Lady Louisa Sophia Goldsmid

Other sources: https://www.parliament.uk/1866
Elizabeth Crawford, The Women's Suffrage Movement: A Reference Guide, 1866?1928 (2001); Linda G Kuzmack, Women's Cause: The Jewish Women's Movement in England and the United States 1881?1933 (1990)

Family information: Married to Francis Henry Goldsmid, barrister and social reformer, active in the emancipation of Jewish people in Britain. Elected Liberal MP for Reading in 1860. His sister, Anna Maria Goldsmid, also signed the 1866 petition.

Additional Information: Louisa signed the 1866 petition, as did her sister-in-law Anna Maria Goldsmid, and she was treasurer on the London Provisional Petition Committee. She subscribed to the Enfranchisement of Women Committee (EWC), 1866?7, and was involved with several other societies over the years, including: the Manchester NSWS (1867); the London NSWS, of which she was vice president by 1874; the Central Society for Women's Suffrage (1900); and the London Society for Women's Suffrage (1906?7), its successor. A 'quiet' suffragist, much of her time was also devoted to women's education, health and working conditions.

Other Suffrage Activities: In 1862, Louisa was treasurer of a fund put together by Emily Davies to help secure women's admission to university examinations in arts and medicine, denied to them at that time. The same year as she signed the petition, in 1866, Lady Louisa was a member of the general committee of Elizabeth Garrett's (Anderson) St Mary's Dispensary for Women and Children. She was also an executive committee member of the Married Women's Property Committee and led a delegation to protest to the Home Office in London at women pit workers' unfair wages in 1885. She also accompanied and paid the expenses of the women nail and chain makers from Cradley Heath in the West Midlands, so that they could deliver a protest about proposed legislation to the Home Secretary in 1887.