Agnes
Garrett (12 July 1845 – 1935)[1]
was an English suffragist and interior designer and the founder in 1888 of the
Ladies Dwellings Company.[2]
Queer Places:
(1878-99)
The Firs, The St, Rustington, Littlehampton BN16, UK
2 Gower St, Bloomsbury, London WC1E 6DP
The "Garrett Warehouse", Morwell Street, Bedford Square, London WC
4 Upper Berkeley St, Marylebone, London W1H 5QE
Standen House, W Hoathly Rd, East Grinstead RH19 4NE, UK
17 Kensington Square, Kensington, London W8 5HH, UK
Agnes
Garrett (12 July 1845 – 1935)[1]
was an English suffragist and interior designer and the founder in 1888 of the
Ladies Dwellings Company.[2]
Garrett was the daughter of Newson Garrett (1812–1893), a prosperous merchant, and Louisa Garrett (1813–1903). She was the seventh of eleven children. She attended a boarding school at Blackheath, near London.[1]
She and her cousin Rhoda Garrett were employed by London architect John McKean Brydon in 1871, giving them an entry into training that no other practice was willing to allow, as architecture was not considered suitable for women. The cousins opened the first interior design company in Britain to be run by women. R & A Garrett opened in mid 1875, in a flat behind Baker Street station, moving to 2 Gower Street in Bloomsbury c.1884.[1][3][4]
Agnes's older sister was Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, who was the first British woman to qualify as a doctor. Elizabeth set up a pioneering hospital for women, renamed after her death the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital, and Agnes contributed to its design. For example, she designed the fireplace for the entrance hall, which is now open to the public as a historical gallery within the refurbished UNISON headquarters building.[5]
Her younger sister was the leading suffragist Millicent Fawcett.[1] At Jacob Bright's suggestion it was decided to create a London-based organisation to lobby members of parliament concerning women's suffrage. The Central Committee of the National Society for Women's Suffrage first met on 17 January 1872. The first committee included Garrett, as well as Frances Power Cobbe, Priscilla Bright McLaren and Lilias Ashworth Hallett.[6]
Rhoda Garrett and Agnes Garrett rented a XVIII century two-storeys cottage at Rustington with the composer Ethel Smyth.
Garrett died in 1935.[1]
My published books:
