IN THE week celebrating the first voting rights for women, a Petersfield woman has given more details about the links between Bedales and the movement.

Following the Nostalgia feature of January 24, Ann Donnelly, of Crundles, writes: “I was very interested to read the item about the ladies of Bedales who were involved in the Suffragist movement. Indeed, that was certainly the case.

“Amy Badley was a great friend of my grandmother, Winifred Powell (nee Cobb) – they had both studied music together at the Frankfurt Conservatoire.

“John Badley, Oswald Powell, Amy and Winifred were all engaged in launching the original Bedales in Sussex, all full of idealism...so I can well imagine discussions about enfranchising women at this time, especially as the question of girls becoming pupils was certainly mooted then; that did come about...family accounts of how is yet another story.

“However, there was yet another lady to add, Winifred’s sister,?Lewin, was also a strong supporter.

“She had been housekeeper at Bedales from 1898-1900.”

A photograph of Olivia, on April 21, 1911, has been preserved in Hampshire’s county archives and shows her reading a newspaper with a ‘Votes for Women headline. The picture was taken in a house designed by Oswald’s architect brother Alfred and the large bookcase in the background was made by Malcolm Powell, another brother.

As Ann says: “She could very well have played a part at that time.”

But it wasn’t only women who supported the suffrage cause.

In March 1913, Oswald Powell had a letter published in the Post’s forerunner, The Hants and Sussex News, on married women and income tax.

He described as “an iniquitous absurdity” the situation whereby the Government wanted to tax married women but had no legal right to ask about her income but had to ask her husband to add his wife’s earnings to his declaration and pay tax on her income as well as his own. An action with which Oswald refused to comply, saying he had no more legal right to ask for the information than the Government had.

Later that year, in July, the newspaper published an account by Oswald of The Women’s International Congress at Budapest, which he attended with Winifred.

The six-day congress was attended by 2,800 delegates from 24 nations, who heard of the suffering of women suffragists in England from the sister of General French, Mrs Charlotte Despard, and Mrs Anne Cobden Sanderson, who was the daughter of campaigner Richard Cobden.

But the anti-suffragists of Hungary were heartened by “the Mother of Parliaments refusing the demands of such women”.

Oswald remained second master at Bedales until he retired in 1933. He died at the age of 100.

Oswald and Winifred’s elder son, Roger, became a bookbinder based at Froxfield renowned for his work on historic manuscripts.