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Maud Pember Reeves
Maud Pember Reeves
Maud (Magdalen) Pember Reeves née Robison (1865-1953) was brought up in New Zealand, where her father was a bank manager. When she was 19 she married William Pember Reeves, a politician: they had two daughters, Amber and Beryl, and a son, Fabian. In 1890 Maud began a university degree, but abandoned it to help her husband and to campaign for women’s rights: in 1893 New Zealand became the first country in the world to grant women the vote. In 1896 William became New Zealand Agent-General in England and the family moved to London. Maud again became actively involved in the campaign for women’s suffrage and was a friend of many of the leading members of the Fabians: the Fabian Women’s Group was started in her Kensington drawing-room. Round About a Pound a Week (1913) arose out of the group’s radical but practical response to the poverty of the women of Lambeth. Maud worked in the Ministry of Food during WW1 and then retired from public life.
