Theodora Wilson Wilson
Born13 January 1865
Kendal, Westmorland, UK
Died8 November 1941(1941-11-08) (aged 76)
St. Albans, UK
Occupation(s)Writer, pacifist
RelativesSamuel Bagster the Elder (great-grandfather)

Theodora Wilson Wilson (13 January 1865 – 8 November 1941) was a British writer and pacifist. She was a founding member of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. Her "quaint" reputation as a writer changed when she published her 1916 science fiction novel The Last Weapon, A Vision, whose anti-war message led to its being banned.

Early life and education

Theodora Wilson Wilson was born in Kendal, Westmorland, the daughter of Isaac Whitwell Wilson and Anne Bagster Wilson.[1] Her family were former Quakers; her grandfather Jonathan Bagster and great-grandfather Samuel Bagster were Bible publishers.[2] Her older brother Horace Bagster Wilson was a noted physician.[3] She attended Stramongate School and Croydon High School and studied music in Germany.[4]

Career

Wilson ran a Sunday school as a young woman, and founded an evening school program for working girls.[4] Her first book was a 1900 guide to poultry keeping for women.[5] She moved to London in 1909, and became a Quaker before World War I. Her career as a fiction writer began with her first novel, T'bacca Queen (1901).[6] She also wrote children's books,[7][8] Bible study guides, and plays, including Champion North (1931),[9] Across Yonder (1936)[10] and Marya.[11]

A 1905 review of Wilson's novel Langbarrow Hall declared that she was "striving neither to be clever or unusual, but merely to write out at length a story both quaint and natural".[12] This "quaint" reputation soon changed, as her 1916 pacifist allegorical novel[13] The Last Weapon, A Vision has science fiction and fantasy themes, as it imagines "Hellite", an ultimate doomsday device, and a messenger from Paradise called "the Child".[2][14] The book was briefly banned as anti-war propaganda,[15] and thousands of copies were seized by authorities.[16] An American reviewer believed that "When the war is over it may be pointed out as one of the great books resulting from this crisis".[17]

Wilson was a founding member of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, and served on the general committee of the Fellowship of Reconciliation from 1915 to 1922.[2] She was editor of The New Crusader, a pacifist periodical, from 1917.[2][18][19] She spoke at meetings in Trecynon and Merthyr in 1917,[16][20] and at a peace rally in Bishopsgate in 1918;[21] she also spoke at Society of Friends meetings in Manchester in 1914,[22] 1933[23] and 1934,[24] and in London in 1936.[25]

Legacy

In 2019, the Greater Manchester & District Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament crowdfunded a new edition of The Last Weapon, a Vision.[15][26] The launch of the new book was supported by a talk in Manchester and a video that featured Maxine Peake.[15]

Selected books

Theodora Wilson Wilson's The Last Weapon – a banned book[26]
  • Poultry Keeping for Women, for Pleasure and Profit (1900)[5]
  • T'bacca Queen (1901)[27]
  • Ursula Raven (1905)[28]
  • Langbarrow Hall (1905)[29]
  • Our Joshua (1905)[30]
  • The Magic Jujubes (1906)[31]
  • Sarah the Valiant (1907)[32]
  • The Factory Queen (1908)[33]
  • The Islanders (1910)[34]
  • The Search of the Child (1910)[35]
  • A Modern Affair (1912)[36]
  • Jim's Children (1912)[37]
  • Five of Them (1912)[38]
  • A Modern Ahab (1912)[39]
  • The Dauntless Three (1914)[40]
  • What Happened to Kitty (1916)[41]
  • Stories from the Bible (1916)[42]
  • The Last Weapon, A Vision (1916)[43]
  • The Weapon Unsheathed (1916)[44]
  • Netherdale For Ever![45]
  • The Story of Odysseus (1921)[46]
  • The Last Dividend (1922)[47]
  • The Undaunted Trio (1923)[48]
  • Father M. P. (1923)[49]
  • Cousins in Camp (1925)[50]
  • Jerry Makes Good (1926)[51]
  • The Cousins of Faulkland (1927)[52]
  • The Strange Adventures of Billy (1927)[53]
  • The Explorer's Son (1928)[54]
  • The Laughing Band (1929)[55]
  • Pat Joins the Laughing Band (1929)[56]
  • The Parables of Our Lord (1929)[57]
  • Founders of Wat End School (1932)[58]
  • Once-upon-a-time Land (1932)[59]
  • The Lost Cup of Walla (1933)[60]
  • The Sole Survivor (1935)[61]
  • A Tale of Two Secrets (1936)[62]
  • Margot Fights Through (1936)[63]
  • Those Strange Years (1937)[64]
  • The St Berga Swimming Pool (1939)[65]
  • The Grants and Jane (1940)[66]
  • Into the Arena (1944)[67]

