RootsChat.Com

Research in Other Countries => Canada => Canada Lookup Request => Topic started by: elliot on Sunday 22 October 23 18:34 BST (UK)

Title: Suffragette, Mary Raleigh RICHARDSON, 1882-1961 Canadian family ???
Post by: elliot on Sunday 22 October 23 18:34 BST (UK)
Suffragette Mary Raleigh RICHARDSON, 1882-1961 Canadian family ???
Can her Canadian background be verified?  Belleville, Ontario?
There may be some doubt about the stories that Mary told about her background and her suffrage experiences and achievements...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Richardson
https://www.suffrageresources.org.uk/database/2373/miss-mary-raleigh-richardson
http://www.hastingspress.co.uk/mrr.html
Title: Re: Suffragette, Mary Raleigh RICHARDSON, 1882-1961 Canadian family ???
Post by: CaroleW on Sunday 22 October 23 20:09 BST (UK)
Where does she fit into your Family History?  If no connection - what is your interest in her?

Have you found her on the Canadian 1891 census?

https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/1583536

Why do you doubt she was Canadian if everything else says she was?  If she was b 1882/83 she was rather young to travel from Canada to France in 1898

You can also look for Canadian births here

https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/1520604

Have you found her on the 1939 register which should show her full birthdate?
Title: Re: Suffragette, Mary Raleigh RICHARDSON, 1882-1961 Canadian family ???
Post by: *Sandra* on Sunday 22 October 23 20:25 BST (UK)
East Sussex, England, Electoral Registers, 1705-1963

Mary Raleigh Richardson Residence Date   1961
Street Address   46/47 St. James' Road
Residence Place   Sussex, England
Parliamentary Division   Hastings

Sandra
Title: Re: Suffragette, Mary Raleigh RICHARDSON, 1882-1961 Canadian family ???
Post by: *Sandra* on Sunday 22 October 23 20:26 BST (UK)


Name   Mary R Richardson - 1883 - 1961  (aged 78 years)
Registration district   Hastings   Sussex
Volume   5h Page   401

Sandra
Title: Re: Suffragette, Mary Raleigh RICHARDSON, 1882-1961 Canadian family ???
Post by: *Sandra* on Sunday 22 October 23 20:32 BST (UK)

East Sussex, England, Electoral Registers, 1705-1963 for Mary Raleigh Richardson - 1956

Mary Raleigh Richardson Residence Date   1956/59/61
Street Address   46/47 St. Jamesâ Road
Residence Place   Sussex, England
Parliamentary Division   Hastings

1957 - 46/47 St. Helenâs Road

Sandra

Title: Re: Suffragette, Mary Raleigh RICHARDSON, 1882-1961 Canadian family ???
Post by: *Sandra* on Sunday 22 October 23 20:39 BST (UK)

Richardson, Mary Raleigh (1882/3-1961), suffragette and political activist, was brought up by her Canadian mother in Belleville, Ontario, and her grandfather. She returned to Britain when she was sixteen, studying art and travelling to Paris and Italy.

https://hildakean.com/?page_id=290


Mentioned various books - Biography & Genealogy Master Index (BGMI)

https://flashbak.com/the-suffragette-and-fascist-mary-richardson-and-the-rokeby-venus-at-the-national-gallery-29704/npg-x45559-mary-raleigh-richardson-by-criminal-record-office/

https://hildakean.com/?page_id=290
Title: Re: Suffragette, Mary Raleigh RICHARDSON, 1882-1961 Canadian family ???
Post by: *Sandra* on Sunday 22 October 23 20:42 BST (UK)
Might be a link to this male infant death ??

Raleigh Richardson - Birth Date   28 Aug 1884
Birth Place   Hastings, Ontario, Canada
Father   Arthur M Perkins
Mother    Harriet Richardson

Harriet Maria Richardson and Arthur Noah Perkins - Married on Wednesday, September 1, 1880 in Belleville, Hastings, Ontario.

