Frances Elizabeth Willard
(1839-1898), Social activist and suffragistSitter in 2 portraits
Born in New York, much of Willard's life would be spent travelling and addressing crowds to encourage support for unions and the women's temperance movement. In 1879 she became president of the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). Devoted to social reform, the WCTU highlighted the damaging impact of alcohol on women in the domestic space, advocated the introduction of the eight hour working day and public health. Willard considered it essential for women to become involved in politics which was the driving force of the WCTU's approach and the motto 'Politics is the place for women'. It grew to be one of the largest women's organisations of the nineteenth century with 150,000 members, reaching women from diverse backgrounds.
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