October 30, 1911 To the Editor of The Daily Chronicle , “Alice in Ganderland”
Laurence Housman, a member of a distinguished literary family which included his brother
A.E. Housman and his sister Clemence Housman, was a committed suffragist whose extensive
body of work frequently addressed issues of women and gender; he wrote “Alice in Ganderland,”
a suffragette play in 1911. It was published in the same year by the Women’s Press.
The criticism in your paper to-day of ‘Alice in Ganderland’ gives the idea that the wit
of it was poor. The interesting fact about most people who read or see political satires is
that the parties which are satirized generally make just such a criticism; the plain human
comment upon which is that most people are so devoid of genuine humour that they
cannot manage to join in the laugh when it is turned against themselves. Now, as all
political parties are subjected to a very hailstone [sic] of satire in this genuinely witty little
play, the certainties are that all parties will declare that it is devoid of true humour, thereby
clearly proving that the shafts have gone too unerringly home. Moreover, as the woman
suffragist has undoubtedly the best of it, the play cannot be expected to please the anti-
suffragist.
EMILY WILDING DAVISON
31, Coram-street, W.C., Oct. 28