1726) Alva Belmont

Alva Erskine Belmont (née Smith; 1853 – 1933), known as Alva Vanderbilt from 1875 to 1896. American multi-millionaire socialite and women's suffrage activist. 

She was married twice, to socially prominent New York City millionaires William Kissam Vanderbilt, with whom she had three children, and Oliver Hazard Perry Belmont. Alva was known for her many building projects, including the Petit Chateau in New York; the Marble House in Newport, Rhode Island; the Belmont House in New York; Brookholt in Long Island; and Beacon Towers in Sands Point, New York.

- "By the 1870s, Alva was a vivacious young woman educated in Paris, fluent in French culture and admired for her dark red hair and poise." https://www.historyextra.com/period/victorian/gilded-age-new-york-alva-vanderbilt-secrets-to-success/

- "Her vibrant red hair is crowned with a tiara and she wears a thick rope of pearls rumored to have once belonged to Catherine the Great."  https://www.bookmovement.com/bookDetailView/73906/The-Social-Graces-Ren%C3%A9e-Rosen/1

 

1618) Ada Nield Chew

Ada Nield Chew (1870 – 1945). Campaigning socialist and British suffragist.

She was one of 13 children and left school at the age of 11 to help her mother take care of the house and family.

In 1897 she married George Chew, an organiser of the Independent Labour Party. Their daughter (and only child), Doris, was born in the following year. Chew then became an organiser for the Women's Trade Union League in 1900, working alongside Mary Macarthur.

In the years leading up to the First World War, Chew became an active supporter of the movement for women's suffrage and became a member of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies. She worked for this body as an organiser from 1911 to 1914.

After the end of the war, and the achievement of women's suffrage in 1918, Chew withdrew from any major involvement in politics, but still worked to improve the working conditions, diet and health of working-class women. She retired from the business in 1930 and undertook a round-the-world tour in 1935.

 

- "Ada’s first public appearance was made the same year: she would have made quite an impression with her handsome look and stunning red hair." https://www.greatbritishlife.co.uk/lifestyle/23252373.campaign-statue-ada-nield-chew-forgotten-suffragist/

 

- "Ada Nield Chew was very diffident about her personal appearance, but contemporaries record that she was very good-looking, with striking red hair." https://openlearnlive-s3bucket.s3.eu

 

 

 

1436) Ella Day Rush Murray

Ella Day Rush Murray (1876-1943). American civil rights activist, suffragist, advocate of black enfranchisement. She sat on the board of directors of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, was a charter member of the National Woman's Party and a member of the Consumers' League.

She was a scion of Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and of Richard Stockton, another signer of the Declaration.

In 1905 she married the engineer William Spencer Murray, Sr. and they had three sons, Richard Murray, John Murray, and William Spencer Murray, Jr.

 

- "Five foot five, with grayish-blue eyes, and oval face and flaming red hair..." https://books.google.it/books?id=6II6EAAAQBAJ&pg=PA51...

1308) Margaret Cousins

Margaret Elizabeth Cousins, née Gillespie, also known as Gretta Cousins (1878 – 1954). Irish-Indian educationist, suffragist and Theosophist, who established All India Women's Conference (AIWC) in 1927. She was the wife of poet and literary critic James Cousins, with whom she moved to India in 1915. She is credited with composing the tune for the Indian National Anthem Jana Gana Mana in February 1919, during Rabindranath Tagore's visit to the Madanapalle College.

- "During the same era another red-haired Irish woman, the first one of this quintet who was a self-declared feminist..."  https://books.google.it/books…

1305) Richard Pankhurst

Richard Marsden Pankhurst (1835/6 – 1898). English barrister, socialist and strong supporter of women's rights.
He married Emmeline Goulden, better known as Emmeline Pankhurst, who was some 24 years younger than he was, in 1878. With her, he was instrumental in establishing the Independent Labour Party. Together they formed the Women's Franchise League in 1889. They were part of a political circle which included Keir Hardie, Annie Besant, William Morris and George Bernard Shaw. They were present at the Bloody Sunday riot in Trafalgar Square.
Known as the "Red Doctor", he stood for Parliament in 1883 as candidate for Manchester and in 1885 for Rotherhithe, Kent, both times unsuccessfully.
With his wife Emmeline, he was father to five children.

