Handbill: Standing Orders of the Utopian Assembly.
[Printed handbill giving the rules of a women's debating society.] Standing Orders of the Utopian Assembly. 3rd Session.
1890. 1p., 12mo. Printed on one side of a piece of watermaked laid paper. Lightly-aged and good. Nine 'Standing Orders', followed by: 'Signed { CAMELOT (PRIME MINISTER). | YAHOO (LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION). | 1890. An intriguing document, relating to a Victorian women's organisation about which little is known (no reference, for example, in The Times of the period). Set up along the lines of the British Parliament, with the 'Clerk of the Table' named as 'Miss Ruth Whitbread, 24 Eaton Place, S.W.' The 'Utopians' are women (referred to by the feminine pronoun), with their Assembly consisting of 'two parties, called Blues and Buffs'. Section 7 lists six days of meetings at 33 Chesham Place (the London home of the 5th Lord Thurlow), devoted to 'Women's Trades Unions', 'Compulsory Education of the Rich', 'Election of Secretary of Social Customs', 'Compensation', 'Compulsory Land Purchase', with a final 'Private Member's Night'. At foot of page: 'TEXT BOOKS USED. | Pamphlets concering Women's Trades Unions to be obtained at Offices, Clark's Buildings, Broad Street, Bloomsbury. | Emerson's Essays. Camelot Series (Price 9d.).' Scarce: no copy at the British Library or on COPAC
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