Myrtle Solomon

Myrtle Solomon (9 June 1921 – 22 April 1987) was a British pacifist. She was general secretary of the Peace Pledge Union (PPU), a British pacifist organisation, between 1965 and 1972, and chair of the War Resisters International (WRI) between 1975 and 1986.

Early life Solomon was born in Kensington, London, the third of five children of fairly liberal and affluent Jewish parents. Her father was a solicitor, while her mother came from the family that ran the Lewis's store in Manchester. Before the Second World War her parents played an important role in helping Jewish refugees escape from Germany and Austria.

Solomon attended St Paul's Girls' School but left at the age of 16. In the Second World War she worked for a year with the Women's Voluntary Service driving a mobile canteen.

Feminism After the war Myrtle Solomon joined a group called “Women for Westminster” that campaigned on feminist issues and it was here she met Sybil Morrison, a fellow lesbian, who was an active pacifist and a member of the Peace Pledge Union: “I admired her very much and learned a lot from her, and it seemed quite natural to me to become a pacifist then.”