FIND A GRAVE

Raleigh Richardson PerkinS  1884 - 25 January 1885 (aged 0–1)

Burial -  Belleville Cemetery
Belleville, Hastings County, Ontario, Canada.

Sandra
Title: Re: Suffragette, Mary Raleigh RICHARDSON, 1882-1961 Canadian family ???
Post by: Lisa in California on Sunday 22 October 23 20:57 BST (UK)
Might be a link to this male infant death ??

Raleigh Richardson - Birth Date   28 Aug 1884
Birth Place   Hastings, Ontario, Canada
Father   Arthur M Perkins
Mother    Harriet Richardson…

Great find, Sandra!

If it wasn’t already mentioned above, a Richardson and a Purkins are on the Hastings(?) 1891 census.  (Sorry for no additional details; I already closed the page).
Title: Re: Suffragette, Mary Raleigh RICHARDSON, 1882-1961 Canadian family ???
Post by: CaroleW on Sunday 22 October 23 20:59 BST (UK)
Excellent detective work Sandra 🔎🕵️‍♀️
Title: Re: Suffragette, Mary Raleigh RICHARDSON, 1882-1961 Canadian family ???
Post by: Lisa in California on Sunday 22 October 23 21:01 BST (UK)
Harriett Purkins was divorced; included in the household was a Marguerite Purkins, and 8, born in Quebec Ontario.  Could she be Mary?

Added:  sorry, I am doing two things at the same time.  Harriette was not divorced; she was the daughter of Robert Richardson.  I’m stopping now before I make any more mistakes.  ;)
Title: Re: Suffragette, Mary Raleigh RICHARDSON, 1882-1961 Canadian family ???
Post by: *Sandra* on Sunday 22 October 23 21:04 BST (UK)
Harriet M Perkins passed away 21 st November 1897 Hastings Ontario.    Malignant Disease of Uterus.
This could be why one of those articles mentions Mary going to England when she was about 16 years old ? Being brought up by her mother and grandfather - Grandfather Robert Richardson born England 1825 was a Bank Manager on the 1871 census - Belleville, Hastings West, Ontario

FIND A GRAVE

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/227299100/harriet-m_j-perkins

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/227299100/harriet-m_j-perkins#view-photo=228187998

Sandra
Title: Re: Suffragette, Mary Raleigh RICHARDSON, 1882-1961 Canadian family ???
Post by: Lisa in California on Sunday 22 October 23 21:11 BST (UK)
There is at least one tree on Ancestry that appears to be this family.  However, they state that Margaret Mower Perkins passed away in 1961.

Ok, back to my other project.
Title: Re: Suffragette, Mary Raleigh RICHARDSON, 1882-1961 Canadian family ???
Post by: elliot on Sunday 22 October 23 22:27 BST (UK)
I am so delighted by all your responses and links that i am now reading carefully.
Particularly the various comments of the Historian Hilda Keane  https://hildakean.com/?page_id=290
I like the comment that Mary re-wrote her biography several times. I think that we should all follow her example!

I am always interested in suffrage issues and all the leading thinkers of the era.
My grandmother was reputed [not found] to have chained herself to Tower Bridge, London and I also have some Richardson family.
Thank you again.
Title: Re: Suffragette, Mary Raleigh RICHARDSON, 1882-1961 Canadian family ???
Post by: *Sandra* on Sunday 22 October 23 22:31 BST (UK)
Massachusetts Passenger List -  Margaret Browers Perkins - (as per ancestry transcription)

Margaret Browers Perkins - born 1883 Belleville Ontario (aged 25 years) single -
Departure Place   Liverpool, England - Last Residence Place   London, England
Final Destination Place   Boston, Massachusetts - Arrival Date   5 Feb 1908
Arrival Place   Boston, Massachusetts on the Cymric - Had been in the USA 1906 in NY.
Complexion   Fair Eye Colour   Brown
Hair Color   Brown Height   5 Feet 5 Inches
Person in Old Country Name   Miss Em Perkins - Aunt - Dorchester Street. Montreal.
Person in US Name   Mrs Waber - going to Adams House, 69 Bedford Street. Boston. MA.