- "Her new, red-headed and red-bearded husband Richard was already deeply involved in radical politics..."  http://www.billgreenwell.com/page.php?id=56

- "... with a high-pitched shrill voice, gold-red beard, a broad, lofty forehead crowned by a mane of ruddy hair and small, blue-grey twinkling eyes..."  https://books.google.it/books…

- "Pankhurst was a small, energetic man with a surprisingly high voice, red hair and a pointed, red beard."  https://books.google.it/books…

- "Red-haired and bearded, Richard Pankurst, known as 'the Red Doctor, was twenty-three years older than his wife."  https://books.google.it/books…

1227) Rosabell Glass

Rosabell Glass (1880-1971). American history teacher at Ballard High School and Lincoln High School. In 1918 she volunteered with the YMCA to help with World War I in France and was stationed in a YMCA entertainment section in Brest.
After the war, she returned to Seattle to continue teaching. She taught nine years at Franklin High School before becoming the first girl's advisor at Roosevelt High School, where she founded the Aurora Guards, a group composed entirely of red heads. This group was responsible for entertaining visitors and helping new students integrate into the school. Glass was also an associate editor for the pro-women's suffrage newspaper Votes for Women. 

- "She is quoted saying, "I've got red hair, I know how to rough it..."  https://documents.alexanderstreet.com/d/1009860160

- "The group's founder was Roosevelt High School's girls guidance counselor, Rose Glass, a flamboyant redhead..."  https://reunionswithclass.com/Images/Docs/GV2016Spring.pdf…

1081) Maud O'Farrell Swartz

Maud Swartz (née O'Farrell, 1879-1937). Irish-born American labor organizer who worked to improve the lives of women and children. She served as president of the Women's Trade Union League from 1922 to 1926. In 1931 she was appointed secretary of the New York State Department of Labor under Industrial Commissioner Frances Perkins. She was the first woman and the first trade unionist to hold that position.
In 1912 she met Rose Schneiderman, with whom she had a close friendship until her death. In the 1920s, she and Schneiderman befriended Eleanor Roosevelt, who had joined the WTUL They often visited the Roosevelts and discussed labor problems.

- "Still, in 1926 Eleanor took the risk, because she believed that the two red-headed labor organizers had important insights to ofer her husband."  https://books.google.it/books…

- "Swartz was a red-haired, sharp-tongued Irish-born printer with a genius for administration."   https://books.google.it/books…

1080) Margaret Foley

Margaret Lillian Foley (1875 - 1957). Irish-born American labor organizer, suffragist, and social worker from Boston. Known for confronting anti-suffrage candidates at political rallies, she was nicknamed the "Grand Heckler."

- "Organizers like Margaret Foley, five-foot-eight with flaming red hair, agitated in behalf of women from any podium she could find..."  https://books.google.it/books…

879) Amelia Bloomer

Amelia Jenks Bloomer (1818 – 1894). American women's rights and temperance advocate. Even though she did not create the women's clothing reform style known as bloomers, her name became associated with it because of her early and strong advocacy. In her work with The Lily, she became the first woman to own, operate and edit a newspaper for women.

- "Although her red hair gave her the nickname of Rusty, Bloomer was by no means fiery in temperament."  https://books.google.it/books…

- "She was a petite, dainty woman of five feet four, weighing only a hundred pounds, with bold blue eyes and dark red hair..."  https://books.google.it/books…

- "She was short with a petite figure, dark blue eyes, and auburn hair." https://ir.uiowa.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi… 

- "She had a well-formed head, bright, blue eyes bordering on black, auburn hair and an exceedingly pleasant and winning smile."  https://archive.org/…/li…/lifeandwritingso028876mbp_djvu.txt

873) Tennessee Claflin

Tennessee Celeste Claflin, Viscountess of Monserrate (1844 – 1923). American suffragist best known as the first woman, along with her sister Victoria Woodhull, to open a Wall Street brokerage firm, which occurred in 1870.

In late 1869, Victoria Woodhull and Tennessee Claflin rented two rooms at the posh Hoffman House at 44 Broad Street in New York City. In January 1870, they sent out calling cards announcing their new brokerage firm, Woodhull, Claflin, & Company. They charged $25 in advance for a consultation. The sisters were financially backed by Cornelius Vanderbilt. The elegantly furnished office of Woodhull, Claflin, & Company opened on February 14, 1870. This made Woodhull and Clafin the first women to open a Wall Street brokerage firm. The sisters were so besieged by curious visitors that 100 police officers had to keep order. The brokerage firm of Woodhull, Claflin, & Company went under in the general economic depression that followed the Panic of 1873.

In 1877 the sisters left New York for London. Evidence suggests that the sisters' move was funded by the heirs of the recently deceased Cornelius Vanderbilt, who wanted them out of the way during a fight over the family inheritance. Vanderbilt had been widowed in 1868 and had remarried in 1869. The second marriage had surprised Claflin, who expected to marry him herself. But by the middle of 1871, Vanderbilt's family had pushed her out of his life.

On October 15, 1885, at St Mary Abbots, Kensington, London, Claflin married Francis Cook, who was chairman of Cook, Son & Co., drapers, and also Viscount of Monserrate in Sintra on the Portuguese Riviera. 

