British and American Women Commemorate Ernestine L. Rose, International Women's Rights and Anti-Slavery Reformer

On Sunday, August 4, 2002, one hundred and ten years after her death, admirers of Ernestine L. Susmond Potowski Rose gathered at Highgate Cemetery in London to dedicate a restored marker at her grave and that of her husband, William Ella Rose

Photo by Allen Worters
Panelists, from left to right were June Purvis, Colleen Hurst, Paula Doress-Worters and Carol A. Kolmerten, shown at the Women's Library, Guildhall University, London on August 1, 2002.

To honor the contributions of Ernestine Rose on behalf of the rights of American women, and for the abolition of slavery in the U.S., a symposium, "Ernestine Rose and the British and American Women's Rights Movements" was held at the Women's Library of London Guildhall University on August 1, 2002. The panel brought together scholars from the U.S. and U.K. who participated in a lively re-examination of women's rights reform in the 19th century. The speakers were: Colleen Hurst, Historian of the Susan B. Anthony House in Rochester, NY, Carol A. Kolmerten of Hood College in Baltimore, MD, author of The American Life of Ernestine L. Rose (Syracuse U. Press, 1999). June Purvis, of the University of Portsmouth, U.K, author of Emmeline Pankhurst: A Biography (Routledge, 2002) spoke on the British Suffrage Movement. Paula Doress-Worters, founder of the Ernestine Rose Society discussed the possible reasons for Rose leaving the U.S. in 1869.

The dedication ceremony at Highgate Cemetery on August 4, 2002 consisted of scripted readings taken from eulogies, obituaries, and comments about Ernestine Rose during her lifetime, and compiled by Paula Doress-Worters to simulate a memorial service. The readings began with the original graveside eulogy given by George Jacob Holyoake, successor to Robert Owen as leader of the British Cooperative and secularist movements. The program continued with Carol A. Kolmerten reading the concluding pages from her biography, The American Life of Ernestine L. Rose that shows Rose's determination to resist religious conversion to the very end of her life. Next, there were readings about the personality and significance of Ernestine L. Rose from prominent American reformers of the women's rights and abolitionist movements, such as Lucretia Mott, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Frederick Douglass, and William Lloyd Garrison. Readings continued with quote from European reformers such as Hypatia Bradlaugh Bonner, and other European reformers, Jenny P. d'Héricourt, Mathilde Anneke and Ottilie Assing. Readings about William Rose included an excerpt from one of Ernestine Rose's speeches when she departed from her usual practice of saying little about her personal life to praise her husband's support of her activist life. The last reading was from Lillie Devereaux Blake, one of the next generation of reformers, recalling the contributions of those who preceded her. The ceremony was a moving evocation of Rose's life as a reformer, and of her remarkably supportive marriage.

Photo by Nigel Sutton with permission

Participants in the readings at the Highgate ceremony included a delegation of five women from the Susan B. Anthony (SBA) House in Rochester New York. Shown above are (from left to right): Jean Fushi of Chicago, Anna Davin of Middlesex University, UK, and SUNY, Binghamton, Sue Gaffney (SBA), Barbara Blaisdell (SBA), Teresa Froncek (SBA), Paula Doress-Worters of Brandeis University, Colleen Hurst (SBA), Lorraine Cappellino (SBA), Carol A. Kolmerten of Hood College, who read excerpts from her book, The American Life of Ernestine L. Rose, and Allen J. Worters of Boston. .

History of the Restoration Project
In the fall of 1998, Paula Doress-Worters, as a Resident Scholar at the Women's Studies Research Center of Brandeis University, began to research Rose's life. In London with her husband Allen J. Worters, they attempted to visit Ernestine and William Rose' grave at Highgate Cemetery but were unable to locate the grave site with the information they had. They engaged one of Highgate's docents to research its location and condition, and were dismayed at her report. The marker had crumbled due to encroachment of very large tree roots, and had been completely destroyed. As part of her effort to revive Rose's legacy, Paula Doress-Worters, founded The Ernestine Rose Society. The Society's first project was to raise funds for restoration of the grave marker to assure that this courageous and pioneering woman and her generous and supportive husband would no longer rest in an unmarked grave. It was particularly satisfying that nearly one hundred American women and men contributed to the restoration. We are grateful to the members of the Society for their generosity.

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