Norah Elam

Norah Elam also known as Norah Dacre Fox, (née Norah Doherty, 1878–1961) was a radical feminist, militant suffragette, anti-vivisectionist and fascist in the United Kingdom. Born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1878 to John and Charlotte Doherty, she emigrated to England with her family and by 1891 was living in London. Norah married Charles Richard Dacre Fox in 1909.

Political activity

Norah was a member of the Womens Social and Political Union and between May and July 1914 was imprisoned three times^[1] in Holloway Prison for 'acts of terrorism' and received a suffragette hunger strike medal.

In 1918 she stood as an independent candidate for election to the Parliament of the United Kingdom but was not elected. The same year Norah campaigned for the internment of enemy aliens in collaboration with the British Empire Union and the National Party.^[2]. Norah Elam stated publicly in The Times that she was never a member of the Women's Freedom League (contrary to some reports).^[2].

Norah Elam claimed to be a founding member of the London and Provincial Anti-Vivisection Society (LPAVS). Documentary evidence of this has not been found, but it is known that she was a member from about the time of its inception circa 1900. In the 1930s she had published under the auspices of the LPAVS two pamphlets: "The MRC: What it is and How it Works" and "The Vitamin Survey". The pamphlets were widely distributed throughout the UK, including public libraries.

By the 1930s, Norah had separated from her husband, and was living with Edward Descou Dudley Vallance Elam whose surname she adopted. They lived in Sussex where they were active in the local Conservative Party however they defected to Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists soon after its creation and Norah became prominent in the women's section. Norah was a frequent contributor to the Fascist press and in 1937 was put forward as a candidate for the British Union of Fascists for the Northampton constituency,^[1] but the election never took place. Mosley used Norah's suffragette past to counter the criticism that National Socialism was anti-feminist saying that her prospective candidacy "killed for all time the suggestion that National Socialism proposed putting British women back in the home".^[1] In 1940 Norah and Dudley Elam were arrested as Defence Regulation 18B detainees^[1] and Norah was interned in Holloway Prison with several other female fascists including Diana Mosley.

Her granddaughters, Susan and Angela McPherson, described in a BBC documentary that they had no idea until 2002 the role Elam played was at the very center of the fascist movement. Angela remembered that Elam had been a suffragette who claimed to have been close to the Pankhursts, but had never thought to try to find out anything further. A sudden decision to google Norah Elam one day started to throw up information she had not been aware of. Angela felt that she had subconsciously blocked out disturbing memories of the events and stories her grandmother told her as a child, which were to affect her family until the present day. She described Elam as a "dreadful racist." They feel that she had emotionally damaged her son turning him into a "bullying misogynist" imitation of Norah's own father.^[3]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Durham, Martin (1998). Women and Fascism. Routledge. pp. 43–51. ISBN 978-0415122801. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=yA1Y5znKY1sC&pg=PA51&lpg=PA51&dq=%22norah+elam%22&source=web&ots=4EAFT_Rj0o&sig=ghgsm2-9vm9dH-ZrhKRSXAXnXa0&hl=en&ei=IwSbSebcKpiq-gbKzuj2CA&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result. 
2. ^ ^{a b} McPherson, Angela; McPherson, Susan (2011). Mosley's Old Suffragette - A Biography of Norah Elam. ISBN 978-1-4466-9967-6. http://www.oldsuffragette.co.uk. 
3. ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00pk7zp/Mother_Was_A_Blackshirt/?from=r&id=35227e69-fcbf-45d7-8295-2c78e9703b74.0

Persondata
Name	Elam, Norah
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1878
Place of birth
Date of death	1961
Place of death