Sandra
Title: Re: Suffragette, Mary Raleigh RICHARDSON, 1882-1961 Canadian family ???
Post by: *Sandra* on Sunday 22 October 23 22:36 BST (UK)

Quebec, Canada, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1968

Margaret Mower Perkins -  (Female) - Baptism Age   0
Event Type   Baptême (Baptism)
Birth Date    (24 Jul 1882)
Baptism Date  17 Nov 1882
Baptism Place   Montreal (Montréal), Québec (Quebec), Canada
Baptism Church   Saint Andrew; Montréal
Place of Worship or Institution   Presbyterian Saint Andrew
Religion   Presbyterian
Father    Mower
Mother    Harriet Maria Jane Richardson

Sandra

Title: Re: Suffragette, Mary Raleigh RICHARDSON, 1882-1961 Canadian family ???
Post by: elliot on Monday 23 October 23 02:45 BST (UK)
SANDRA
Thank you for these last two interesting records.
What alot of detail on the 1908 passenger list returning to Boston from Europe.
Perhaps I will now be able to find her on the UK 1921 census,
I also wonder why the Montreal cleric takes the trouble to write the long formal record. Did he do this for every baptism?

LISA suggests that the mother Harriet was divorced and died in 1897.  The estranged father dying in 1903.   Perhaps these events contributed to the later adoption of the RICHARDSON surname and the borrowing of the RALEIGH forename from her deceased brother.  These issues may go some way to explaining her later complex [disturbed] adult life as a militant suffragette.
She is supposed to have 'adopted' a boy whom she named Roger Robert RICHARDSON. I wonder if this was a late natural child.

Roger Robert Richardson Adopted ?
1928–1992
BIRTH 14 APR 1928 • Bournemouth, Dorset, England
DEATH APR 1992 • Bournemouth, Dorset, England
Title: Re: Suffragette, Mary Raleigh RICHARDSON, 1882-1961 Canadian family ???
Post by: *Sandra* on Monday 23 October 23 10:08 BST (UK)
Harriet was not divorced - the "D" stands for daughter to the head of house.

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MWL7-WKT

London, England, Electoral Registers, 1832-1965

Mary Raleigh Richardson Electoral Date   1918
Street Address   28 St. Ann's Vicarage
Ward or Division/Constituency   Bermondsey and Bethnal Green
County or Borough   Tower Hamlets, England

Mary Raleigh-Sj Richardson Electoral Date   1923
Ward or Division/Constituency   City of Westminster
County or Borough   Westminster, England

Mary Raleigh-Richardson SJ Electoral Date   1924
Street Address   6 Major
Ward or Division/Constituency   City of Westminster
County or Borough   Westminster, England

Mary Raleigh Richardson Electoral Date   1925
Street Address   22 Great Russell Street
Ward or Division/Constituency   Holborn
County or Borough   Camden, England

Kensington and Chelsea, London, England, Electoral Registers, 1889-1970

Mary Raleigh Richardson - Residence Date   1926
Residence Street Address   2 Oakley Street
Residence Borough   Kensington and Chelsea
Residence Place   London, England.

