reluctance.[7] She hosted the first meeting of the FWG in the family home. Other members of the FWG includedBeatrice Webb,Alice Clark,Edith Nesbit,Susan Lawrence,Margaret Bondfield, andMarion Phillips.[2]
During thesuffragist protests of 1908, 11 members of the FWG were imprisoned.[8] Lady Glasgow (née Dorothea Hunter-Blair), wife ofDavid Boyle, 7th Earl of Glasgow, spoke for theWomen's National Anti-Suffrage League and claimed the1893 New Zealand general election was disorderly, from the standpoint of one married to theGovernor-General of New Zealand at the time. Maud Pember Reeves andAnna Stout contradicted her directly, stating they were eyewitnesses in a way she was not.[9]
A further concern of the FWG was theeconomic independence of women.[10] Members who wrote on this area included alsoMabel Atkinson andBarbara Drake.[11] In 1913 Reeves published asFabian Tract #162 a survey of poverty inLambeth, a poor borough inSouth London, calledRound About a Pound a Week, a work that was reprinted in 2008 byPersephone Books.[12]
During theFirst World War, Reeves served on a government committee concerned with women's issues. She was director of the Education and Propaganda department of theMinistry of Food;[13] and in 1917–1918, she directed withConstance Peel the women's service of the Ministry concerned with voluntaryrationing.[14]
William and Maud Reeves had two daughters, thefeminist writerAmber Reeves (born 1887) and Beryl (born 1889); and one son, Fabian Pember Reeves (1895–1917). He was killed in theFirst World War, aged 21 while a Flight Lieutenant in theRNAS. Maud gave her (legal) name as Magdalene (or Magdalen) Stuart Reeves on their New Zealand birth certificates.
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