Ethel Smyth
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Dame Ethel Mary Smyth [link] (April 23, 1858 - May 8, 1944) was an English composer and a leader of the women's suffrage movement.
Early life career
She was born in London and studied music in Leipzig with Frau von Herzogenberg and the Geistinger. Her works included symphonies, choral works and operas (most famously The Wreckers). Possibly her best-known work is "The March of the Women" (1911), which became an anthem for the Women's Social and Political Union, to which she belonged.
In 1922 she was created a DBE. She was one of the models for the fictional Dame Hilda Tablet in the 1950s radio plays of Henry Reed.
Relationships
Long known to have been lesbian, she was involved in a romantic relationship with writer Virginia Woolf, leading to an abundant exchange of letters between the two women. She was also involved in relationships with several other well known women of the day, including Pauline Trevelyan, the Empress Eugénie, the wealthy Winnaretta Singer, Lady Mary Ponsonby [link] [link], and writer Edith Somerville [link]. [link] [link]
She died in the UK at age 86 from natural causes.
There is also an article on the 20th century pop organist Ethel Smith
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