Gerald Gould

Gerald Gould was born in Norwich in 1885. He studied at University College where he met Barbara Ayrton, the daughter of William Ayrton and Hertha Ayrton. A socialist, he became a member of the Labour Party. He was also a strong advocate of women's suffrage.

In 1907, several left-wing intellectuals, including Gould, Henry Nevinson, Laurence Housman, Charles Corbett, Henry Brailsford, C. E. M. Joad, Israel Zangwill, Hugh Franklin and Charles Mansell-Moullin formed the Men's League For Women's Suffrage"with the object of bringing to bear upon the movement the electoral power of men. To obtain for women the vote on the same terms as those on which it is now, or may in the future, be granted to men."

Evelyn Sharp later argued: "It is impossible to rate too highly the sacrifices that they (Henry Nevinson and Laurence Housman) and H. N. Brailsford, F. W. Pethick Lawrence, Harold Laski, Israel Zangwill, Gerald Gould, George Lansbury, and many others made to keep our movement free from the suggestion of a sex war."

In 1909 Gould became a Fellow of Merton College at the University of Oxford. The following year, he married Barbara Ayrton, who by this time was an active member of the Women Social & Political Union. Gould was also a regular contributor to The Daily Herald, a socialist newspaper, that was run by George Lansbury. The Countess Muriel de la Warr was the main source of funds for the newspaper. According to Lansbury she "has always been one of the first and most generous of our friends; there has never been a crisis overcome without her help." His friends during this period included Henry Brailsford, William Mellor, William Norman Ewer, George Douglas Cole, John Scurr, Morgan Phillips Price, Hannen Swaffer, Vernon Bartlett and Henry Nevinson.

On 4th March, 1912 the WSPU organised another window-breaking demonstration. This time the target was government offices in Whitehall. Over 200 suffragettes were arrested and jailed for taking part in the demonstration. This included Barbara Gould was arrested for breaking windows in Regent Street. She was remanded in Holloway Prison but was released without charge.

In October 1912, Christabel Pankhurst told Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence and Frederick Pethick-Lawrence about the proposed arson campaign. When Emmeline and Frederick objected, Christabel arranged for them to be expelled from the the organisation. Emmeline later recalled in her autobiography, My Part in a Changing World (1938): "My husband and I were not prepared to accept this decision as final. We felt that Christabel, who had lived for so many years with us in closest intimacy, could not be party to it. But when we met again to go further into the question… Christabel made it quite clear that she had no further use for us."

Barbara Gould also disagreed with the arson campaign and left the WSPU. On 6th February, 1914, Gerald Gould became one of the founding members of the United Suffragists. Other members included Evelyn Sharp, Lena Ashwell, Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence, Frederick Pethick-Lawrence, John Scurr, George Lansbury, Gerald Gould, Hertha Ayrton, Louisa Garrett Anderson, Eveline Haverfield, Edith Zangwill, Israel Zangwill, Laurence Housman and Henry Nevinson. She was also a member of the Tax Resistance League.

During the First World War Gould was a member of the War Propaganda Bureau, an organisation that was run by Charles Masterman. Other members included Arthur Conan Doyle, Arnold Bennett, John Masefield, Ford Madox Ford, William Archer, G. K. Chesterton, Sir Henry Newbolt, John Galsworthy, Thomas Hardy, Rudyard Kipling, Gilbert Parker, G. M. Trevelyan and H. G. Wells. The men agreed to write pamphlets and books that would promote the government's view of the war.

After the war Gould contributed poetry to the The Daily Herald. He also reviewed novels for the New Statesman, moving to The Sunday Observer as fiction editor in 1920. He also worked for the publisher, Victor Gollancz, and was involved in the publication of books written by George Orwell.

Gerald Gould died in 1936.