guineas by well-known local figures, such as Alderman Robert Gibson, the Lord
Mayor of Manchester, and £1 from Sir Charles Dilke.^27 Although this fund
offered some supplementary help to Emmeline, its administration over the
coming years caused her to feel very bitter, as though she and her children were
objects of charity.
Emmeline knew that, despite the existence of the fund, she would now have
to find employment and so resigned on 30 August from her unpaid, time-
consuming work as a Poor Law Guardian.^28 Like so many middle-class women
of the Victorian age, she had not been trained for any occupational work and so
could think of no other way to earn a living than setting up in business again,
despite her earlier failures. Christabel thought her mother’s talents wasted in
such a project. ‘You are so clever’, she wrote, ‘that it seems strange that there is
not something more suited to you.’^29 Initially, Emmeline hoped to establish a
dressmaking business but finally decided on opening another shop, like
Emerson’s, that would sell silks, cushions and artistic wares.
Eager to keep herself busy, Emmeline and her sister, Mary, now Mrs. Clarke,
made about two dozen cushion covers, ready for the new shop. They had barely
finished the task when the Chorlton Board of Guardians offered Emmeline the
salaried post of Registrar of Births and Deaths which had become vacant in a
working-class district. Gratefully, she accepted the offer; now she would have
both a steady income and a pension on retirement. A humbler house had to be
found which would include a suitable room for the registry and eventually
Emmeline rented 62 Nelson Street, off Oxford Road, which was filled with
cheap, American furniture.^30 She did not abandon, however, the idea of
opening a shop and acquired premises for this in the centre of Manchester, in
King Street; in addition to the extra income the shop would bring, Emmeline
hoped it could be a means of employment for Christabel when she returned
from Switzerland.^31 In contrast to Christabel, both Sylvia and Adela now
seemed to have their future means of earning a living settled, without too much
cost to Emmeline’s pocket. Emmeline had recently invited Charles Rowley into
her home, to value some paintings she needed to sell; he saw, at the same time,
some still life groups that Sylvia had drawn and realising her potential, sent the
drawings to the Manchester Municipal School of Art which offered the
talented young woman a free studentship.^32 Adela, who wanted to be a teacher,
was still at the Manchester High School for Girls, the fees for which Emmeline
could no longer afford. It was a relief to Emmeline when a friend advised that
her daughter could train free at the lower status, state-aided Ducie Avenue
Higher Grade Board School, a chance at which Adela ‘jumped’.^33
By the time of the late November meeting of the NAC of the ILP, which
Emmeline attended accompanied by Keir Hardie and Bruce Glasier, the family
were settled in their new home, but it was a home of ‘distressful atmosphere’.^34
Emmeline, in her deep grief, was taking on more than she could cope with
while feeling that her happiness had been destroyed. She was frequently laid
low with attacks of migraine during which the kind-hearted Ellen looked after
WIDOWHOOD AND EMPLOYMENT