I'll admit that I came to this book for perhaps strange reasons - I'd heard that it was originally published as 'Mrs Pankhurst's Purple Feather: Fashion, Fury and Feminism' and that sounded right up my street. I didn't know who Etta Lemon was, but I settled in for a good read about suffragettes and their fancy outfits.

It was kind of half what I expected, but all fascinating!

The book is actually only half about Etta Lemon, a woman who felt passionately that feathers/whole birds shouldn't be used to decorate hats and who was central to the founding of the RSPB. She took on the trend for 'murderous millinery' and made it her life's work - and good on her!

The other half of the story follows the suffrage movement, especially Mrs Pankhurst's militant suffragettes who used fashion to further their cause - whether through their symbolic colour code, their expensive dresses used to denote respectability, or their penchant for a nice feathered hat...

What was really interesting was the idea of women's legacies - the Pankhurst name has become legendary, while Etta Lemon is pretty much forgotten. I liked that this book shed some light on some powerful women of the past (as both the RSPB and suffragette contingents were mainly female). Even if they often totally disagreed...

Another interesting idea raised by the book is about the writing of history. In many ways, Etta Lemon was a heroine who fought what now feels like a very modern battle against animal cruelty. There is a lot of shocking detail uncovered about the trade in birds as decorative elements for Edwardian hats, so in that regard, Etta was absolutely on point. However, she was also anti-suffrage and anti-feminism. Oooooof! She suddenly didn't seem so modern, or quite so relatable to a 21st century reader (especially this one!)

Despite this, it's a really interesting look at opposing perspectives in Edwardian society. I loved that it didn't take the well-trodden path of a history of suffragism (even though this is kind of why I picked the book up!) Instead, we got a look at those in the plumage industry (factory workers - and those who made money by stealing the feathers), those early eco-warriors who took on the millinery industry, and - contrastingly - the middle- and upper-class suffragettes whose eco-credentials perhaps now look a bit shaky.

For me, one of the most interesting bits was about Ada Nield, a Crewe factory girl who took on the battle for better working conditions and wrote to the local paper in support of rights for female workers. Ada Nield is a kind-of local celebrity where I live and I'm working on a campaign to commemorate her in statue form, so this bit felt very relevant to me.

I also listened to the audiobook of 'Etta Lemon' (still makes me smile, every time it's said!) which is read by the author, Tessa Boase. I found this to be really well narrated and engaging to listen to so would recommend this also.

I'd recommend this to anyone interested in women's lived experiences of the past - there's plenty of diversity here instead of the usual (white, affluent, revolutionary) narrative about suffragettes. I thought that this gave me a much broader understanding about Edwardian society and the anti-suffrage perspective - something I'd not considered deeply. I'm not sure Etta Lemon would be entirely in tune with my own beliefs - but I sure am glad someone was there to do the right thing by the birds!

Excellent! A fantastic example of social history at its best. This relates how campaigners, Etta Lemon prominent among them, took on the issue of Murderous Millinery. This became linked to the founding of the RSPB too.

It is good to mix a good history book into my To Be Read list; and I'm glad that I selected this book.

The time line of the campaign to save birds from being gruesomely adorned on women's headwear and the women's suffrage movement in Britain take similar timelines.

Some of the hats were 2 foot x 3 foot in dimension; I can't imagine. But you don't have to imagine, as there are pictures. Species of birds were decimated by hunters gathering all they could slaughter for women's fashion. In order to obtain the highly desired mating plumes, adult birds were killed and the baby birds starved. I'm not sure that those images will ever be forgotten.

History was pretty cruel in so many ways. Definitely worth reading. I'm glad that this bit of history was captured with Etta Lemon: The Woman Who Saved the Birds.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author Tessa Boase and the publisher Quarto Publishing Group - White Lion, Aurum for the opportunity to review Etta Lemon in exchange for an honest review. Previously released in 2018 as Mrs. Pankhurst's Purple Feather.

As a (relatively new) member of the RSPB and someone who has got into birdwatching over the past year, I enjoyed finding out some of the less well known history of its origins, and the relationship that played out between Etta Lemon and the suffragettes. A well researched snapshot of the time, with nature and animal rights/women's rights at its heart, which brings the women at the centre of the story to life once more.

My thanks to Aurum Press and NetGalley for a review copy of the book.

