# Maria Colby

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{{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](/source/Women's_Social_and_Political_Union)<bR>Bristol and West of England Society for Women's Suffrage<bR>[Women's Liberal Federation](/source/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](/source/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](/source/suffrage) in England. On 10 December 1880, Colby participated in a meeting held by Cheltenham's newly elected [Member of Parliament](/source/Member_of_Parliament_(United_Kingdom)), [Charles de Ferrieres](/source/Charles_de_Ferrieres), which drew up a memorial for the British Prime Minister [William Gladstone](/source/William_Ewart_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](/source/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](/source/Birmingham) Grand Demonstration in support of women's suffrage with [Harriet McIlquham](/source/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](/source/Durdham_Down) in [Bristol](/source/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](/source/International_Council_of_Women), which was held in 1888 in America. Other signers included [Margaret Tanner](/source/Margaret_Tanner), [Helen Priestman Bright Clark](/source/Helen_Bright_Clark), [Emily Sturge](/source/Emily_Sturge), [Mary Estlin](/source/Mary_Estlin) and [Louisa Swann](/source/Louisa_Swain), 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](/source/Women's_Social_and_Political_Union) (WSPU)'s Bristol branch was opened by [Annie Kenney](/source/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](/source/Darning) 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](/source/Women's_Liberal_Federation), an organisation linked to the [Liberal Party](/source/Liberal_Party_(UK)).<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 ==
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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

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Maria Colby](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Colby) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Colby?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.