Turning the Tide

The Life of Lady Rhondda

Angela V. John, Angela V John

• Publisher: Parthian Books
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN:
  9781909844728
• eBook ISBN:
  9781909844124
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Historical Biographies
• Index: Social Sciences

Drawing upon a varied array of sources, many of which were previously unused, this rich biography explores the public achievements and the fascinating private world of one of the most influential people in British society in the first half of the 20th century. The book tells the remarkable tale of Margaret Haig Thomas, the Second Viscountess Rhondda, a Welsh suffragette who held important posts during the First World War and who survived the sinking of the Lusitania. As a leading British industrialist, Thomas was instrumental in securing a seat for women in the House of Lords. Closely associated with figures such as Vera Britain, Winifred Holtby, and George Bernard Shaw, she also founded and edited the progressive weekly Time and Tide, which dazzled British society with its cutting-edge perspectives—including championing progressive views on women's rights in the 1920s—and which became a respected political commentator on national and international affairs. As she examines Lady Rhondda's achievements, biographer Angela V. John firmly roots them in their historical context, offering readers a fully realized portrait of a pivotal period in British history.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Contents
• Title Page
• Acknowledgements
• List of Abbreviations
• Lady Rhondda’s Life
• Introduction: Looking for Lady Rhondda
• 1. Margaret Haig Thomas
• 2. Mrs Mackworth: Marriage and Suffrage
• 3. ‘To Prison while the Sun Shines’
• 4. Survival: the Lusitania
• 5. War Service
• 6. Responsibility and Reputation
• 7. Being D.A.’s Daughter
• 8. ‘Quite a different place’: Reconstructing the Public and the Private
• 9. ‘The Queen of Commerce’
• 10. Time and Tide: The First Two Decades
• 11. A Woman-Centred World
• 12. Pointing the Way: the Six Point Group and Equal Rights
• 13. Reading Lady Rhondda
• 14. Entitlement: Viscountess Rhondda and the House of Lords
• 15. Friends and Foes: Politics and War
• 16. The Wrong Side of Time
• Postscript: Later
• Appendix
• Notes
• Illustrations
• Copyright