The Welsh suffragette Rachel Barrett was born on the 12th of November, 1874, in Carmarthen, to Welsh-speaking parents. She grew up in Llandeilo then was educated at a boarding school in Stroud and at Aberystwyth University. After graduating with a BSc degree, Rachel became a science teacher, working in Llangefni and Penarth.
2 years after graduating, Rachel joined the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), after attending a suffrage rally in Cardiff. She worked with Adela Pankhurst in Cardiff and Barry, speaking at WSPU meetings herself as well, often in Welsh. Rachel’s headmistress disapproved of these activities, especially when Rachel was flour-bombed with Adela in Cardiff Bay. So, Rachel left her teaching job in 1907 and attended London School of Economics, becoming more involved at WSPU’s headquarters in London. Aftet she was asked by Christabel Pabkhurst, Rachel left her studies to become a full-time organiser for WSPU, noting “it was a definite call and I obeyed.” By the end of 1910, Rachel especially promoted WSPU’s activities around Wales, as chief WSPU organiser for Wales, once coming up against David Lloyd George in a 2 hour meeting with him.
In 1912, Rachel became assistant editor of The Suffragette, which was edited by Christabel Pankhurst. Through The Suffragette, Rachel met the writer I.A.R Wylie (Ida Wylie), who she began a relationship with. I.A.R. Wylie is thought to have been a lesbian, also having relationships with other women, such as physician Sara Josephine Baker, and writing in her autobiography, “I have always liked women better than men.”
When The Suffragette offices were raided, Rachel received a 9 months imprisonment sentence at Holloway Prison. After a hunger strike, she was force-fed and released under the ‘Cat and Mouse Act,’ but she was rearrested later nore than once, and force-fed again, afterwards being cared for by sympathisers such as Ida Wylie. By 1920, after travelling together, they had moved together to Edinburgh. Rachel continued to edit The Suffragette until the First World War, following which she campaigned for full emancipation. In 1928, Rachel and Ida supported Radclyffe Hall and Una Troubridge during the Well of Loneliness trial.
Rachel died on the 26th of August, 1953. She left her cottage to her niece Gwyneth Anderson, and the remainder of her state to Ida Wylie, who died in 1979.
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