Elizabeth Robins (1862–1952) was an American-born actress, novelist, playwright, and prominent suffrage campaigner who made deep and lasting ties to Sussex, most notably around Henfield and Brighton. Moving to England from Kentucky and Ohio in the late 1880s, she pioneered Ibsen in London before turning her creative energy to the fight for women’s rights.
In 1909, Robins purchased ‘Backsettown’, a 15th-century house just outside Henfield in West Sussex. This became a vital hub for the suffrage movement, offering comfort to activists recovering from imprisonment and hunger strikes under the infamous Cat and Mouse legislation. In the late 1920s, Robins and her partner, Dr Octavia Wilberforce formalised Backsettown as a convalescent home for professional women. Later, the pair moved to Brighton, setting up home at 24 Montpelier Crescent; Wilberforce established her medical surgery there, while Robins contributed to women’s health projects across Sussex. Together, they championed the Lady Chichester Hospital and co-founded the New Sussex Hospital for Women, with Robins leveraging her literary fame and extensive networks to raise funds and influence committees.
Robins retired from acting in 1902 and devoted herself to feminist literature and public speaking. She authored the play Votes for Women! (1907), commissioned by Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence, which toured nationally and dramatised the street campaigns of the suffragette movement. Her companion novel, The Convert (1907), introduced suffrage themes to readers through sophisticated character portrayals.
Robins held executive roles in both the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) and later the more militant Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), though she stepped down from the latter in 1912 due to disagreement over violence. She also co-founded the Actresses’ Franchise League and was president of the Women Writers’ Suffrage League. Robins was closely allied with Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst and moved within Brighton’s intellectual circles, counting Virginia Woolf (whose mental health was later treated by Wilberforce), Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw, and Henry James among her friends and correspondents.
Even after suffrage victories, Robins remained active in women’s healthcare and rights issues. She wrote for Time and Tide, campaigned for women’s admission to the House of Lords, and continued supporting the New Sussex Hospital.
Elizabeth Robins’s Sussex period was more than a residency, it was her platform. From theatrical activism to suffrage plays and health service initiatives, her Sussex life embodied feminist transformation. She was a remarkable woman who fused artistry, advocacy, and activism in the heart of Sussex.
Lisa Brace is an author whose novels celebrate women lost to history; her latest The Fastest Girl on Earth is out now, priced £9.99 – available from all good bookshops.
If you like this post about Elizabeth Robins, you may also like:
