Person Open DS/UK/368 Smyth; Dame; Ethel (22 April 1858-8 May 1944); DBE; English composer and a member of the women's suffrage movement Smyth Ethel Dame 22 April 1858-8 May 1944 English composer and a member of the women's suffrage movement Female Ethel Mary Smyth Sidcup, England (born)

English Musician; Composer Activist; Suffrange White Bisexual / Pansexual Awards, Honours and Legacy: In 1922 she was created a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE), becoming the first female composer to be awarded a damehood. Dame Ethel Smyth DBE was an English composer and a member of the women's suffrage movement. Her compositions include songs, works for piano, chamber music, orchestral works, choral works and operas. Smyth tended to be marginalised as a ‘woman composer’, as though her work could not be accepted as mainstream, yet when she produced more delicate compositions, they were criticised for not measuring up to the standard of her male competitors. Nevertheless, she was granted a damehood, the first female composer to be so honored. In 1910 Smyth joined the Women's Social and Political Union, a militant suffrage organization, giving up music for two years to devote herself to the cause. Her "The March of the Women" became the anthem of the women's suffrage movement, though suffragists most often shouted the words, by Cicely Hamilton, rather than actually singing Smyth's tune. When W.S.P.U.'s leader, Emmeline Pankhurst, called on members to break the windows of anti-suffrage politicians as a protest, Smyth did so. She served two months in Holloway Prison. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethel_Smyth (2019) International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families - ISAAR(CPF) 2nd edition - ICA 2004 ISBN 2-9521932-2-3 National Council on Archives, Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997 Yes RAHhbryony 7/23/2012 Rachael.Fragola 3/1/2022 460af5b9-404d-4237-89d5-ccfa70a8762f