Mary Raleigh Richardson Residence Date   1927
Residence Street Address   2 Oakley Street
Residence Borough   Kensington and Chelsea
Residence Place   London, England

Mary Raleigh Richardson Residence Date   1928
Residence Street Address   59 Oakley Street
Residence Borough   Kensington and Chelsea
Residence Place   London, England

Mary Raleigh Richardson Residence Date   1929
Residence Street Address   59 Oakley Street
Residence Borough   Kensington and Chelsea
Residence Place   London, England

Mary Raleigh Richardson Residence Date   1930
Residence Street Address   59 Oakley Street
Residence Borough   Kensington and Chelsea
Residence Place   London, England

Mary Raleigh Richardson Residence Date   1931
Residence Street Address   443 Fulham Road
Residence Borough   Kensington and Chelsea
Residence Place   London, England

Mary Rayleigh Richardson Residence Date   1936
Residence Street Address   2 Oakley Street
Residence Borough   Kensington and Chelsea
Residence Place   London, England

Mary Rayleigh Richardson Residence Date   1937
Residence Street Address   2 Oakley Street
Residence Borough   Kensington and Chelsea
Residence Place   London, England

Sandra

Title: Re: Suffragette, Mary Raleigh RICHARDSON, 1882-1961 Canadian family ???
Post by: elliot on Monday 23 October 23 12:48 BST (UK)
SANDRA,
Many thanks for researching all these Electoral Rolls addresses

I am puzzled by the Ward name which covers both sides of the river Thames.
Mary Raleigh Richardson Electoral Date   1918
Street Address   28 St. Ann's Vicarage
Ward or Division/Constituency   Bermondsey and Bethnal Green
County or Borough   Tower Hamlets, England
====
I have yet to track down the address or Vicarage or Church of  "28 St. Ann's Vicarage" Perhaps it disappeared in the bobming of WWII?
Title: Re: Suffragette, Mary Raleigh RICHARDSON, 1882-1961 Canadian family ???
Post by: elliot on Monday 23 October 23 13:36 BST (UK)
Perhaps this is the St Ann's address?
https://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=51.51168%7E-0.030127&lvl=19.0&sp=Point.51.511674_-0.030314_Church+of+St+Anne___&style=g
Title: Re: Suffragette, Mary Raleigh RICHARDSON, 1882-1961 Canadian family ???
Post by: *Sandra* on Monday 23 October 23 19:18 BST (UK)
A little background on the Perkin family.

The Perkin family seemed quite well to do.  The Miss EM Perkins - Aunt referred to was Elinor M Perkins (sister to Arthur Mower Perkins) who was the last of the Perkin family to pass away 21 st November 1921

FIND A GRAVE

21 st November 1921 - Cimetière Mont-Royal
Outremont, Montreal Region, Quebec.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/109043055/eleanor-moore-perkins

Sandra

Title: Re: Suffragette, Mary Raleigh RICHARDSON, 1882-1961 Canadian family ???
Post by: *Sandra* on Monday 23 October 23 19:46 BST (UK)
John Adams Perkins Snr 1801 - 1871

Cimetière Mont-Royal
Outremont, Montreal Region, Quebec.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/108230714/john-adams-perkins

John Adams Jnr (Advocate) 1840 - 1875

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/108230715/john-adams-perkins

Margaret Perkins (advocate) passed 1812 - 1888
Lived Sherbrooke Street. Montreal.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/109043069/margaret-perkins

Sandra



Title: Re: Suffragette, Mary Raleigh RICHARDSON, 1882-1961 Canadian family ???
Post by: elliot on Monday 23 October 23 23:35 BST (UK)
SANDRA,
Thank you for extending the PERKINS and the MOWER families. You seem to be very familiar with all of the Canadian Public Records.

I am in the middle of reading the impressive 20 page essay from Hilda KEAN which covers some of the dillemas of any historian or genealogist and the possible predjudices and judgements that we bring to interperate the documents that we might find.
======

"Some Problems of Constructing and Reconstructing a Suffragette’s Life: Mary Richardson, suffragette, socialist and fascist."

