Ada Heather-Bigg 1855 – 1944
Journalist, suffragist.
1855 – 1944?
Education
1875 Began studying at UCL in the Department of Political Economy. (The first university co-educational class was held at UCL in 1871 in this department. Women, however, were not admitted to degree courses until 1878).
Some Key Achievements and Interests
1881 Recipient of the Joseph Hume scholarship.
1889 Founded the Children’s Happy Evenings Association to provide a range of games and activities for working class children to do after school hours.
1890 With other young economists formed the Economic Club at UCL to discuss topics in social science.
As part of the Economic Club, went on to establish the Economic Journal, writing in its early issues.
Contributed a historically informed article on the tendency to undervalue the wife’s economic contribution to family income arguing that opposition to employment outside the household was motivated more by a fear, not so much of women’s work, but of women’s wage-earning.
1891 Awarded the Jevons studentship to study economic and social conditions in London.
Campaigned as a suffragist and opponent of restrictions on women’s work.
Campaigned for the Society for Promoting the Employment of Women (SPEW).
1891 With Jessie Boucherett and Helen Blackburn founded the Women’s Employment Defence League.
Joined the Women’s Provident and Protective League (WPPL), an organization promoting trade unionism for women; later commissioned to investigate working conditions of women nail and chain makers.
Joined the Women’s Employment Association.
Wrote outside of the Economic Journal on fashion, criticising ‘the cost, the tyranny and the uselessness of fashion’.
Connection to Bloomsbury
UCL
Female networks include
Different members of above Associations including, Clara Collet, Caroline Foley, Helen Blackburn, Jessie Boucherett.
Writing/publications include
1893 What is “fashion”? The Nineteenth Century and After.
1894 The Wife’s Contribution to Family Income, in the Economic Journal.
Further Reading
https://blogs.bl.uk/untoldlives/womens-histories/page/26/
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/economics/about-department/women-economics-and-ucl-late-19th-century
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/~uctp100/RESwomen.htm
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/09612020400200391
https://blogs.bl.uk/untoldlives/domestic-life/page/26/
https://orlando.cambridge.org/people/43625669-8fe7-4a11-9fe1-757574b3fe24