Etta Lemon: The Woman Who Saved Birds tells the story of Margaretta ‘Etta’ Lemon, who worked for around five decades to bring an end to a cruel practice—the slaughter of millions of birds every year, simply for the millinery industry—and who was also a founding member of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. But really (and the title is something I will come back to later in this review), it is much more. In fact, the book is the story of the broader campaign that took place to save the birds and to get parliament to ban trade in feathers (of which Etta was a prominent member) as also another powerful campaign that was being run alongside by an equally powerful, and perhaps a woman who stood out more, Emmeline Pankhust, the charismatic leader of the suffragettes. The two movements ran somewhat parallelly and even contrary to each other for while Mrs Lemon sought a ban on plumes (and indeed whole birds) on hats, Mrs Pankurst’s ladies were encouraged to be more fashionable and lady-like which included flaunting these elaborate creations; Mrs Pankurst sought the vote for women while Mrs Lemon opposed it! Etta Lemon and Emmeline Pankhust had roughly similar backgrounds but their inclinations and reactions to fashion, politics, and the Victorian society they belonged to were entirely opposite to one other.

But our story doesn’t really even begin with these formidable ladies. Rather, Boase introduces us to Alice Battershall, a young factory worker, who worked like hundreds of others in skilled and unskilled employments in the feather trade—from cleaning and washing to curling, thickening, and dyeing, among many stages before the plumes were ever affixed to a hat--and, mostly, for a pittance. To these hundreds of poor young women, feathers represented not a living thing (in fact, few had ever had any real contact with birds having lived in the city all of their lives), but certainly a living, ready money (feathers stolen at work), and a symbol of respectability and acceptance. And the work had its own problems—for employment was seasonal and the girls had to find other work when feather work closed after each season.

But the other side of the picture was that the millinery trade led to the massacre (a lot of it excessively cruel, like the egrets who were hunted during their mating/hatching seasons when feathers were at their most beautiful, leaving thousands of chicks to literally starve to death) of millions of birds every year. One estimate that the author mentions is by Frank Chapman which was 5 million birds killed annually in America alone. And it wasn’t just feathers but whole wings or even whole birds affixed to hats in what would certainly look grotesque to us today but was the height of fashion in its day. But fashion demanded it, the shops continued to sell (it was a profitable trade) and the ladies to buy. So, the ladies who set out to protect the birds had a formidable task before them.

And ladies they were. The society’s start can be traced to the individual efforts of some of the ladies, like Etta Lemon herself who sent letters to the women she observed at church wearing these offending creations (they made her shudder, too)—and ultimately to tea parties. A ladies’ tea party may not be viewed too seriously but at a time when women lacked places to meet, two sets of ladies Emily Williamson with her Society for the Protection of Birds in Manchester, and Eliza Phillips with her Fur, Fin and Feather Folk in Croydon (of which Etta Lemon was a part) began their campaigns. Eventually, the two were combined and absorbed by the RSPCA but continued to remain for a while a society run by women. And while it may have been scoffed at by more ‘scientifically minded men’, the women managed to increase their membership manifold, and bring in funds too, though ultimately men too were made members, and they had to look at influential ones for support.

But the fact remains, these were women in a world of men—and were not spared slights or derision but still persisted with their campaign. They had impressive organisational skills (Etta Lemon in particular), and their campaigns included both directly targeting wearers (with pamphlets and such) and even manufacturers, to trying to push through a bill for banning this cruel practice through the influential male members of the society. But politics and compromise were very much a part of the process, for the issue of game birds raised by member Julia Andrews was shut down and Miss Andrews even removed, with the society declaring that its focus would remain the millinery trade. Politics reared its head at other times too, in Mrs Lemon’s later days when she was pushed out of the society she cared about so much.

Alongside, we follow Mrs Pankhurst’s story and the suffragette movement which resorted to violent protest and means to put forth the claim for votes for women; they too faced derision, cruelty, like force feeding when they went on hunger strike in prison or even violence/assault during protests. Mrs Pankhurst’s own interest in fashion and shopping was passed on to her fellow campaigners who were encouraged to look their best, and it was sometimes ladies who were members of both movements who achieved some success in preventing them from wearing feathered hats.

Both movements involved decades of struggle and considerations of politics, fashion and of course economics. And it wasn’t their efforts alone, but also changes in circumstances which ultimately bore fruit.

This was a well-written and excellently researched (even Alice Battershall’s life is well traced) book which proved to be an engrossing read for the most part. I enjoyed following the journey of the two campaigns—their successes and failures, the ways in which they intertwined, and the stories of the two formidable ladies—Etta Lemon and Emmeline Pankhust—who played crucial roles in each (there were many others too, like Winifred Duchess of Portland in the bird campaign; Millicent Fawcett leader of the suffragists; and even Mrs Humphry Ward, prominent among the Anti-suffragists, among many more whose contributions we learn about as well).