Personal life

Wilson died in St. Albans in 1941, aged 76 years.[4]

References

  1. ↑ Foster, Joseph (1871). The pedigree of Wilson of High Wray & Kendal, and the families connected with them. pp. 7–8.
  2. 1 2 3 4 den Boggende, Bert (2007). "The Fellowship of Reconciliation's Propaganda and Theodora Wilson Wilson's Literary Contribution, 1914–1917". Quaker Studies. 12: 107–128.
  3. ↑ "Rev. Horace Bagster Wilson". BMJ. 1 (3884): 1242–1243. 15 June 1935. doi:10.1136/bmj.1.3884.1242-b. ISSN 0959-8138. S2CID 38550668.
  4. 1 2 3 "Theodora Wilson Wilson". The Oxford Companion to Edwardian Fiction. Retrieved 17 September 2021.
  5. 1 2 Wilson, Theodora Wilson (1900). Poultry Keeping for Women, for Pleasure and Profit. Cable printing and publishing Company.
  6. ↑ "T'Bacca Queen". The Buffalo Sunday Morning News. 18 May 1902. p. 4. Retrieved 17 September 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ↑ Kelly, L. V. (11 December 1927). "Animal Story". The Province. p. 52. Retrieved 17 September 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ↑ "Books by Theodora Wilson Wilson". Daily Telegraph (Launceston, Tas. : 1883 – 1928). 21 November 1925. p. 8. Retrieved 17 September 2021 – via Trove.
  9. ↑ "Dramatis Personae". The Observer. 22 November 1931. p. 11. Retrieved 17 September 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ↑ Wilson, Theodora Wilson (1936). Across Yonder—a Mystical Adventure: A Play in Three Acts. The Author.
  11. ↑ Wilson, Theodora Wilson. Marya: A Play ...
  12. ↑ "Among the New Books". Chicago Tribune. 7 April 1905. p. 8. Retrieved 17 September 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ↑ Ouditt, Sharon (22 January 2002). Women Writers of the First World War: An Annotated Bibliography. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-134-94601-3.
  14. ↑ "Authors : Wilson, Theodora Wilson". SFE : Science Fiction Encyclopedia. Retrieved 17 September 2021.
  15. 1 2 3 Manchester Friends of the Earth (11 November 2019). "Event: Banned – Books for Peace (hosted by Greater Manchester Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament)". Retrieved 17 September 2021.
  16. 1 2 "Well-known Authoress at Trecynon". The Aberdare Leader. 22 December 1917. p. 2. Retrieved 17 September 2021 – via Welsh Newspapers.
  17. ↑ Winston, John C. (12 May 1917). "Reviews of New Books: The Last Weapon". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. p. 10. Retrieved 17 September 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ↑ Ouditt, Sharon (23 September 2020). Fighting Forces, Writing Women: Identity and Ideology in the First World War. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-000-15871-7.
  19. ↑ Ceadel, Martin (2000). Semi-detached Idealists: The British Peace Movement and International Relations, 1854–1945. Oxford University Press. p. 217. ISBN 978-0-19-924117-0.
  20. ↑ "A Meeting of Quiet Friendship; Visit of Miss Theodora Wilson Wilson to Merthyr". Pioneer. 22 December 1917. p. 3. Retrieved 17 September 2021 – via Welsh Newspapers.
  21. ↑ "Christian Pacifists; Armaments Can Never Succeed". Pioneer. 20 July 1918. p. 3. Retrieved 17 September 2021 – via Welsh Newspapers, National Library of Wales.
