Sime Seruya
Portuguese actress, suffragist and socialist (1876–1955)
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Sime Seruya (1876–1955) was a Portuguese actress, suffragist and socialist who campaigned in Britain. She was a member of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), the Women's Freedom League (WFL), Women's Tax Resistance League (WTRL) and was a co-founder of the Actresses' Franchise League (AFL).
Sime Seruya | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1876 Lisbon, Portugal |
| Died | 1955 (aged 78–79) |
| Organization(s) | Women's Social and Political Union, Women's Freedom League, Women's Tax Resistance League, Actresses' Franchise League, Fabian Society |
Political party | Independent Labour Party |
Biography
Seruya was born in Lisbon, Portugal in 1876.[1] She worked as an actress in Portugal before arriving in London in 1906.[1] She lived in West Lewisham.[2]
Seruya joined the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) in 1907 and donated £100 to the cause.[3] Also in 1907, she was arrested and sentenced to 14 days in prison for taking part in a women's suffrage deputation outside the House of Commons.[4] By Autumn, she was among the seventy members of the WSPU who left to form the Women's Freedom League (WFL).[1] In 1909, she also joined the Women's Tax Resistance League (WTRL).[3]
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In 1908, Seruya founded the Actresses' Franchise League (AFL),[5] with Gertrude Elliott, Winifred Mayo and Adeline Bourne.[6][7] The League represented actresses of both militant and non-militant suffrage tendencies.[8] Seruya organised the WFL contribution to A Pageant of Great Women in 1910 with fellow actress Edith Craig.[2]
In 1910, Seruya began selling feminist books and suffrage collectables (including postcards that she had published[9]) out of one of Edith Craig and her partner Christabel Marshall's rooms at 31 Bedford Street, London, founding the "International Suffrage Shop."[10] She published an advertisement in the Votes for Women newspaper about the opening of the shop.[11] In March 1911 the shop moved to larger premises on Adam Street in the Strand.[12] That year, Seruya also fought successfully against a conviction for selling Votes for Women on the steps of the Lyceum Theatre.[2][13]
Seruya was also a socialist and a member of the Independent Labour Party[6] and the Fabian Society.[14] In 1908, she was the honorary treasurer of the Penal Reform League[15] and in 1910 she attended the 8th International Socialist Congress in Copenhagen, Denmark.[1]
In the interwar period, she was a member of the Film and Photo League[16] and was involved in the workers film movement with other left wing activists such as Ivor Montagu, Eva Reckitt, Ernie Trory and others.[17][18] She was also active in the Women's Committee for the Relief of the Miners' Wives and Children, after the 1926 United Kingdom general strike and subsequent miners' lockout.[19]
She had a son, Ivan Seruya,[16] who was a member of the Friends of the Soviet Union and the Young Communist League as a student at Regent Street Polytechnic.[20] She died in 1955.[1]