Miriam Daniell

Elizabath Miriam Wheeler Daniell (29 October 1861 – 19 April 1894) was an English strike organiser and radical thinker from Bristol. She gained prominence during the great Bristol floods of 1889 and the Bristol Strike Wave of 1889–90. Miriam emigrated to the USA with her lovers Helena Born and Robert Nicol in 1890 to avoid a scandal in conservative, Victorian Bristol. Miriam died in San Francisco in 1894, aged 32. an early feminist radical or socialist, or as a prominent thinker in the new unionism agenda. In the New Statesman in 2017 of the "menage-a-trois" they reported "these rebels prefigured everything from free love to modern feminism to eco-politics; and, in those Bristol living arrangements, possibly a dash of Habitat-style consumerism as well."

The factual story of Miriam's life was written by Professor Sheila Rowbotham as Rebel Crossings in 2016. The book also chronicled the lives of her partners after Miriam's death: Helena Born and her later partners Helen Tufts and William Bailie, as well as Robert Nicol and his later partner Gertrude Dix.

A fictionalised account of a short period of Miriam's life in Bristol was the subject of a short story in 2022 by historical novelist Cynthia Sally Haggard, told from the perspective of her later divorced husband: solicitor Edward Daniell. Cynthia is a member of the Haggard family and married to Robert Nicols grandson.

Miriam's nephew was Major Sir Mortimer Wheeler, husband of noted archaeologist Tessa Verney Wheeler, and her great-nephew was QC Michael Mortimer Wheeler. Her ancestor was sixteenth century martyr John Rogers. in turns cousin of Hollywood photographer George Daniell and daughter of newspaper magnate John N Wheeler.

Family life and divorce Born Elizabeth Miriam Wheeler into a wealthy Clifton family of tea importers and grocers, Miriam and her siblings were educated by a governess from Zurich. Her father was a leading member of the Pembroke Road Congregational Chapel where, at age 19, she married local solicitor Edward Daniell. Miriam's older brother was radicalised at University in Scotland and one of her sisters went on to join the Bristol Socialist Society at the same meeting as Enid Stacy. directly engaged in negotiations with major local employers and was criticised through local newspapers by vested interests in the city: Miriam was accused of single-handedly triggering the Great Western Cotton Factory workers strike.

Miriam, Helena and Robert deepened their involvement in the new unionism movement: writing pamphlets, hosting visiting dignitaries and supporting striking workers. Miriam delivered lectures including Cosmopolitanism not Patriotism, and Evolution of women, Nihilism and Socialism and Art. Miriam’s written works included The Truth about Chocolate Factories or Modern White Slavery; and a treatise on the importance of sex equality to the success of new unionism.

Miriam and Helena developed a close friendship with Edward Carpenter. In 1890 Miriam, Helena and Robert moved to Lower Eastville adjacent to Robert Gilliard's house and were frequent visitors, alongside others.

Emigration and death By May 1890 Miriam was pregnant and the three concluded that this would be one scandal too many, Victorian Bristol being a socially conservative place. They moved to Boston, USA, setting sail on 20 August 1890 where 'Sunrise' Miriam Elinor Nicol was born. In 1893 they relocated to rural California and built a house on a commune that was quickly destroyed. By this time Edward Daniell was pursuing their divorce through the British courts, citing Robert Nicol as a co-respondent.

Miriam's medical condition degraded and she sought medical treatment, an unknown operation, in San Francisco where she died on 19 April 1894.

Edward Daniell was granted his divorce by the Supreme Court of Judicature on 30 April 1894.