Evelyn Sharp (1) (1869–1955)

Evelyn Sharp was born into a privileged family of 11 children that favored the boys. She took refuge in reading, storytelling, studying and writing. She published her first short story in 1893. The following year, against the wishes of her parents, she left home to live independently in London. Her first novel appeared in 1895, and she contributed to the controversial literary quarterly The Yellow Book, as well as to respected newspapers. She became a successful journalist and the author of schoolgirl fiction and fairy tales. In 1901, while ice skating, she collided with journalist Henry Woodd Nevinson. She was well aware that he was married to Margaret Nevinson, a writer and women's rights advocate, but she was smitten. Evelyn Sharp's relationship with Nevinson lasted more than 30 years before she was able to marry him at age 63, following Margaret's death in 1932. The suffragist movement, in which both Evelyn and Margaret were involved, brought them together often. They both were members of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) and founding members of the Women Writers' Suffrage League. Evelyn Sharp went to prison twice for her suffragist activities but, unlike others, was never force-fed. When the WSPU's leaders were arrested in 1912, she took over the editorship of Votes for Women, the WSPU newspaper. She published more than 30 books, including a biography of physicist Hertha Ayrton, the libretto for a comic opera by Ralph Vaughan Williams, and her own autobiography, Unfinished Adventure (1933). Her 1910 book Rebel Women inspired the title for her biograper Angela V. John, "Evelyn Sharp: Rebel Woman, 1869-1955."