In this letter from 1980, writer and activist Ethel Mannin (1900-1984) refers to her own involvement with anarchism, and comments on anarchists Emma Goldman, Marie Louise Berneri and Kitty Lamb. I had written asking if she would agree to be interviewed by members of the anarchist feminist history group, as part of our research into … Continue reading Research note November 2025: a letter from Ethel Mannin
Reminding us that the horrors of war extend far beyond the battlefield, Wilfrid Gibson’s poem ‘Katherine Veitch’ tells of a mother driven to madness by the loss of her son at the battle of Loos in 1915. Gibson, one of the first poets to write about World War 1, had previously described soldiers with shell-shock; … Continue reading A Poem for Armistice Day 2025: Katherine Veitch by Wilfrid Gibson
When British poet and aphorist Elizabeth Gibson Cheyne described herself in Who’s Who as a suffragist, socialist and freethinker, she was actively constructing a public identity not just as a writer, but as an activist. But identities can’t be so neatly categorised and controlled. I have just uploaded a short paper discussing some of the … Continue reading New in February 2025: ‘I am a Suffragist, Socialist and Freethinker’: Shaping a Political Identity in the Early 20th Century
This lesser-known war poem by Wilfrid Gibson was written shortly after the birth of his first child, Audrey, on May 31, 1916. It remains all too relevant today One-Day-Old Baby asleep on my arm, Would that my heart could enfold you, Cherish you, shelter you, hold you Ever from harm. Born in a season of … Continue reading For Armistice Day 2023: poem by Wilfrid Gibson
‘True patriotism is a burning shame for our country’s injustice and wrongdoing’ — Elizabeth Gibson, 1908. British poet Elizabeth Gibson Cheyne contributed to the ferment of new ideas about art, religion, poetry and politics in the early twentieth century. She was a suffragist, socialist and freethinker as well as a poet, and her social networks … Continue reading New in November 2023: ‘A Poet among the Social Reformers’, Elizabeth Gibson Cheyne: Suffragist, Socialist and Freethinker.
‘Strength will not come through hiding or minimizing our differences.’ Two articles originally published in the nineteen-seventies give an insight into some of the developments and political debates in the UK Women’s Liberation Movement at the time, while raising some issues still relevant to feminist and other social movements today. Censorship and Self-oppression (1976) by … Continue reading New in August 2023: 1970s Women’s Liberation Movement articles from Catcall.
I’m happy to announce that my biographical article about Elizabeth Gibson Cheyne has just been published in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online. In her lifetime she was sufficiently well known to be included in Who’s Who (first appearing there in 1912, a year earlier than her brother, poet Wilfrid Gibson)—but it has taken … Continue reading News July 2023: Elizabeth Gibson Cheyne Added to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography; plus new selection of her poems
In June 1916, London anarchists Lilian Wolfe and her companion, Tom Keell, were prosecuted under the wartime Defence of the Realm Act for publishing an anti-conscription leaflet. Lilian, who was pregnant at the time, pleaded ‘Guilty – of telling the truth’. Both chose prison rather than paying fines, though Lilian was released early because of … Continue reading New in October 2022: ‘I didn’t know I was the child of unusual parents’: Tom Keell Wolfe interview notes
I have just posted unpublished notes from two interviews with activist Kitty Lamb (1901 – 1992) about her life and the development of her anarchist beliefs. She participated in raising money for the Republic during the Spanish Civil War, war resistance in the Second World War, the campaign against capital punishment in the nineteen-fifties, and … Continue reading New in August 2022: ‘I was born an anarchist’: Kitty Lamb interview notes
Here are four poems for Armistice Day, by Wilfrid Gibson. Best known for his poems of the First World War, he continued to write about war and its aftermath until the Second World War. For more of his war poems, see Suspense and War Poems Bacchanal (November, 1918) Into the twilight of Trafalgar Square They … Continue reading Wilfrid Gibson poems for Armistice Day, November 2018