Ellen Moxley
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Ellen Moxley | |
|---|---|
 Ellen Moxley (left) and Helen Steven (right) accepting the Ghandi International Peace Award in 2004 | |
| Born | 12 March 1935 |
| Died | 8 July 2019 (aged 84) |
| Known for | Peace activism |
| Partner | Helen Steven |
| Awards | Right Livelihood Award (2001); Gandhi International Peace Prize (2004) |
Ellen Moxley (12 March 1935 – 8 July 2019) was a Chinese-American Quaker and peace activist based in Scotland who engaged in non-violent direct action. She was arrested as part of The Trident Three who boarded and damaged a nuclear facility in Loch Goil and were later acquitted.[1] As a member of the Trident Ploughshares, she received the Right Livelihood Award in 2001.[2] With her life partner Helen Steven, she was awarded the Gandhi International Peace Award in 2004 for their lifelong peace activism.[3]
Moxley was born on 12 March 1935 in Nanjing, China to an American mother, Marian, and Chinese father, Sun. Marian went back to the US with her daughter ahead of the Japanese invasion in 1937. Marian subsequently married Jim Moxley, and Ellen took his surname. Moxley attended Mount Holyoke university for women, Massachusetts, and graduated in zoology in 1957. She went on to work at San Diego Zoo. She became a member of the Quaker community while at university and this would inform her later peace activism. Moxley travelled to Europe with her mother, living in Paris and then London, where she worked in St Bart's Hospital. Her mother died in London in 1967.[4]
From 1972 - 1974, Moxley managed an orphanage in Saigon. There she met Helen Steven, who was to become her life partner. Moxley adopted a baby, Marian Beeby, from the orphanage where she worked in 1975. Moxley moved to Scotland with Helen and Marian in 1981.[5]