What I especially liked about the book was the well-rounded and holistic picture it paints for us—we see the perspectives of the young girls who worked with feathers and for whom they were a symbol of respectability, to the suffragettes like Mrs Pankhust to whom too, these were a symbol of their femininity which was the basis on which they sought the vote; we peep into glamourous boutiques, and also into a hunt for egrets—the hunter thrilled with the money he makes from one trip (as indeed did the traders who interests weighed with politicians for a long enough time to see the plumage bill shelved many times for over a decade); and of course those, like Mrs Lemon who felt for the birds and could not bear to see them adorning the hats of the fashionable ladies of the day, to even Winifred Portland who had to tread a middle way for while she was a passionate animal lover, a vegetarian and hated blood sport, her husband hunted with equal passion, and she had to balance her role in the RSPB with her role as society hostess.

The book was an eye opener for me in many ways; I did know about feathers on hats as a fashion but did not have an idea of the extent of this practice and trade—I didn’t know how many species of wild birds were driven to the brink of extinction, or that the creations had full wings, or even entire birds on them. The thought was so repulsive and off putting (mild words compared to what I felt), but then I realised that this was also a time when people did wear furs too, and with heads and tails attached! I honestly was not aware of the extent of cruelty involved in the practice as well, like the egret hunting I mentioned earlier—and it was these images that served strongly—though the lens of a camera and in the powerful words of Virginia Woolf that did sent a shudder through people, much more than pamphlets and other campaigns could achieve. (And speaking of pictures, I must mention that the images in the book are really high quality which I appreciated a lot.)

Of the suffragettes too, I learnt a lot—especially all they had to go through in their campaigns—the violence and cruelty, the slights and sneers—the victory is a hard won one (which we perhaps don’t appreciate enough). (Also, to tell the truth, I didn’t quite know the difference between suffragettes and suffragists before reading this either).


From these and Boase’s writing, we get a good sense of out two heroines, Etta Lemon and Emmeline Pankhurst—where they came from, what drove them, and their lives, thoughts and ideas which moved in very different directions to each other.

This was a very interesting and enjoyable read overall, but I did have one criticism or complaint and this was the title itself—reading the title and description of the book, I had expected a book focused more on Etta lemon and the movement for the protection of birds; the suffragette movement I’d expected to go into, but only to an extent, but when I found so much of the book devoted to that, while I did enjoy reading the details there were times when I wondered why we were going on such a tangent, and was even slightly losing interest. Later I found that another edition (the hardback) of the book is titled Mrs Pankhurst’s Purple Feather. But this too, I feel doesn’t capture the whole essence of the book---If I had known from the beginning that this was about both ladies and both movements—Etta and Emmeline (like one of the chapters), I think I’d have been able to appreciate it much more when reading.

But a really good and engrossing read otherwise.

4.25 stars!

This book takes the reader right into the world of the high life of aristocratic women and the tough enslavement of the girls working for milliners. Etta Lemon, privately educated and intelligent, grew a society to save the birds, cruelly slain for beautiful women's hats, and was an excellent public speaker. She worked tirelessly to make women aware of this terrible trade - some women even wore dead birds on their hats. Many of the bird species were in danger of extinction. Yet she was against women having the vote.

Some of the suffragettes were also against this 'murderous millinery', but many felt that they had to use fashion, including feathers, to enhance their power. Tessa Boase compares Etta with Emmeline Pankhurst in an interesting way.

This book is very enjoyable, and made me want to find out more about such eccentric characters as the Duchess of Portland, and learn more about Arthur Mattingley, who photographed Australian egrets for the Society.

I received this free ebook from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

EDITION Other Format
ISBN 9780711263383
PRICE $16.00 (USD)

Margaretta (Etta) Louisa Lemon MBE (1860-1953) of Reigate was a co-founder of the all-female organisation that later became the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB). Renowned for her public speaking, she lobbied for legislation to protect wild birds against the fashion for wearing feathered hats which she claimed was ‘murderous millinery’. She was a member of the Reigate Board of Guardians and the Board of Managers for Earlswood Asylum but a staunch anti suffragist, heading a branch of the East Surrey Anti-Suffrage League. When Mrs Pankhurst stormed the House of Commons with her crack squad of militant suffragettes in 1908, she wore on her hat a voluptuous purple feather. This is the intriguing story behind that feather.

