Winifred Holtby 1898-1935
It was a sad loss to the literary and journalistic world when Winifred Holtby died in 1935, aged on 37 years.
She continued writing until the very end. South Riding, was not published until after her death by Vera Brittain but it was almost as if in the completion Winifred had rounded off many things in her own life. The book itself married an ongoing tension in her own life, that of yearning for space to be an artist and writer of fiction, a life which needed space and time, and that of someone committed to what others and society needed of her and what she could offer. She had inherited much from her mother, who became the first woman Alderman in Hull, a dominant figure in Council decision making. She had also inherited the gentleness and contemplative traits from her father. In South Riding, she shows how the decisions made by local councils (politics) affect the individual's life. Having known she was dying from Bright's disease for over two years, the traumatic nature and complexity of facing death is written into the story, from the woman dying from cancer who fears that the time will come when she will be no longer able to bear the physical pain and hide her condition from her husband, another depicts the illness of a mind imprisoned within a helpless body and another fears dying in childbirth when there is already a large family living in squalor; in one way, or another, each face their own mortality with courage. Vera Brittain prefaces the last chapter of The Testament of Friendship with a poem which Winifred had written in 1932 – it is beautiful:
FOR THE GHOST OF ELINOR WYLIE
Coronation
Must you have roses for your coronation?
Orchids like butterflies,
Exotic lilies, and the clove carnation
That bleeds before it dies?
I have made you a wreath that is not of the laurel,
No laurels nor bays are mine.
My flowers are bindweed and the rusty sorrel,
Mallow and eglantine.
I have twisted my traveller's joy above your portal,
For traveller's joy is rest;
I have plucked for you thyme, since now you are immortal,
Quick-fading time's a jest.
And out of these I have woven a wreath and crowned you.
Below your delicate feet
I have spread my feathery grasses, and all around you
My wild wold flowers smell sweet.
My herbs are plain; but their stems are all the stronger,
And look! I offer you
Poppies, to make your quiet sleep last longer,
Mandragora, and rue.
Initially when finding she would not live for very long, Winifred railed against it, against the waste of an energetic life when there were many others who languished in luxury doing nothing. However, during an early convalescent period she had a religious experience on a cold spring morning when watching the lambs. On a walk she broke some ice so that they might get to the drinking water, and suddenly all seemed well. Soon after leaving University she had gone through a painful period of rejecting the dogmas of the Anglican Church. I did ask myself, why wasn't she aware of the Unitarians and thought that perhaps they were not better then at communication and promoting what they stood for than they are now.
But then I came across something which made me wonder whether there was more to it than that. Winifred and Vera were old type feminists as against the new styled feminists of which Eleanor Rathbone, of Unitarian roots, was one. Winifred believed and worked for a time when feminism wasn't needed any longer in order to justify being a working woman. She believed in equality in the work place, in politics etc. She believed and worked for justice and fairness for humankind. The new feminism of Eleanor Rathbone and others, fought for better provision of the special needs which women required because they were women; e.g. family allowance. To the end of her life Winifred supported practically and financially the ongoing problems of natives in Africa, leaving a legacy to ensure the projects in which she had been involved would continue. We often hear of the radicalism of the Unitarian movement in their approach to the woman question, I just wonder how much this is based on contrasting with other religions at the time or with what was happening in the wider world. I would be interested to hear from anyone who knows more about that period in our movement, whether or not it is worth exploring further. Working through the Essex Lectures from 1920-1935, when Winifred Holtby died, I find not one given by a woman!
