Emilienne Brunfaut

Overview

Émilienne Brunfaut (née Steux) born Dottignies, Hainault, Belgium May 11, 1908 (d. 1986). Belgian union leader; militant feminist; Socialist; pacifist. Secretary, Belgian Committee Against War and Fascism, 1937; Secretary, Women’s Rally for Peace (RFP), opposing Cold War, nuclear weapons, NATO, German rearmament, 1947.

Quotations

“The general trend was. . . the one we experienced later in the resistance, a union against fascism and against war.” (Catherine Jacques, Sens Public, May 22, 2009; photo sens-pubic)

Dagny Bang

Overview

Dagny Bang born Kristiania, Norway June 8, 1868 (d. 1944). Norwegian physician. Delegate to Women's Peace Congress, 1915; member of Resolution Committee; seconded motion for popular control of foreign policy. Founded Norway branch of Open Door International, 1935.

Quotations

“Surely all women of Norway consider the war now going on as one of the most cruel disasters of mankind of any time, and they think it a crime not to be forgiven, to call forth war in order to settle international disputes. . . Our aim has been to point out means, if possible, such cruel disasters against working mankind being repeated.” (Jus Suffragi, Jun. 1, 1915, p. 131; photo Wikipedia)

Helene Berg

Overview

Helene Berg born Orup, Roholte, Denmark March 8, 1869 (d. 1955) Danish social reformer and women’s rights activist. Pacifist founding member of WILPF forerunner Women’s Peace Chain. Alternate on Neutral Committee on Continuous Mediation, Feb. 1915; campaigned to keep Denmark out of war. (1908 photo kvinfo)

Hannah van Biema-Hijmans

Overview

Hannah van Biema-Hijmans born October 15, 1864 (d. 1937). Dutch civic leader. Headed Netherlands Anti-War Council and Netherlands Women’s Association, 1912-17; organizer of International Women’s Conference Amsterdam, 1908. Organizer of International Women’s Peace Conference, The Hague, 1915; served as its secretary, President of Arrangements Committee, member of Resolutions Committee, and French interpreter. Postwar chair of national WILPF.

Alice Brügger

Overview

Alice Brügger born Frauenfeld, Thurgau, Switzerland December 2, 1896 (d. 1988). Quaker educator. Co-founder of first nonviolent peace corps Service Civil International with Hélène Monastier and Pierre Cérésole.

Quotations

“[D]eepening of the peace idea in detail is the best defense against propaganda and, consequently, against war psychosis.” (International Civil Service, June 1949)

Sarah Jane Baines

Overview

Sarah Jane Baines born Birmingham, England November 30, 1866 (d. 1951). British-Australian suffragist. First suffragist tried by jury, 1908; served six weeks. Arrested 15 times. Escaped to Australia, where she co-founded Women’s Peace Army opposing World War I, 1914. Opposed conscription, 1915-17, for which she was sentenced to nine months in prison, but later freed.

Quotations

“To fight for that which is better and nobler in this world is to live in the highest sense, but to submit and tolerate the evils which exist is to merely vegetate in the sewers of iniquity.” (The Socialist, April 11, 1919; quote & photo wikipedia)

Genny Bove

Overview

Genny Bove born London, England February 27, 1962 (d. 2018). Welsh peace activist. “Cyclists Say No To War” trip to Aldermaston, 2008; led nine women in protest at Raytheon missile plant, Broughton, Wales, 2008. Arrested for posting peace banners, 2013.

Quotations

“NATO is, after all, responsible for countless civilian deaths around the world and—as a heavily nuclear-armed power engaged in wars of aggression, and planning more—NATO poses a significant threat to all life on earth.” (wiseup wales, Sept. 2, 2014; photo wiseupaction/BBC)

Gail Bradbrook

Overview

Gail Bradbrook born South Elmsall, West Yorkshire, England April 30, 1972. Environmental activist. Co-founded Compassionate Revolution, 2015, and its successor Extinction Rebellion, 2018.

Quotations

“Our children are at risk of not having food to eat in a few years’ time. . . the severity of this is incredible. It’s unprecedented in humanity. Human extinction in our children’s lifetime.” (BBC, Apr. 18, 2019; photo independent.academia)

Louie Bennett

Overview

Louie Bennett born Rathgar, Dublin, Ireland January 7, 1870 (d. 1956). Irish suffragist, peace activist, labor leader, and novelist. Anti-colonialist; anti-militarist. Member of WILPF and Fellowship of Reconciliation; delegate to League of Nations and International Labor Organization. Opposed World War I, conscription, 1918. Women’s Peace Committee mediator in civil war, 1922. Life partner of pacifist Helen Chenevix. Post-World War II advocate of nuclear disarmament.

Quotations

“A pacifist first, and before anything.” (Ellen Hazelkorn, Saothar, p. 34)

“I do not care for a pacifism which is not truly international, which is not tolerant toward all nations.” (Sep. 3, 1966 to Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington, Hazelkorn, p. 34; photo irishtimes.com)

Eva Bacon

Overview

Eva Bacon (née Goldner) born Vienna, Austria October 1, 1890 (d. 1994). Austrian dress designer; socialist; feminist; pacifist. Secretary for International Women’s Day; WILPF member. Resisted Hitler and Nazi regime. Opposed Vietnam War, Gulf War, nuclear weapons and tests; supported conscientious objection.

