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Edith Ayrton Zangwill
Edith Ayrton Zangwill
EDITH AYRTON ZANGWILL (1874-1945) was born in Japan, where both her parents were working. She was the daughter of the electrical engineer William E Ayrton (1847-1908) and his wife Matilda Chaplin (1846-1883), pioneering doctor, who died when Eidth was eight; two years later her father married the scientist Hertha Marks Ayrton (1854-1923). Edith Ayrton attended Bedford College from 1890-2, joined the WSPU alongside her stepmother, helped form the Jewish League for Woman Suffrage and became a leading member of the United Suffragists. In 1903 she married the writer Israel Zangwill (1864-1926), who often spoke publicly in favour of women's suffrage. He encouraged his wife's writing and she published her first book (for children) in 1904 and went on to write six novels. The Call (1924) was her fifth. The Zangwills had three children and lived in London and Sussex.
