Frances Jolliffe

Frances Borgia Jolliffe (1873 – November 9, 1925) was an American actress, journalist, and suffragist, and arts editor at the San Francisco Evening Bulletin.

Frances Jolliffe
Born
Frances Borgia Jolliffe

1873
San Francisco, California
DiedNovember 9, 1925
San Francisco, California
OccupationDrama critic, suffragist

Early life

Jolliffe was born in San Francisco, one of the ten children born to William Howard Jolliffe and Johanna Margaret Donohue Jolliffe. Her mother was born in Ireland; her father was born in England, and worked at the Port of San Francisco. She graduated from Vassar College in 1893.[1]

Career
A billboard welcoming the suffrage envoys, Sara Bard Field and Frances Jolliffe, to Washington, D.C. in 1915; from the Library of Congress.

Theatre

Jolliffe was a "society actress" in San Francisco as a young woman.[2] She appeared on the New York stage in 1900,[3] and with Helena Modjeska's company.[4]

She was performing arts editor at the San Francisco Evening Bulletin newspaper. In that role, she interviewed Enrico Caruso and reviewed Ruth St. Denis (whose solo performance of Radha bored Jolliffe in 1911).[5] Artist Theodore Wores painted her portrait.[6]

Suffrage

Jolliffe was a suffragist in California, and in 1913 became one of the first two women admitted as lobbyists to attend a meeting of the California legislature; they spoke to assemblymen about a mothers' pension bill.[7]

Jolliffe, Sara Bard Field, Ingeborg Kinstedt and Maria Kindberg set out on a road trip from San Francisco to Washington, D.C. in December 1915,[8][9] as "suffrage envoys", to deliver a "monster petition" of thousands of signatures supporting women's suffrage,[10] and meet with President Woodrow Wilson and members of Congress.[11][12][13] However, Jolliffe dropped out of the trip in Nevada, because of illness.[14] She rejoined the group in time to lead the parade to deliver the petition.[15] "Anybody who thinks the California women don’t care about the vote had just better go out there and try to take it away from them," Jolliffe told an audience at a New York City rally during one of their stops.[16]

War work

During World War I, Jolliffe went to France as a war correspondent,[17] to report on conditions in hospitals and refugee centers; on her return, she spoke at fundraising events for war relief causes.[18]

Personal life

In 1912, Jolliffe caused a scandal when she smoked a cigarette in a hotel lobby in Lawrence, Massachusetts.[19] Jolliffe died in 1925, in San Francisco, aged 52 years.[18]

References
  1. "Contemporary Notes". Vassar Quarterly. 11: 152. March 1, 1926.
  2. "Society Folk Will Act To-Day In Aid of Charity". San Francisco Call. 26 July 1905. p. 5. Retrieved August 23, 2020 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
  3. "Eastern Critics Laud Miss Frances Jolliffe". The San Francisco Examiner. 1900-01-10. p. 2. Retrieved 2020-08-24 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. "A Society Actress". San Francisco Call. December 20, 1896. p. 28. Retrieved August 23, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. Roseman, Janet Lynn (2004). Dance was her Religion: The Spiritual Choreography of Isadora Duncan, Ruth St. Denis and Martha Graham. Hohm Press. ISBN 978-1-942493-11-2.
  6. Doyle, Margaret Marshall (April 3, 1910). "Picture Galleries Will Delight Art Lovers' Eyes". San Francisco Call. p. 34. Retrieved August 23, 2020 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
  7. "Fair Lobbyists at Work". San Francisco Call. January 13, 1913. p. 14. Retrieved August 23, 2020 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
  8. O'Gan, Patri (2014-03-05). "Traveling for Suffrage Part 1: Two women, a cat, a car, and a mission". National Museum of American History. Retrieved 2020-08-23.
  9. Dando, Christina E. (2017-08-15). Women and Cartography in the Progressive Era. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-134-77114-1.
  10. "To Hand Congress Four-Mile Petition". Evening Star. 1915-11-24. p. 2. Retrieved 2020-08-24 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. "[Billboard signs welcoming suffrage envoys from San Francisco to Washington, D.C.]". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved 2020-08-23.
  12. "McCOMBS WILL SEE ENVOYS; California Women May Appear Before National Committee". The New York Times. 1915-11-16. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-08-23.
  13. "MISS WILSON, SUFFRAGE AID.; President's Daughter Assists Mrs. O.H.P. Belmont at Reception". The New York Times. 1915-12-08. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-08-24.
  14. Ness, Carol (1995-08-24). "Suffrage fight". SFGate. Retrieved 2020-08-24.
  15. Lumsden, Linda J. (1997). Rampant Women: Suffragists and the Right of Assembly. Univ. of Tennessee Press. pp. 64–66. ISBN 978-1-57233-163-1.
  16. "Don't Try to Take the Ballot from Women". Morning Union. 27 November 1915. p. 1. Retrieved August 23, 2020 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
  17. Edy, Carolyn M. (2016-12-13). The Woman War Correspondent, the U.S. Military, and the Press: 1846–1947. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 140. ISBN 978-1-4985-3928-9.
  18. "Miss Frances Jolliffe Dies". The San Francisco Examiner. 1925-11-10. p. 5. Retrieved 2020-08-24 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. "Blows Smoke in Face of Hotel Man, then Regrets". Oakland Tribune. 1912-02-29. p. 10. Retrieved 2020-08-24 – via Newspapers.com.
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