Amy the Activist
A Political Pedigree
’born in Philadelphia in 1693, and died of yellow fever on 19th July 1748, two days after having been elected one of the representatives for Philadelphia in the legislature’.
This letter from Amy to an American correspondent describes her ancestors election to the legislature in Philedelphia. Courtesy of the Richard Burton Arcives.
Amy’s father Lewis Llewellyn Dillwyn also obtained political office, serving as a Member of Parliament from 1855 until his death in 1892. She records in her diary on 16th June 1892, following his death, that ‘I didn’t wear mourning, as I belong to the Mourning Reform Society, & never wear it’ (RBA DC6/1/7). The Mourning Reform Society disagreed with the large expense, and the financial difficulty that was often the result, of the elaborate mourning rituals favoured by Victorian society.
An Early Awareness of Social Inequality
Despite her rather privileged position in society, Amy was well aware of the deprivation in the community of Killay, the area of Swansea near her home, in the years before her later committed activism. In her diary on 30th August 1868 (DC6/1/4) she recognised this, writing this:
‘why don’t someone rise up with a vocation for Killay? I mean for doing what’s wanted there and know Welsh and work hard and know how to work so as to get hold of the people and keep the men from the public house by giving them some harmless and equally amusing place wherein to spend their evenings instead - someone to teach well - in fact a volunteer Welsh genius is required but I’m afraid i don’t see much chance of his turning up just a present.’
Amy may not have held much optimism for a saviour for Killay, but she worked hard to improve conditions there herself, setting up a Sunday School class for girls, establishing a reading room and visiting those who were sick or injured.
The Fight for Women's Rights
Amy was a strong supporter of suffrage for women. As a leading industrialist and canny businesswoman, she felt keenly the injustice that the 300 employees of her spelter work had the vote, while she herself did not.
At a meeting of a society named ‘The Open Brotherhood’ Amy gave a speech in favour of female suffrage. The Western Mail January 6th (Amy has not recorded the year in her scrapbook) reported, ‘she ventured to think that she deserves a vote as much, and could exercise it as intelligently as they could and she had a far greater stake in the country. She told them frankly she felt that bitterly as an ignominy.’
Miss Dillwyn and the Dressmakers
An article from the Cambrian Daily Laeder dated 1911 in Amy's scrap book, which reports how she chaired the meeting in support of the striking dressmakers. Courtesy of the Richard Burton Archive.
It was not just the rights of women with social status like herself for which Amy advocated. In 1911 she supported the strike of bodice makers employed by Messrs Ben Evans & Co against sweated labour and demanding better working conditions for those employed there. She presided over a meeting at the Star Hotel, Swansea, in support of the workers, at which she expressed her disgust at their mistreatment.
‘she held that employers had no right to avail themselves of the necessities of poor people, to grind them down to take unfair wages, or to make them accept unfair conditions of labour.’ Cambrian Daily Leader, dated only 1911.
Support for Women Smokers!
In her later years, Amy became something of a celebrity for her cigars, which she regularly smoked in public. She believed the pleasure of smoking should be available to all women. As a member of the Swansea Workhouse Visiting Committee, she argued that female inmates on the infirmary and imbecile wards should be allowed tobacco just as the men were – ‘there should be no distinction made between the sexes!’ South Wales Daily News 8th May 1908 ‘Swansea Women Smokers: Miss Dillwyn as their Champion’ (DC6/4/1)
Electoral Successes - and Failures
Amy served on a number of boards and committees throughout her life, including the school board and the hospital board, and stood for election to the Guardians and the Local Authority. Her electoral endeavours met with mixed results however.
The School Board
In 1900, Amy was elected to the school board with 11,411 votes, placing fourth out of all the candidates and gaining more votes than any other female candidate. In 1904 however, school boards were abolished and their function overtaken by Local Authorities, to which women could not be elected. They could be co-opted onto the education committee, but Amy declined this offer out of principle. The Cambrian Daily Leader 23rd September 1904 remarked ‘school boards decease, and her refusal to accept a co-optative post, have excluded her from educational spheres.’ (DC6/4/1)
A notice of the results of election to the school board, in which Amy was voted fourth overall and achieved the highest number of votes for a female candidate. Courtesy of the Richard Burton Archives.
The Hospital Board
Amy was elected to the Swansea Hospital Board in 1900, and had some remarkable success. She was able to secure an amazing anonymous donation of £10,000 to build a new convalescence home for the hospital. Despite her great achievement though, all was not plain sailing ahead.
An Article from The South Walian entitled 'Miss Dillwyn and the Hospital' which reports on Amy's departure from the Board. Courtesy of the Richard Burton Archives.
In 1904 new rules were introduced that reduced the number of trustees from 8 to 5, which were won by ‘a cut and dried list…composed of 5 gentlemen’ who had ‘ not given as many hours to the work of the hospital as she had weeks’ South Wales Daily News 23rd September 1904.
Amy’s exclusion from the trusteeship caused some outcry. In a letter to the editor of Cambrian Daily Leader, it was referred to as a ‘public calamity’ (Fred Peck, 23 September 1904 DC6/4/1). Amy herself was furious, and walked away from the hospital board entirely, refusing to undertake any further work for them.
Mr Peck's letter to the editor of Cambrian Daily Leader 24th September 1904, in which he described Amy's departure from the Hospital Board as an 'undeserved slight'. Courtesy of the Richard Burton Archives.
The Board of Guardians and Local Authority Elections
With neither the school board nor the hospital board to take up her time, Amy turned her attention to the Board of Guardians, who oversaw the application of the Poor Law, where she was successfully elected to the Castle Ward in around 1903/4. In 1907, when women became eligible to be representatives on local Authorities, she attempted to capitalise on this success. She stood for the council seat in Castle Ward, the Ward she represented as a Guardian, but was unsuccessful.
Campaign literature from Amy's campaign seeking re-election to the Board of Guardians in 1907. Courtesy of the Richard Burton Archive.
Conclusions
Amy clearly had a strong commitment to public service, and certainly, on the committees on which she sat, she was hard working and diligent. This poses a question as to why she was unsuccessful in the council election, and why she had such a turbulent time on the hospital and school boards. One clue might be in this description of her in an article from am unrecorded publication dated 22nd September 1904 after her exit from the hospital board,
‘the strong individuality of Miss Dillwyn, with it’s frankness and independence, created opposition to her’.
Amy was known for speaking her mind and not suffering fools gladly.
Ultimately though, the reason for her difficulties might well be summed up by this uncredited article discussing her unsuccessful bid to be elected to the Harbour Trust, dated 30th December 1903.
‘Criticism of Miss Dillwyn is summed up in one sentence. She is a woman and not a man. The sex disability is, however, so real that her recognised administrative ability and freedom from the feminine idiosyncrasies which might prove embarrassing at gatherings failed to remove it.’
As remarkable as she was, Amy could not fully overcome the difficulty of being a woman in a society structured for men. However, her commitment to public service and her evident skill in carrying out her duties in these roles are testament to her many talents, and through them she helped confirm the vital role of women in public life.
References
Swansea, Richard Burton Archives DC6/4/1 Amy Dillwyn's scrapbook 1901-1911
RBA DC6/1/7 1872-1917
RBA DC6/1/4 1867-1868