HILDA KEAN
Ruskin College, Oxford, United Kingdom
ABSTRACT

Drawing on recent work on feminist autobiography, this article discusses the ways in which a range of autobiographical writing was used by Mary Richardson, a former suffragette, at different stages of her life. It considers the ways in which autobiography was rewritten to fit various political circumstances and to suggest political continuity and cohesion. The article explores the role of the historian in analysing her writing and raises questions about the use of autobiography in history. Mary  Richardson  –  suffragette,  socialist,  fascist  –  used  autobiographical writing at different periods in her life to give meaning and a sense of unity to  her  range  of  political,  public  activities.  A  study  of  the  way  in  which  she constructed  her  self  in  written  forms  at  different  times  of  her  life  may  be illuminating   both   for   a   study   of   autobiography   as   well   as   for   the development  of  suffrage  in  popular  memory.  My  own  interest  in  Mary Richardson’s  creation  of  her  life  follows  my  earlier  research  on  the  ways women  had  constructed  their  own  identities  through  public  activities  and autobiographical  writing  particularly  in  a  period  of  political  downturn  for feminism.  In Deeds  not  Words  [1]  I  looked  at  lives  of  teachers  who  were suffrage feminists and the way in which the suffrage movement was depicted by  them  as  determining  their  existence  after  the  vote  was  won  and throughout their teaching careers. Subsequently I looked at various suffrage autobiographies  of  the  1920s  and  1930s  and  explored  why  autobiography was used as a medium of writing. Drawing on the work in particular of LuisaPasserini and Alessandro Portelli, I explored some of the myths which were created  and  argued  that  the  suffrage  autobiographical  opus  had  become almost  a  collective  invention  of  the  past.[2]  I  stressed  the  important  role played  by  such  autobiographical  writing  in  helping  historians  understand.

Women’s History Review, Vol. 7, No. 4, 1998

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10.1080/09612029800200184?needAccess=true

======
I have also found an online archive, a readable copy of Mary's autobiography 'Laugh A Defiance'
https://archive.org/details/bwb_W7-DDF-869/page/n5/mode/2up?view=theater


Title: Re: Suffragette, Mary Raleigh RICHARDSON, 1882-1961 Canadian family ???
Post by: dbree on Tuesday 24 October 23 12:53 BST (UK)
Great stuff Sandra, well done. :)
Title: Re: Suffragette, Mary Raleigh RICHARDSON, 1882-1961 Canadian family ???
Post by: *Sandra* on Wednesday 25 October 23 05:10 BST (UK)

Thank you.  :) Probably a gap to fill after Mary left Canada to Paris, Italy and UK.  Change of name as well at some point,

Sandra
Title: Re: Suffragette, Mary Raleigh RICHARDSON, 1882-1961 Canadian family ???
Post by: Helena Wojtczak (Rosie) on Wednesday 10 January 24 22:36 GMT (UK)
Suffragette Mary Raleigh RICHARDSON, 1882-1961 Canadian family ???
Can her Canadian background be verified?  Belleville, Ontario?

Hi Elliot

May I ask, what is your interest in Mary Richardson? There may be something I can help you with.

Rosie
Title: Re: Suffragette, Mary Raleigh RICHARDSON, 1882-1961 Canadian family ???
Post by: elliot on Saturday 24 February 24 12:58 GMT (UK)
Greetings to you Rosie.  Just seen your post.

My maternal grandmother was a RICHARDSON and as I have tried to verify the family myths [or fibs] that, as a suffragette, she had chained herself to Tower Bridge in London.  In the course of my researches, I also came across this other  RICHARDSON with an interesting RALEIGH middle name.  Some biographers have suggested that some of her stories were exagerated.
I look forward to hearing your stories.
Title: Re: Suffragette, Mary Raleigh RICHARDSON, 1882-1961 Canadian family ???
Post by: elliot on Saturday 24 February 24 13:04 GMT (UK)
I hope that you got my PM....
Title: Re: Suffragette, Mary Raleigh RICHARDSON, 1882-1961 Canadian family ???
Post by: *Sandra* on Saturday 24 February 24 13:24 GMT (UK)
I hope that you got my PM....

Looks like that was the only post from Rosie and not online again since.
Hopefully she will eventually pick up your pm. Hope so.

