Emily Langton Massingberd

Upon her father's death in 1887 Langton inherited his estate and re-assumed the surname Massingberd by royal licence, and thereafter went by "Mrs. Massingberd" rather than "Mrs. Langton".
The photograph, circa 1894, shows her wearing the hatchet pin of the Pioneer Club, which she founded in 1892.

Emily Caroline Langton Massingberd (19 December 1847 – 28 January 1897), known as Emily Langton Langton from 1867 to 1887,[1][2][3] was an English women's rights campaigner and temperance activist.

Her husband, Edmund Langton, died in 1875. In 1877, Emily built and lived in the Red House in Bournemouth. Since the 1940s, the house has often been erroneously associated with Lillie Langtry and Bertie, the Prince of Wales.[3] Upon her father's death in 1887, she inherited Gunby Hall.[1]

In 1892, she founded the Pioneer Club, with the object of the political and moral advancement of women.[4][5][6] It was one of the first, and one of the most powerful and well known, of progressive women's clubs in the UK, and was particularly influential while she remained alive.

Her birth surname was Massingberd, and her married surname was Langton. After her father's death, she re-assumed the surname Massingberd by royal licence on 20 May 1887, and went by "Mrs. Massingberd" rather than "Mrs. Langton".[1][7]

  1. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference MC was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Stationery folder NT 637431, Collection: Gunby Hall Estate, Lincolnshire. National Trust. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  3. ^ a b Camp, Anthony J. Additions and Corrections to Royal Mistresses and Bastards: Fact and Fiction 1714–1936 (2007) Archived 6 February 2016 at the Wayback Machine. AnthonyJCamp.com. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  4. ^ Obituary. Mrs Massingberd, The Times, 29 January 1897; pg. 10; Issue 35113.
  5. ^ Crawford, Elizabeth (2001). Women's Suffrage Movement: A Reference Guide, 1866–1928 (Women's and Gender History). Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-23926-4.
  6. ^ CHAPTER IX: WOMEN'S CLUBS (1896). In: Krout, Mary H. A Looker on in London. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1899. p. 79. Reproduced at VictorianLondon.org. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
  7. ^ The London Gazette. 9 December 1887. p. 6869.