Ethel Smyth

Overview

Ethel Smyth born Sidcup, Kent, England April 22, 1858 (d. 1944). British musical composer of operas, songs, chamber music, piano and organ music. Radical feminist; imprisoned two months for violent protests, 1911. Wrote suffragist anthem "March of the Women", 1911.

Quotations

"Firm in reliance, laugh a defiance,
(Laugh in hope, for sure is the end)
March, march, many as one.
Shoulder to Shoulder and friend to friend."
(final verse of suffragist anthem "March of the Women", 1911; 1901 portrait by Sargent)