Ethel Snowden - Marriage

Marriage

A story told within the ILP and generally believed was that Ethel had proposed to Philip, which was against the marriage customs of the time. They had a quiet wedding with few guests at the registry office in Otley on 13 March 1905, with Philip Snowden explaining that they had learned that their socialist friends in the West Riding were planning a 'Socialist demonstration' at what they were hoping would be a family celebration. It is also thought that both families were opposed, and Philip Snowden did not tell his mother until he sent a telegram after the marriage had taken place. There was no honeymoon. Snowden subsequently tried to make friends with Martha but never entirely succeeded, with Martha frequently criticising her for concentrating on her own political career to the detriment of looking after her husband (who had long-term mobility difficulties).

Ethel and Philip Snowden set up home at Spencer Place in Leeds, and Ethel began to earn an income from lecture fees. She was interviewed for the woman's page of the Blackburn Weekly Telegraph where her husband was Prospective Parliamentary Candidate, telling the paper that "Our great motto .. is liberty, equality of opportunity and fraternity. Our great principle is love". She lectured in South Wales on socialism and women's suffrage in autumn 1905, but was ill during the 1906 election campaign and unable to help Philip in his successful election contest in Blackburn. She undertook a successful lecture tour of the United States in 1907, possibly arranged through Dr Aked who was then in New York; the tour was successful as American audiences seemed to like her way of speaking. The Snowdens gave up their Leeds home during this tour and moved to Baron's Court Road in west London.