Nora Vynne

Eleanora Mary Susanna Vynne (31 October 1857 – 18 February 1914) was a British novelist and political activist. She was a leading member of the Freedom of Labour Defence who argued for equal rights for women in the workplace.

Life Vynne was born in Kennington in 1857. She would spend some of her childhood in Rickerby in the Lake District where she was home schooled.

In 1903 her non-fiction collaboration with Helen Blackburn was looking at Women under the Factory Act. They criticised legislators for treating women as if they had not the intelligence of animals as if they always needed to be cared for to protect them. They argued that women should be allowed to take risks with their health in the workplace or they may find themselves always in need to protection as if they were incapable. The book was noted for its accuracy, but the Economic Journal recognised its authors as Freedom of Labour Defence members and suspected that it may be arguing for the "equality of men and women". Today the magazine serves as a good source of early suffragette history.

After she died it became apparent that Vynne had lied a lot about her age.

Works

The Blind Artist's Pictures and Other Stories, 1893. Women under the Factory Act, written with Helen Blackburn, 1903. The Pieces of Silver (1911) So it is with the Damsel (1913) The Priest's Marriage (1899; 1911)