ABSTRACT
The dawn of the New Year 1907 saw Christabel writing to Elizabeth Robins, eighteen years her senior, an author and ex-actress, especially renowned for her portrayal of Ibsen heroines. Elizabeth Robins greatly admired the militants and had written a suffrage novel, The Convert, as well as a play titled Votes for Women which would be performed later in the year. The well-connected Elizabeth Robins, whose close friends included liberal-minded lawyers and Government politicians, such as Sir Edward Grey, was a useful contact since the Women’s Social and Political Union needed to keep up pressure on the Liberal Party. Christabel would often appear too on a platform with a new speaker, leading by example, helping the protégé to understand the importance of standing firm, especially when the audience was antagonistic, as Evelyn Sharp found out when she made her maiden speech early in 1907 at a stormy meeting at Fulham Town Hall.