  22. ↑ "The Despair of the Age". The Guardian. 14 December 1914. p. 3. Retrieved 17 September 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  23. ↑ "Without Vision: Miss Theodora Wilson and World Troubles". The Guardian. 20 May 1933. p. 18. Retrieved 17 September 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  24. ↑ "Threat to Liberty; Are We Losing Faith in Parliament?". The Guardian. 30 July 1934. p. 16. Retrieved 17 September 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  25. ↑ "Quaker Addresses". The Guardian. 14 February 1936. p. 13. Retrieved 17 September 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  26. 1 2 "Help raise £3000 to Republish Theodora Wilson Wilson's book The Last Weapon, banned in 1918". JustGiving. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
  27. ↑ Wilson, Theodora Wilson (1901). T'bacca queen. Edward Arnold.
  28. ↑ Wilson, Theodora Wilson (1905). Ursula Raven. Harper & Brothers.
  29. ↑ Wilson, Theodora Wilson (1905). Langbarrow Hall. D. Appleton and Company.
  30. ↑ Wilson, Theodora Wilson (1905). Our Joshua, Etc.
  31. ↑ Wilson, Theodora Wilson (1906). The magic jujubes. London.
  32. ↑ Wilson, Theodora Wilson (1907). Sarah the valiant. Alston Rivers.
  33. ↑ Wilson, Theodora Wilson (1908). The Factory Queen, Etc.
  34. ↑ Wilson, Theodora Wilson (1910). The Islanders: The Story of a Family. Blackie.
  35. ↑ Wilson, Theodora Wilson (1910). The search of the child.
  36. ↑ Wilson, Theodora Wilson (1912). A Modern Affair. Stanley Paul.
  37. ↑ Wilson, Theodora Wilson (1912). Jim's children. Blackie and Son.
  38. ↑ Wilson, Theodora Wilson (1912). Five of Them. Blackie & Son.
  39. ↑ Wilson, Theodora Wilson (1912). A modern Ahab. Stanley Paul.
  40. ↑ Wilson, Theodora Wilson (1914). The Dauntless Three. Thomas Nelson & Sons.
  41. ↑ Wilson, Theodora Wilson (1916). What Happened to Kitty: A Story for Children. Blackie.
  42. ↑ Wilson, Theodora Wilson (1916). Stories from the Bible.
  43. ↑ Wilson, Theodora Wilson (1916). The Last Weapon: A Vision. C.W. Daniel.
  44. ↑ Wilson, Theodora Wilson (1916). The Weapon Unsheathed: A Spiritual Adventure. C. W. Daniel.
  45. ↑ Wilson, Theodora Wilson (1919). Netherdale for ever!.
  46. ↑ Homer (1921). The Story of Odysseus. By Theodora Wilson Wilson.
  47. ↑ Wilson, Theodora Wilson (1922). The Last Dividend: An Economic Romance. International Bookshops, Limited.
  48. ↑ Wilson, Theodora Wilson (1923). The Undaunted Trio. London.
  49. ↑ Wilson, Theodora Wilson (1923). Father M.P.A Story for Boys and Girls.
  50. ↑ Wilson, Theodora Wilson (1925). Cousins in Camp.
  51. ↑ Wilson, Theodora Wilson (1926). Jerry Makes Good. "Boys Own Paper" Office.
  52. ↑ Wilson, Theodora Wilson (1927). The Cousins of Falkland, Etc. London.
  53. ↑ Wilson, Theodora Wilson (1927). The Strange Adventures of Billy.
  54. ↑ Wilson, Theodora Wilson (1928). The Explorer's Son, Etc. 'Boy's Own Paper'.
  55. ↑ Wilson, Theodora Wilson (1929). The Laughing Band, Etc. London.
  56. ↑ Wilson, Theodora Wilson (1929). Pat Joins the Laughing Band. London.
  57. ↑ Wilson, Theodora Wilson (1929). The Parables of Our Lord. R.T.S.
  58. ↑ Wilson, Theodora Wilson (1932). Founders of Wat End School, Etc. London.
  59. ↑ Wilson, Theodora Wilson (1933). Once-Upon-A-Time Land.
  60. ↑ Wilson, Theodora Wilson (1933). The Lost Cup of Walla.
  61. ↑ Wilson, Theodora Wilson (1935). The Sole Survivor.
  62. ↑ Wilson, Theodora Wilson (1936). A Tale of Two Secrets.
  63. ↑ Wilson, Theodora Wilson (1936). Margot Fights Through. A Story for Girls. Girl's Own Paper.
  64. ↑ Wilson, Theodora Wilson (1937). Those Strange Years. C.W. Daniel.
  65. ↑ Wilson, Theodora Wilson (1939). The St. Berga Swimming Pool.
  66. ↑ Wilson, Theodora Wilson (1940). The Grants and Jane. Ward, Lock & Company.
  67. ↑ Wilson, Theodora Wilson; Brock, H. M. (1944). Into the arena. London: Collins. OCLC 226268217.
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