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Primrose Lady Louisa Mary Knightley. Primrose

Fawsley Hall.

John Merrick.

Fawsley Hall.

Being a member of the Ladies' Grand Council of the Primrose League was only one area of her unusually wide range of interests, especially in the field of public affairs and it is quite likely that she supported her husband (a Conservative M.P.) in his campaigning. Lady Knightley was an early pioneer in making a contribution to political and feminist matters. She was a leading advocate of the campaign for constitutional, non-militant action to achieve the franchise (as detailed below), a cause which she continued to espouse until her death, something that would not have gone down well with the vast majority of members (male or female) of the Primrose League. There is little doubt, that as with the activates of the militant suffragettes, Lady Knightley and other like minded women, made no difference to public opinion regarding sufferage. On the other hand the large numbers of middle and working class women working away in the political background with no hope of reward, did changed public opinion and with the advent of the 'Great War' where women proved beyond doubt their equality with men, campaigning for or against sufferage was a thing of the past.

Louisa Mary Knightley, nee Bowater, married Sir Rainald Knightley and moved into Fawsley Hall, Daventry, Northamptonshire. Her father, General Sir Edward Bowater, was an equerry to Prince Albert. She befriended John Carey Merrick, 'The Elephant Man', and provided him with a cottage on the estate for the only three holidays that he ever had. Rainald died childless in 1895 and his wife Louisa, extra-lady-in-waiting to HRH Duchess of Albany (The Duchess of Albany was the widow of Prince Leopold, the youngest son of Queen Victoria) died in 1913. She was the last member of the family to live at Fawsley Hall, which is now a hotel.

Lady Louisa Knightley.

Sir Rainald Knightley.


The Conservative and Unionist Women's Franchise Association, founded in November 1908, issued a quarterly publication, The Conservative and Unionist Women's Franchise Review. The Association was run by a group of well known upper class Conservative women activists, and included the Countess of Selborne, Lady Knightley, and Lady Betty Balfour, and was open to men and women who were members of the Conservative and Unionist Party and in favour of the "extension of the Franchise to all duly qualified women". The Association did not actively oppose any official Conservative candidate who was anti-suffrage, but they did pledge themselves not to work as an Association for such a candidate, whereas they were prepared to give support to Conservative candidates in favour of women's suffrage.
In contrast to the Primrose League the organization was a serious single issue group, and had arisen mainly because it was felt that the militancy of the suffragettes was very damaging to the cause, and needed to be balanced by a more sober constitutionalist approach, and, more importantly, it was feared that the Liberal Party would introduce an Adult Suffrage measure, which the Conservative Party was determined to oppose. It was believed that a limited franchise granted to properly qualified women would stave off such a measure. The formation of the Women's National Anti-Suffrage League a few months earlier in July 1908, also gave urgency to the cause.
Lady Knightley's journals have been published:-
'The Journals of Lady Knightley of Fawsley 1856-1884' were edited by Mrs Julia Ady in 1915.
'The Journals of Lady Knightley of Fawsley 1885-1913' were edited by Professor Peter Gordon in 1999.
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