- Esther Roper
Esther Roper (1868 – 1938) was an English
suffragist who was one of the first women to graduate and gain her BA atOwens College inManchester .Esther was the daughter of a
Manchester factory worker who later became a missionary inAfrica .citation |last=Lewis |first=Gifford |title=Eva Gore-Booth and Esther Roper |isbn=0863581595 |year=1988 |publisher=Pandora |ISBN status=May be invalid - please double check]She was a working woman and a skilled organiser, administrator and fund-raiser — at her best behind the scenes rather than in front. She worked for the women's department of
Manchester University and, as the Secretary of the North of England Suffrage Society, she was a committee member of theNational Union of Women's Suffrage Societies , led by the veteranMillicent Fawcett , as well as Secretary for the Manchester National Society for Women's Suffrage.In 1896 she met
Eva Gore-Booth when they both were staying at Macdonald's Guest House in Bordigera,Italy . They became life long lovers.citation |url=http://www.theolddyke.co.uk/evagorebooth_estherroper.htm |title=Eva Gore Booth and Esther Roper |accessdate=2007-10-27 ]Together with Eva, she supported the cause of women in various fields such as flower sellers, circus performers, barmaids and coal mine pit girls.
They were prominent
pacifist s during theFirst World War , working in the International Committee of Women for Permanent Peace. Among other things they helped support the wives and children of imprisonedconscientious objector s. After the war they became members of the Committee for the Abolition of Capital Punishment and worked for prison reform.Fact|date=May 2007She was asthmatic and short-sighted, and little is known of her final years.
Constance Markiewicz , the sister of Eva Gore-Booth, wrote of her: "The more one knows her, the more one loves her, and I feel so glad Eva and she were together, and so thankful that her love was with Eva to the end."References
* Gifford Lewis, "Booth, Eva Selina Gore (1870–1926)", "
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography ", Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/37473, accessed 29 July 2006]
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