{{Short description|British women's education activist (1847–1892)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = Emily Sturge | image = Emily Sturge 1892.jpg | image_size = | caption = by unknown | birth_name = | birth_date = 20 April 1847 | birth_place = Cotham, Bristol, England | death_date = {{death date and age text|3 June 1892|20 April 1847}} | death_place = Cotham, Bristol, England | death_cause = | other_names = | known_for = campaigner for women's suffrage and education | education = | employer = | occupation = | parents = | relatives = | signature = | website = | footnotes = }} '''Emily Sturge''' (20 April 1847 – 3 June 1892) was a British campaigner for women's education. She was secretary of the west of England branch of the National Society for Women's Suffrage.
==Life== [[File:Highbury_Villa_2_Cotham_Road.jpg|left|thumb|180x180px|Highbury Villa (2 Cotham Road), Cotham]] Sturge was born in 1847 in Highbury Villa, Cotham Road, Bristol.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sturge |first=Elizabeth |url=https://archive.org/details/sturge-reminiscences/page/n103/mode/2up |title=Reminiscences of my Life and some account of the children of William and Charlotte Sturge and of the Sturge Family of Bristol |date=1928 |publisher=privately printed |location=Bristol |pages=79–86 |chapter=Emily Sturge 1847—1892}}</ref> This is the property now known as 2 Cotham Road.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1874 |title=Ashmead's Map of the City and Borough of Bristol (1874) |url=https://maps.bristol.gov.uk/kyp/?edition= |access-date=26 March 2025 |website=Know your place: Bristol}}</ref> She was the first of eleven children born to Charlotte Allen and William Sturge. The Sturge family were prominent amongst British Quakers and related by marriage to many of the other leading Quaker families. Her siblings were Margaret, Elizabeth, William, Mary, John, Charles, Guli, Helen Maria, Clement and Caroline.<ref name="route">{{Cite web|title=Routes Into Women's History|url=http://humanities.uwe.ac.uk/bhr/Main/women_routes/6_some.htm|access-date=2020-09-11|website=humanities.uwe.ac.uk|archive-date=24 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230324114030/http://humanities.uwe.ac.uk/bhr/Main/women_routes/6_some.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> Five of the Sturge daughters, including Emily, would be involved in improving the prospects for women to gain a higher education,<ref name="emily">{{Cite ODNB|title=Sturge, Emily (1847–1892), campaigner for women's education and suffrage|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-51774|access-date=2020-09-11|year = 2004|language=en|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/51774}}</ref> but Emily and Elizabeth were the leading lights.<ref name="route" /> Emily's own education ceased at the age of fourteen but her younger sisters were able to go on to higher education.<ref name="emily" />
She was a leader in the Bristol Women's Liberal Association where she campaigned for women's rights including by electoral reform.<ref name=emily/>
University College in Bristol was founded in 1876, although it was not recognised as a university until 1909. The University College arranged lectures that women including the Sturge sisters could attend.<ref name="emily" />
She and Elizabeth were involved in the creation of Redland High School for Girls which opened in 1882. They both served as governors.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Redmaids High School – blue plaques celebrate votes for women – Bristol Civic Society|date=20 March 2018 |url=https://www.bristolcivicsociety.org.uk/redmaids-high-school/|access-date=2020-09-11|language=en-GB}}</ref>
She was a suffragist and became secretary of the west of England branch of the National Society for Women's Suffrage<ref name=plaque/> in 1878 after being a member since 1872 and the society members were regular visitors at her home. The society had been formed only a few years before at Matthew Davenport Hill's house.<ref name=emily/>
Sturge was among the signatories of a supportive letter sent to the first meeting of the International Council of Women, which was held in 1888 in America. Other signers included Helen Priestman Bright Clark, Maria Colby, Margaret Tanner, Mary Estlin and Louisa Swann, all under the title "In the Fellowship of Womanhood."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rowbotham |first=Sheila |author-link=Sheila Rowbotham |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gm7nDwAAQBAJ&dq=Maria+Colby+suffrage&pg=PA1888 |title=Rebel Crossings: New Women, Free Lovers and Radicals in Britain and the United States |date=2016-10-11 |publisher=Verso Books |isbn=978-1-78478-590-1 |pages=1888 |language=en}}</ref>
== Death and legacy == thumb|Blue Plaque to Sturge sisters at the former Redland High School for Girls Sturge died in Cotham in 1892 after falling from a horse.<ref name=emily/> An obituary was written by her aunt Matilda Sturge.<ref name=matilda>{{Cite ODNB|title=Sturge, Matilda (1829–1903), Quaker minister and essayist|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-57740|access-date=2020-09-11|year=2004|language=en|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/57740|last1=Allen|first1=Margaret}}</ref>
In 2018 blue plaques were unveiled commemorating Emily, her sister Elizabeth Sturge and Agnes Beddoe at Redmaids' High School.<ref name=plaque>{{Cite news|date=27 March 2018|title=Redmaids' salutes suffragist governors|work=Henleaze and Westbury Voice|url=https://www.henleazeandwestburyvoice.co.uk/redmaids%E2%80%99-salutes-suffragist-governors}}{{Dead link|date=December 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot }}</ref> In 2021, another Blue Plaque was unveiled on the gateway of the former Redland High School for Girls, dedicated to Emily and Elizabeth .<ref>{{Cite web |last=Young |first=Gordon |date=17 June 2021 |title=Sturge Sisters blue plaque |url=https://www.bristolcivicsociety.org.uk/sturge-sisters-blue-plaque/ |access-date=23 March 2025 |website=Bristol Civic Society}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sturge, Emily}} Category:1847 births Category:1892 deaths Category:Politicians from Bristol Category:British suffragists Category:Deaths by horse-riding accident in England Category:National Society for Women's Suffrage