Quotations

“I will die a rebel!” (Pam Young Obituaries Australia; photo flickr.com)

Cecile Brunschwigg

Overview

Cecile Brunschwigg (née Cécile Kahn) born Enghien-les-Bains, France July 19, 1877 (d. 1946). French militant feminist; pacifist. Vice-President, Feminist Union for the League of Nations; Undersecretary of State for Education, 1936. Aided German refugees.

Quotations

“[Women should] raise their voices so that Statesmen make war on war.” (“Le problème du désarmement à la Conférence de Paris”, La Française, Dec. 1931; photo Her Blueprint: Clio)

Eleanor Barton

Overview

Eleanor Barton (née Stockton) born Manchester, England July 13, 1872 (d. 1960). British cooperative activist. As head of Women’s Co-operative Guild, 1925-37, introduced the pacifist white poppy, 1933. Active in Peace Pledge Union and Hands Off Russia campaign.

Quotations

“It will take great courage to wear white poppies when all your friends and neighbors are wearing red poppies. . . If you can walk in the streets wearing a white poppy when everyone else has a red one, I shall say you are a brave woman.” (Birmingham Gazette, Jun. 22, 1933; photo Wikipedia)

Nicoline Beck-Meyer

Overview

Nicoline Beck-Meyer born Vendsyssel, Denmark November 27, 1856 (d. ?). Danish author and poet. Spoke on “Universal Peace” at World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893.

Quotations

“Peace! What is peace? It is not rest, but growth. Peace is the condition which will be brought on when love is reigning and justice is fulfilled.” (Woman’s War for Peace, Congress of Representative Women, p. 729; photo A Celebration of Women Writers)

Margaret Ann Backhouse

Overview

Margaret Ann Backhouse born Darlington, Durham, England May 4, 1884 (d. 1977). Quaker head of Friends Service Council who received Nobel Peace Prize for Quaker relief 1947; founded British Campfire Girls 1921; teacher Westhill College, Birmingham.

Quotations

“War will not cease until mankind has learnt the positive nature of peace. We speak of the present and the between-the-war period as 'peace-time' but we all know that it would be truer to describe the condition as the period when there is no official warfare. There is not peace in the minds of men and there will not be until we have replaced misunderstanding by sympathy—fear by trust—jealousy and hatred by love.” (Oslo, Dec. 12, 1947)

Alice Bailey

Overview

Alice Bailey (née Bateman) born Manchester, England June 16, 1880 (d. 1949). Esoteric teacher, promoter of UN; founder of World Goodwill 1932, "Love in Action."

Quotations

"What are right human relations but love among men, groups and nations? What is international cooperation but love on a world scale?" (Externalisation of the Hierarchy, p. 602, 1957; photo divinetruth.com)

Matilde Bajer

Overview

Matilde Bajer (née Schlüter) born Frederikseg, Denmark January 4, 1840 (d. 1934). Danish peace leader; peace partner of 1908 Nobel Peace Prize laureate; feminist and suffragist. Founded Danish Women's Peace Assn., 1906; first woman elected to Danish upper house, 1918; first president Women's Union for Progress, 1886. (photo da.Wikipedia)

Christina C. Bakker-van Bosse

Overview

Christina C. Bakker-van Bosse born Batavia, Java, Dutch East Indies June 17, 1884 (d. 1963). Dutch pacifist and feminist; co-founded NAOR Netherlands Antiwar League 1914; founded women’s organization DAWIEC; book on European minorities The Open Wound of Europe 1930; only woman founder of World Federation of UN Associations WFUNA 1946; Women’s mission to Palestine 1935.

Florence Balgarnie

Overview

Florence Balgarnie born Scarborough, Yorkshire, England August 19, 1856 (d. 1928). Militant British suffragette; international speaker on reform; pacifist leader of International Arbitration & Peace Association; Secretary of British Anti-lynching League.

Quotations

"If only the women of England could be made to feel half as much for the horrors of a great battle as they cared for the smashing of their best tea-things at home, we should very soon see war cease." (Heloise Brown, The Truest Form of Patriotism, p. 128, 2003)

Barbara Bangura

Overview

Barbara Thaimu Bangura born Belfast, N. Ireland November 13, 1958. Sierra Leone women's leader; trainer in nonviolence and peacebuilding.

Quotations

"The fragility of peace in my country which exacerbates the security challenges to us women and an overall feeling that 'Women are at the edge of the world.'" (Oct. 25, 2006)

Anna Laetitia Barbauld

Overview

Anna Laetitia Barbauld (née Aikin) born Kibworth-Harcourt, Leicestershire, England June 20, 1743 (d. 1825). English poet schoolmistress who wrote against slave trade and war.

Quotations

"War is a state in which all our feelings and our duties suffer a total and strange inversion." ("Sins of Government", Works vol. II, p.107; photo martinfrost.ws)