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Personal Papers of Margaret Llewelyn Davies
| Title |
Personal Papers of Margaret Llewelyn Davies |
| Reference |
GBR/0271/GCPP LLD |
| Creator |
Davies, Margaret Caroline Llewelyn, 1861-1944, social reformer |
| Covering Dates |
circa 1864–1995 |
| Extent and Medium |
6 boxes; paper |
| Repository |
Girton College Archive, Cambridge |
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| Content and context |
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Margaret Caroline Llewelyn Davies was born in London in 1861, the daughter of John Llewelyn Davies (who was the brother of Emily Davies and successively Rector of Christchurch, Marylebone, and Vicar of Kirkby Lonsdale in Westmorland) and Mary (nee Crompton). She studied at Girton for seven terms, from the Easter Term of 1881 to the Easter Term of 1883. From 1889-1921 she was General Secretary of the Women's Co-operative Guild [an auxiliary organisation of the co-operative movement in the UK, founded to promote women in co-operative structures and provide social and other services to its members]. She was also Chairman, in its early days, of the Executive Committee of the Society for Cultural Relations with USSR and British Commonwealth. Her publications included pamphlets on social and political questions, editions of two collections of letters from working women, and 'Maternity and Life as we have known it; The Women's Co-operative Guild, 1883-1904'.
The above information is derived from the Girton College Register. It is also possible to piece together some aspects of Margaret's life from the letters written to her by her mother Mary. She had six brothers - Theo[dore], Arthur, Harry, Crompton [also known as 'Tony'], Charles and Maurice - several of whom also studied at Cambridge [Charles (1878), Arthur (1881), Crompton (1887) and Theo (also 1887). Theo became a Fellow of Trinity College in 1894]. Margaret left Girton after only seven terms: it seems that she did so in order to look after her mother during a period of ill health. She then appears to have undertaken some teaching between leaving Girton and beginning her work for the Women's Co-operative Guild in 1886. However, she appears to have continued to undertake a large degree of domestic responsibility: by 1890 she seems to be not only looking after her younger brothers at times but also doing some of the parish work which her mother Mary normally undertook. In June 1889 she turned down a proposal of marriage from 'A' [full name not given in the letters]. In late 1894 there was discussion of the possibility of Margaret spending several months in Ceylon. It is not possible to tell from the letters whether this ever came about, as the letters cease with the death of Mary Llewelyn Davies in February 1895. Margaret herself died in 1944 at Dorking.
The bulk of the papers consists of the letters which were written to Margaret Llewelyn Davies by her mother, Mary Llewelyn Davies, circa 1864 to 1895. There are also some biographical materials.
8990 - Donated by Polly and Ruthven Davies 7 November 1989.
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Access and Use
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Copyright presumed to be held by the Davies family.
Please cite as Girton College Archive, Cambridge, Personal Papers of Margaret Llewelyn Davies, GCPP LLD
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| Further information |
The archives of the Women's Co-operative Guild are held by the Bishopsgate Institute in London. |
| Index Terms |
| Davies, Margaret Caroline Llewelyn (1861-1944) social reformer |
| Davies, Mary Llewelyn, née Crompton (1834-1895) |
| Women's Co-Operative Guild |
| Girton/GCPP LLD contains: |
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1
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Letters from Mary Llewelyn Davies to Margaret Llewelyn Davies.
Creator: Llewelyn Davies, Mary.
23 files; Paper. |
circa 1864–1895 |
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2
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Biographical materials. File of biographical material relating to Margaret Llewelyn Davies and family. Includes the following:. Girton College Register form for Margaret Llewelyn Davies;. Family tree, including very small black and white photographs of Margaret, her parents and her brothers;. Copy of Girton College Executive Committee minutes, 20 July 1883, reporting the withdrawal of Margaret Llewelyn Davies;. Cuttings and articles concerning Margaret Llewelyn Davies' work for the Women's Co-operative Guild, written in the 1960s around the centenary of her birth, including black and white photograph of Margaret in later years;. Janet Pott [nee Fletcher], 'The Llewelyn Davies and Fletcher Families 1800-1989' (photocopy of a 19pp handwritten memoir, 1989, including Fletcher family tree), with related letter from Janet Pott;. Obituaries for the Rev John Llewelyn Davies (d. 1916);. Obituary for Theodore Llewelyn Davies, who drowned while bathing in the River Lune, Kirkby Lonsdale, 1905;. Letters from Jane Wynne Willson [great-niece of Margaret Lewellyn Davies], 1988, 1990 and 1992, containing notes on Margaret Llewelyn Davies and John Llewelyn Davies, suggesting in particular that Margaret did not complete her course at Girton because she 'did not find University study congenial' and her 'strong social sense - - found no fulfilment in college life';. Cutting concerning the republication in 1978 of 'Maternity - Letters from Working Women', ed. Margaret Llewelyn Davies (originally published 1915);. Rosalind Nash [nee Shore Smith, Girton friend and contemporary of Margaret Llewelyn Davies], 'A Memoir of Margaret Llewelyn Davies', 3pp typescript, no date - the memoir contains much detail on Margaret's work for the Women's Co-operative Guild;. Memoir of Margaret Llewelyn Davies by H F Bing and John Saville, 6pp typescript, no date - again, includes much detail on her work for the Women's Co-operative Guild;. Memoir of Margaret Llewelyn Davies by Dr Katharine Davies [daughter of Margaret's brother Crompton], 28pp typescript, no date - again, largely concentrates on the Women's Co-operative Guild and its work, also touching on Margaret's interests in internationalism and pacifism;. Photocopy of 'From a Victorian Post-Bag: Being Letters addressed to the Rev. J. Llewelyn Davies, by Thomas Carlyle & Others, ed. Charles Llewelyn Davies, London 1926, together with a covering letter from Jim Borg, 1995.
Creator: Various.
1 file; Paper. |
1883–1995 |
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