Twelve years before the suffragette movement began dominating headlines, a very different women’s campaign captured the public imagination. Its aim was radical: to stamp out the fashion for feathers in hats. Leading the fight was a character just as heroic as Emmeline Pankhurst, but with opposite beliefs. Her name was Etta Lemon, and she was anti-fashion, anti-feminist – and anti-suffrage. Mrs Lemon has been forgotten by history, but her mighty society lives on. Few, today, are aware that Britain’s biggest conservation charity, the RSPB, was born through the determined efforts of a handful of women, led by the indomitable Mrs Lemon. While the suffragettes were slashing paintings and smashing shop windows, Etta Lemon and her local secretaries were challenging ‘murderous millinery’ all the way up to Parliament.

This gripping narrative explores two singular heroines – one lionised, the other forgotten – and their rival, overlapping campaigns. Moving from the feather workers’ slums to the highest courtly circles, from the first female political rally to the first forcible feeding, Mrs Pankhurst’s Purple Feather is a unique journey through a society in transformation. This is a highly original story of women stepping into the public sphere, agitating for change – and finally finding a voice. A fascinating piece of history rich in intricacies and colourful, idiosyncratic characters and a tale not given the exposure it deserved over the last century.

What a fascinating book. I’d never heard of Etta Lemon before, and I hazard a guess that not many others have either. She seems to have been written out of the historical record. (An all too familiar fate for women, sadly). And yet Emma Lemon played such a pivotal role in founding and developing the RSPB, and we’ve all heard of that, particularly in the UK. So why don’t we know more about her? Thankfully we now do, and what an excellent biography this is. The author expertly weaves together the stories of Etta Lemon and Emmeline Pankhurst (and we’ve all heard of her) as they were active at the same time, although their aims were different. Etta cared about birds, in particular the ones that had been slaughtered for Mrs Pankhurst's hats. And that is indeed a hard-to-stomach aspect of the book, the description of the appalling destruction of so many birds purely to adorn women's hats. Later Etta Lemon actually became an anti-suffrage campaigner – and that in itself is a compelling tale. All in all, there is so much to enjoy in this meticulously researched, well –written and thoroughly enjoyable and illuminating biography. Highly recommended.

I actually clicked on this as a free review copy in error, to be truthful, yet seldom did I regret it at all. I thought it was a children's book, along the lines of those others I have seen recently ("She Heard the Birds" – https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4038785734 and "Counting Birds" – https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2564131917), telling of pioneering bird enthusiasts killing off the trade in feathers for fashion. Instead it's an adult non-fiction book, and one that's much more about society and hats than it is about birds. While those other books concentrated on American subjects, this British volume looks at the woman who helped inspire the RSPB bird and conservation charity, who was railing against the idea of killing birds and sticking their plumage in bonnets and headdresses. Oh, and she was campaigning for birds on similar platforms to the chief suffragettes, who were all too happy to flounce around under a forest of feathers, as they needed to look dainty and feminine to get anywhere – the brash, couture-less harridan look would not do.

So this almost acts as a joint biography of Emmeline Pankhurst (wants everything for women, as long as she can be be-feathered, thus managing to keep the girls involved in the feather trade stuck in the poverty that is all they've known), and the most unfortunately-named Etta Lemon (wants everything for birds, and hang those women demanding the vote and a living wage and everything else for nicking her column inches). It's also a social history, looking at the background of the workers in the feather trade, the evangelical ideas that helped Lemon become such a pioneer in her field, and more. This was, perhaps surprisingly, the first era of the campaigning style we know of today, although they were making beginner's mistakes – a lead anti-vivisectionist sporting a whole bird of paradise and an ivory-handled umbrella as her decoration of choice.

I'm forced to consider this book as a complete layman here – I've hardly ever worn a formal hat, and certainly not one with a gutted songbird stuck on it. I would never have thought to find myself reading about the social history of millinery decoration, and as I say those prior reads of mine never encouraged me to think the RSPB had been born from similar reasons – and certainly not that the chief worker of the SPB before its Royal endowment was a virulent anti-suffragist. So what this layman can report is that this is surprisingly engaging, and would appear to be so for many an audience member. You don't have to have an academic hat on (feather-free, of course) to be coming here for study of early environmentalism, social protests' impact on couture or any other reason an expert would need to peruse this. It is, ultimately, a bit clumsily-named, much like its title subject, for this is about a lot more than someone who consumed a citrus fruit, and perhaps too forensic, "must-make-the-definitive-book-and-therefore-use-every-minute-detail" for its own good, but it still can go down as a surprising success.

To quote, "ETTA LEMON was originally published in hardback in 2018 under the title of MRS PANKHURST'S PURPLE FEATHER." That was a slightly better title, but only just.