What's in a name? The revealing use of noms de plume in women's correspondence to daily newspapers in Edwardian Scotland.

Pedersen, Sarah

Abstract

In August 1912, a female correspondent calling herself ‘Fair Play’ wrote to the Aberdeen Free Press to remonstrate at the militant methods used by the Women’s Social and Political Union (the WSPU). She explained that she had chosen to use a pen name rather than reveal her identity for fear of retribution from local suffragettes: “I should prefer to sign my own name to this letter, but having done so some years ago in a letter to a London paper, in which I pointed out the unreason of their violent conduct, I received such vulgarly abusive postcards from some of the suffragette ‘patriots’ and ‘martyrs’ that in these days of hatchet-throwing and petrol-burning I simply dare not do so”. Helen Tollie, a local WSPU member from Ballater, wrote immediately in response; “Dear lady, Fear not our hatchets or implements of war. They will not be directed against you. You are not important enough. If you were, they would find their way to you without your help.”

Citation

PEDERSEN, S. 2004. What's in a name? The revealing use of noms de plume in women's correspondence to daily newspapers in Edwardian Scotland. Media history [online], 10(3), pages 175-185. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1080/1368880042000311537

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Dec 31, 2004
• Online Publication Date: Dec 31, 2004
• Publication Date: Dec 31, 2004
• Deposit Date: Jan 20, 2009
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 20, 2009
• Journal: Media history
• Print ISSN: 1368-8804
• Electronic ISSN: 1469-9729
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 10
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 175-185
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/1368880042000311537
• Keywords: Scotland; Daily newspapers; Women; Correspondence; Noms de plume
• Public URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10059/293
• Related Public URLs: http://hdl.handle.net/10059/1553; http://hdl.handle.net/10059/2187; http://hdl.handle.net/10059/2386; http://hdl.handle.net/10059/141; http://hdl.handle.net/10059/628; http://hdl.handle.net/10059/2588; https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/363089; https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/392183; http://hdl.handle.net/10059/1177