Beatrice Harraden, though little known today, published novels and short-story collections between 1891 and 1928. She was an important early feminist novelist; she was also extremely active in the suffragette movement, which she describes in her book Our Warrior Women (1916). A founder of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), formed in 1903, she traveled extensively on the Continent and in the United States; her hope was to facilitate international comity among women's groups. Harraden's activities on behalf of the WSPU included selling newspapers on street corners, participating in marches, writing and producing plays dealing with women's suffrage, selling programs and other suffragette literature at entertainments, and making public speeches. Despite her public profile in the women's suffrage movement, Harraden was notoriously shy and private in her personal life.

Beatrice Harraden, born on 24 January 1864 at Hampstead in London, was the youngest daughter of Samuel Harraden, an importer of musical instruments, and...