{{Short description|English suffragist}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2025}} {{Use British English|date=May 2025}} {{Infobox person | occupation = Suffragist | organization = Women's Social and Political Union<bR>Bristol and West of England Society for Women's Suffrage<bR>Women's Liberal Federation }}
'''Maria Colby''' was an English suffragist and was one of the early campaigners for women's enfranchisement. She was later a member of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) and the Bristol and West of England Society for Women's Suffrage.
== Activism == Colby was an early campaigner for women's suffrage in England. On 10 December 1880, Colby participated in a meeting held by Cheltenham's newly elected Member of Parliament, Charles de Ferrieres, which drew up a memorial for the British Prime Minister William Gladstone urging for the vote to be granted to women.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Bild |first=Ian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iC1WAAAAYAAJ&q=Maria+Colby+suffrage |title=Bristol's Other History |date=1983 |publisher=Bristol Broadsides |isbn=978-0-906944-16-5 |pages=103 |language=en}}</ref> The memorial argued that women being denied the vote on the basis of their sex was "directly opposed to the fundamental principle of representative government."<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Rowbotham |first=Sue |date=2015 |title=The Women's Suffrage Movement in Cheltenham, 1871-1914 |url=https://cheltlocalhistory.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/J31-2015.pdf |journal=Cheltenham Local History Society |volume=31 |pages=5}}</ref>
Colby co-organized the Birmingham Grand Demonstration in support of women's suffrage with Harriet McIlquham, which was held on 22 February 1881.<ref>{{Cite ODNB |last=Walker |first=Linda |date=2004 |title=McIlquham [M'Ilquham; née Medley], Harriett (1837–1910), local politician and suffragist |url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-41213 |access-date=2025-05-25 |language=en |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/41213}}</ref> In 1883, Colby organised women's suffrage meetings on Durdham Downs in Bristol for 22 consecutive evenings.<ref name=":0" />
Colby 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 Margaret Tanner, Helen Priestman Bright Clark, Emily Sturge, 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>
The Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU)'s Bristol branch was opened by Annie Kenney in 1907<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Crawford |first=Elizabeth |author-link=Elizabeth Crawford (historian) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uUrKCVn9VZkC&dq=Maria+Colby+suffrage&pg=PA131 |title=The Women's Suffrage Movement in Britain and Ireland: A Regional Survey |date=2013-04-15 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-01054-5 |pages=131–132 |language=en}}</ref> and Colby joined as a member.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Connolly |first=Robin |date=2019-02-05 |title='The vote is the emblem of equality'. Honouring the Bristolian Suffragettes. |url=https://epigram.org.uk/histories-of-bristol-suffragettes/ |access-date=2025-05-25 |website=Epigram |language=en |archive-date=25 May 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250525120925/https://epigram.org.uk/histories-of-bristol-suffragettes/ |url-status=live }}</ref> She was also a member of the Bristol and West of England Society for Women's Suffrage,<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=The Radical Routes of Suffrage |url=https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/blogs/news/3589-the-radical-routes-of-suffrage |access-date=2025-05-25 |website=Verso Books |language=en |archive-date=25 May 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250525120925/https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/blogs/news/3589-the-radical-routes-of-suffrage |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Arrowsmtih |first=J. W. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e6wHAAAAQAAJ&dq=Maria+Colby+bristol&pg=PA290 |title=Arrowsmith's dictionary of Bristol, ed. by H.J. Spear and J.W. Arrowsmith |date=1884 |pages=289–290 |language=en}}</ref> later becoming a paid organiser for the society.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Crawford |first=Elizabeth |author-link=Elizabeth Crawford (historian) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a2EK9P7-ZMsC&dq=Maria+Colby&pg=PA83 |title=The Women's Suffrage Movement: A Reference Guide 1866-1928 |date=2003-09-02 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-43402-1 |language=en}}</ref>
Colby campaigned for women's enfranchisement by knocking on doors in the working-class area of St Philip's and St Jacob's in Bristol and "became so weary of objections to women's suffrage, based on the idea that the primary duty of women is to darn stockings" that she placed an advertisement for a holey-socked man to marry in a local paper:<ref name=":3" /> {{Block quote|text=Wanted – A postman to marry, who walks with might, Or policeman on duty by day and night, Or telegraph racer with heels of horn, Who'll bring me daily some stockings to darn}} Colby was also a member of the Women's Liberal Federation, an organisation linked to the Liberal Party.<ref name=":2" />
== Personal life == Colby had a daughter named Cordelia Colby who was also active in the local women's suffrage movement.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Benson |first=Derek |title=Women's Suffrage Activism in Cheltenham |url=https://www.glosdocs.org.uk/sites/groups/tewkesbury/suffragettes_cheltenham.pdf |access-date=25 May 2025 |website=Gloucestershire Local History Association |archive-date=25 May 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250525121456/https://www.glosdocs.org.uk/sites/groups/tewkesbury/suffragettes_cheltenham.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>
== References == {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Colby, Maria}} Category:English suffragists Category:Women's Social and Political Union Category:Date of birth missing Category:Place of birth missing Category:Date of death missing Category:Place of death missing