Life story retold by Yota Dimitriadi
Florence Elizabeth Mary Macaulay (1862-1945) was what was considered as a more militant suffragette. She wrote the lyrics to the marching song ‘The Women’s marseillase’. She studied 2 terms at Somerville College Oxford but had to suspend after her father’s sudden death. Florence was born in Reading but not buried here.
We think that her parents, James and Elizabeth are buried in Reading Old Cemetery. Her father was a bookeeper and friends with George Lovejoy.
James lived in Friar Street and in 1871 census a girl called Florence Elizabeth Mary is listed as his 8 year old daughter, which fits. Where it become blurry is in 1856 a newspaper advert lists James as marrying Harriet from Newbury.
F.E.M. did spend some of her later life in Newbury.
Buried in Section 21, Row F, Number 21