Elizabeth Clarke Wolstenholme Elmy

Elizabeth Clarke Wolstenholme Elmy (1834-1918) was a British essayist and poet, who also wrote under the pseudonyms E, Ellis, Ellis Ethelmer, and Ignota. She was the daughter of Revd Joseph Wolstenholme who died around 1843. Her mother had already died and she was brought up by her stepmother Mary. Deprived of an adequate education, she became an ardent feminist and vigorous campaigner.

She was Honorary Secretary to the Manchester Women's Suffrage Society (1865), Secretary to the Married Women's Property Committee (1867-1882), a founding member of the Women's Franchise League (1899) and the founder of the Women's Emancipation Union (1891).

She published a long feminist poem, Woman Free (1893); two sex education manuals (The Human Flower, 1894, and Baby Buds, 1895) and many pamphlets, including her last work, Woman's Franchise: The Need of the Hour (1907).

Elizabeth married a schoolteacher later a poet, Ben Elmy. In the UK census she is listed as "Elizabeth Woolstencroft" living with Benjamin Elmy. Her brother Joseph Wolstenholme (1829-1891) was a professor of mathematics.

References

External links

• Page for Elizabeth Wolstenholme on Spartacus