- "She was described as plump with a large bosom, full mouth and golden brown or reddish curls, blue eyes and a cleft chin."  https://nicoleevelina.com/…/20/meet-victoria-woodhulls-fam…/

- "At forty-six, Tennessee was still an ivory-skinned beauty with red hair and a delicate cleft chin."  http://movies2.nytimes.com/bo…/first/g/goldsmith-powers.html

- "... sweet angelic smile, framed by luminous, red curling hair."  https://books.google.it/books…

- " She is young and childish in her manners, with Titian hair, which falls in rich masses about her head, blue eyes which wear an honest steadfast look, asymmetrical figure which is costumed in excellent taste and a pretty hand which sparkles with gems. This lady’s name is Miss Tennessee Claflin..."   https://www.historyandwomen.com/2020/06/suffragettes-victoria-woodhul-and.html

852) Helen Pitts Douglass

Helen Pitts Douglass (1838–1903). American suffragist and abolitionist, known for being the second wife of Frederick Douglass. She also created the Frederick Douglass Memorial and Historical Association.

- "The black newspaper Weekly News bluntly said what many were thinking: 'Fred Douglass has married a red-head white girl. … Goodbye, black blood in that family. We have no further use for him.'." https://books.google.it/books…

728) Julia Ward Howe

Julia Ward Howe (1819 – 1910). American poet and author, best known for writing "The Battle Hymn of the Republic". She was also an advocate for abolitionism and was a social activist, particularly for women's suffrage.
She attended lectures, studied foreign languages, and wrote plays and dramas. Howe had published essays on Goethe, Schiller and Lamartine before her marriage in the New York Review and Theological Review.
She was inspired to write "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" after she and her husband visited Washington, D.C., and met Abraham Lincoln at the White House in November 1861. During the trip, her friend James Freeman Clarke suggested she write new words to the song "John Brown's Body", which she did on November 19. The song was set to William Steffe's already-existing music and Howe's version was first published in the Atlantic Monthly in February 1862. It quickly became one of the most popular songs of the Union during the American Civil War. 
She was the founder and from 1876 to 1897 president of the Association of American Women, which advocated for women's education and in 1908 che was the first woman to be elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a society; its goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, music, and art.
After her death, her children collaborated on a biography, published in 1916. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography.

- "He had some fanciful theories about the traits of character usually found in conjunction with red hair. As he and I were both distinguished by this feature, I was much pleased to learn from him that "the highest effort of nature is to produce a rosso." https://novelonlinefull.com/…/reminiscences_1819…/chapter_11

- "Visitors coming to see her mother would shake their heads and say "Poor little Julia! what a pity she has red hair!" https://www.juliawardhowe.com/

- "At an early age, the energies of this precocious, red-haired child were diverted to studies."  https://books.google.it/books…

- "... between strolls alongside the Pantheon and discussions of the character traits signified by their identical red hair..." https://books.google.it/books…

380) Rose Schneiderman

Rose Schneiderman (1882 – 1972). American socialist and feminist, and one of the most prominent women labor union leaders.
She is credited with coining the phrase "Bread and Roses," to indicate a worker's right to something higher than subsistence living. 

 

- "A small person with a fiery spirit and vivid red hair, she would have an outsize role in campaigns to improve working conditions and wages for women." http://rhppi.org/womentakethelead/exhibit/eleanor-roosevelt-politics-and-public-life/

- “Rose Schneidermanìs red hair, her anger, did make her seem like a torch, sometimes.” https://books.google.it/books…

- “Only four feet nine inches tall, with flaming red hair, the diminutive Polish Jewish immigrant possessed legendary power as an orator.” https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/schneiderman-rose

379) Lucy Burns

Lucy Burns (1879 – 1966). American suffragist and women's rights advocate.

- “With distinctive flame-red hair that matched her personality and convictions, she was often characterized as a charmer and a firebrand…” https://americancivilwar.com/…/Womens_Suffr…/Lucy_Burns.html

- “Tall and sturdy, with blazing red hair, blue eyes, and dimples, Burns was a proficient debater known for her robust sense of humor.” http://www.anb.org/articles/15/15-01333.html…

291) Lady Frances Balfour

Lady Frances Balfour (née Campbell; 1858 – 1931). One of the highest-ranking members of the British aristocracy to assume a leadership role in the women's suffrage movement. Balfour was president of the National Society for Women's Suffrage from 1896 to 1914. As a non-violent suffragist, she was opposed to the militant actions of the Women's Social and Political Union, the suffragettes. Daughter of the 8th Duke of Argyll.

- "Her most remarkable physical feature was her flaming red hair, a characteristic of the Campbell family." https://books.google.it/books…