Sandra
Title: Re: Suffragette, Mary Raleigh RICHARDSON, 1882-1961 Canadian family ???
Post by: Helena Wojtczak (Rosie) on Saturday 24 February 24 16:09 GMT (UK)
I hope that you got my PM....

All I have from you is one message asking if I received a previous message. And the site won't let me respond to you.
Title: Re: Suffragette, Mary Raleigh RICHARDSON, 1882-1961 Canadian family ???
Post by: Helena Wojtczak (Rosie) on Saturday 24 February 24 16:21 GMT (UK)
Greetings to you Rosie.  Just seen your post.

My maternal grandmother was a RICHARDSON and as I have tried to verify the family myths [or fibs] that, as a suffragette, she had chained herself to Tower Bridge in London.  In the course of my researches, I also came across this other  RICHARDSON with an interesting RALEIGH middle name.  Some biographers have suggested that some of her stories were exagerated.
I look forward to hearing your stories.

Mary Richardson cannot be your maternal grandmother. She died a childless spinster. She adopted a boy, Roger Richardson, who in due course had 5 children. His mother's surname was Betts.

Sadly all the research into Mary's possible real origins are not of any use to you.

Best of luck!

Rosie.
Mary Richardson was never reported in the press as chaining herself to anything. Nor did she claim to have done so in her autobiographical anecdotes which, were not exaggerated but wildly inaccurate or invented.

During my research I came across three other suffragettes with the surname Richardson. One was a lifelong spinster but the others were a Miss and a Mrs Richardson, presumably mother and daughter. I know nothing about them. They were unrelated to Mary so I scrolled on past them.
Title: Re: Suffragette, Mary Raleigh RICHARDSON, 1882-1961 Canadian family ???
Post by: elliot on Saturday 24 February 24 20:11 GMT (UK)
Sandra,
thank you so much for taking such good care of everybody!
Title: Re: Suffragette, Mary Raleigh RICHARDSON, 1882-1961 Canadian family ???
Post by: mckha489 on Saturday 24 February 24 21:11 GMT (UK)
Rosie has been back online today, but having only made one post can possibly not use the message system yet.

* post twice more Rosie.  A smiley will do
Title: Re: Suffragette, Mary Raleigh RICHARDSON, 1882-1961 Canadian family ???
Post by: Helena Wojtczak (Rosie) on Sunday 25 February 24 23:29 GMT (UK)
My internet was down for a few days.

I'm here now!
Title: Re: Suffragette, Mary Raleigh RICHARDSON, 1882-1961 Canadian family ???
Post by: Helena Wojtczak (Rosie) on Sunday 25 February 24 23:29 GMT (UK)
My internet was down for a few days.

I'm here now!
Title: Re: Suffragette, Mary Raleigh RICHARDSON, 1882-1961 Canadian family ???
Post by: Helena Wojtczak (Rosie) on Monday 26 February 24 10:44 GMT (UK)
Rosie has been back online today, but having only made one post can possibly not use the message system yet.

* post twice more Rosie.  A smiley will do

This site's a bit of a mystery to me, but I am here now, is there a message for me?
Title: Re: Suffragette, Mary Raleigh RICHARDSON, 1882-1961 Canadian family ???
Post by: elliot on Monday 26 February 24 21:00 GMT (UK)
Rosie,
Welcome back online and welcome to Rootschat.
Have you been able to re-read all the very interesting posts here?
You sound as if you also have researched her origins too!
Title: Re: Suffragette, Mary Raleigh RICHARDSON, 1882-1961 Canadian family ???
Post by: Helena Wojtczak (Rosie) on Friday 01 March 24 13:48 GMT (UK)
Rosie,
Welcome back online and welcome to Rootschat.
Have you been able to re-read all the very interesting posts here?
You sound as if you also have researched her origins too!

Yes, I have read the entire thread and I hope I have been of some help to the OP by explaining that she was not related to him.

I've been writing her biography since April 2022 and it's nearly finished.

Helena