Ethel Smyth

The March of The Women

As a work of historic interest of the period, The March of the Women is an essential work. British composer Ethel Smyth was a prolific, important composer of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In 1910, she joined theWomen'sSocial and Political Union for whom she wrote this anthem. It was taken up and sung everywhere, including Holloway Prison where Smyth and other suffragettes had been imprisoned for breaking windows and other acts ofpoliticaldisorder. When Sir Thomas Beecham visited her there, he found the women marching around the inner yard and singing while Smyth directed the impromptu Chorus with her toothbrush.