Richard’s health seemed to improve with the country air on the farm in
Mobberley and so the whole family returned to their Manchester home during
the autumn of 1897. Emmeline continued with her Poor Law and ILP work, and
was soon back into her energetic routine again. Since the Boggart Hole Clough
protest, her standing within socialist circles had been high and an indication of
her popularity became apparent the following Easter when she was elected a
member of the National Administrative Council (NAC) of the ILP, the only
‘lady’, as the Labour Leadertermed it, to be so honoured.^1 But politics aside,
Emmeline and Richard now had to make a number of decisions about their
children, especially about the future for their two eldest daughters.
The artistic Sylvia was given every encouragement to develop her talent and
so Emmeline and Richard arranged that by the following summer she should
study with Elias Bancroft, a well-known Manchester artist, who lived down the
other end of Buckingham Crescent. The bookish Christabel, on the other hand,
was undecided as to her future career. Some years previously she had decided
against becoming a professional ballet dancer, much to her mother’s disappoint-
ment, and nothing else had replaced this early enthusiasm.^2 As no firm decision
had been made about Christabel’s future direction, the matter had been left in
abeyance. Now that she was seventeen years old, however, approaching eigh-
teen, it seemed a good idea to honour an agreement that Emmeline and Noémie
Rochefort had made many years ago, that if they ever married and had daugh-
ters, they should exchange them for a year so that each child could learn the
French or English language and the different ways, as the case might be. It was
agreed that in June 1898 Emmeline would take Christabel to Geneva, where
Noémie now lived, and bring Lillie back to Manchester. The weeks of prepara-
tion before the trip were a happy time for Emmeline; she busied herself with
dressmaking, anxious that her graceful daughter should appear in elegant
clothes of which she could be proud.^3 On the day of their departure, Richard
said his tender goodbyes before leaving for the office. Emmeline suddenly
panicked. Knowing of Richard’s poor state of health she threw her arms around
him, crying terms of endearment, ‘gripped by a sudden fear’. Then she
composed herself and brushed her fears away. Later, when it was time for mother
nancy kaufman
(Nancy Kaufman)
#1