Helen Bright Clark

Overview

Helen Bright Clark born Rochdale, Lancashire, England October 10, 1840 (d. 1927). Pioneering British women’s rights activist; suffragist. Quaker absolute pacifist. Raised two peacemaker daughters, Hilda and Alice. Founding member of anti-racist Society for the Furtherance of Human Brotherhood. Active in Aborigines' Protection Society. Decried Boer War as “a measureless calamity”; opposed WWI. Early signator of Open Christmas Letter to German women peace appeal, 1915. Served on committee for Hague Women's Peace Congress, 1915. Argued that suffrage would promote peace.

Quotations

“And so far as the question of peace or war is to the front, we must all admit that overrides every other, for it carries the fate of every other question with it: and any government, or any party, that will keep the question of peace permanently unsettled, will succeed in stifling discussion and checking progress.” (Jan. 29, 1879, Bristol; photo ancestry.com)