Theodora Wilson Wilson | |
---|---|
Born | 13 January 1865 Kendal, Westmorland, UK |
Died | 8 November 1941 St. Albans, UK | (aged 76)
Occupation(s) | Writer, pacifist |
Relatives | Samuel Bagster the Elder (great-grandfather) |
Theodora Wilson Wilson (13 January 1865 – 8 November 1941) was a British writer and pacifist. She was a founding member of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. Her "quaint" reputation as a writer changed when she published her 1916 science fiction novel The Last Weapon, A Vision, whose anti-war message led to its being banned.
Theodora Wilson Wilson was born in Kendal, Westmorland, the daughter of Isaac Whitwell Wilson and Anne Bagster Wilson. [1] Her family were former Quakers; her grandfather Jonathan Bagster and great-grandfather Samuel Bagster were Bible publishers. [2] Her older brother Horace Bagster Wilson was a noted physician. [3] She attended Stramongate School and Croydon High School and studied music in Germany. [4]
Wilson ran a Sunday school as a young woman, and founded an evening school program for working girls. [4] Her first book was a 1900 guide to poultry keeping for women. [5] She moved to London in 1909, and became a Quaker before World War I. Her career as a fiction writer began with her first novel, T'bacca Queen (1901). [6] She also wrote children's books, [7] [8] Bible study guides, and plays, including Champion North (1931), [9] Across Yonder (1936) [10] and Marya. [11]
A 1905 review of Wilson's novel Langbarrow Hall declared that she was "striving neither to be clever or unusual, but merely to write out at length a story both quaint and natural". [12] This "quaint" reputation soon changed, as her 1916 pacifist allegorical novel [13] The Last Weapon, A Vision has science fiction and fantasy themes, as it imagines "Hellite", an ultimate doomsday device, and a messenger from Paradise called "the Child". [2] [14] The book was briefly banned as anti-war propaganda, [15] and thousands of copies were seized by authorities. [16] An American reviewer believed that "When the war is over it may be pointed out as one of the great books resulting from this crisis". [17]
Wilson was a founding member of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, and served on the general committee of the Fellowship of Reconciliation from 1915 to 1922. [2] She was editor of The New Crusader, a pacifist periodical, from 1917. [2] [18] [19] She spoke at meetings in Trecynon and Merthyr in 1917, [16] [20] and at a peace rally in Bishopsgate in 1918; [21] she also spoke at Society of Friends meetings in Manchester in 1914, [22] 1933 [23] and 1934, [24] and in London in 1936. [25]
In 2019, the Greater Manchester & District Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament crowdfunded a new edition of The Last Weapon, a Vision. [15] [26] The launch of the new book was supported by a talk in Manchester and a video that featured Maxine Peake. [15]
Wilson died in St. Albans in 1941, aged 76 years. [4]
Theodora Wilson Wilson | |
---|---|
Born | 13 January 1865 Kendal, Westmorland, UK |
Died | 8 November 1941 St. Albans, UK | (aged 76)
Occupation(s) | Writer, pacifist |
Relatives | Samuel Bagster the Elder (great-grandfather) |
Theodora Wilson Wilson (13 January 1865 – 8 November 1941) was a British writer and pacifist. She was a founding member of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. Her "quaint" reputation as a writer changed when she published her 1916 science fiction novel The Last Weapon, A Vision, whose anti-war message led to its being banned.
Theodora Wilson Wilson was born in Kendal, Westmorland, the daughter of Isaac Whitwell Wilson and Anne Bagster Wilson. [1] Her family were former Quakers; her grandfather Jonathan Bagster and great-grandfather Samuel Bagster were Bible publishers. [2] Her older brother Horace Bagster Wilson was a noted physician. [3] She attended Stramongate School and Croydon High School and studied music in Germany. [4]
Wilson ran a Sunday school as a young woman, and founded an evening school program for working girls. [4] Her first book was a 1900 guide to poultry keeping for women. [5] She moved to London in 1909, and became a Quaker before World War I. Her career as a fiction writer began with her first novel, T'bacca Queen (1901). [6] She also wrote children's books, [7] [8] Bible study guides, and plays, including Champion North (1931), [9] Across Yonder (1936) [10] and Marya. [11]
A 1905 review of Wilson's novel Langbarrow Hall declared that she was "striving neither to be clever or unusual, but merely to write out at length a story both quaint and natural". [12] This "quaint" reputation soon changed, as her 1916 pacifist allegorical novel [13] The Last Weapon, A Vision has science fiction and fantasy themes, as it imagines "Hellite", an ultimate doomsday device, and a messenger from Paradise called "the Child". [2] [14] The book was briefly banned as anti-war propaganda, [15] and thousands of copies were seized by authorities. [16] An American reviewer believed that "When the war is over it may be pointed out as one of the great books resulting from this crisis". [17]
Wilson was a founding member of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, and served on the general committee of the Fellowship of Reconciliation from 1915 to 1922. [2] She was editor of The New Crusader, a pacifist periodical, from 1917. [2] [18] [19] She spoke at meetings in Trecynon and Merthyr in 1917, [16] [20] and at a peace rally in Bishopsgate in 1918; [21] she also spoke at Society of Friends meetings in Manchester in 1914, [22] 1933 [23] and 1934, [24] and in London in 1936. [25]
In 2019, the Greater Manchester & District Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament crowdfunded a new edition of The Last Weapon, a Vision. [15] [26] The launch of the new book was supported by a talk in Manchester and a video that featured Maxine Peake. [15]
Wilson died in St. Albans in 1941, aged 76 years. [4]