Jessie Rose-Innes
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2024}}{{Use South African English|date = December 2024}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Jessie Rose-Innes
| birth_date = 1 November 1860
| birth_place = Bedford, Eastern Cape, South Africa
| death_date = 4 June 1943
| death_place = Cape Town, South Africa
| resting_place = Maitland Cemetery, Cape Town, South Africa
| alma_mater = University of Cape Town
| occupation = nurse, social campaigner, suffragist
| movement = Women's Enfranchisement Association of the Union
| spouse = James Rose Innes (m. 1881)
| children = Dorothy Rose Innes
| relatives = Helmuth James von Moltke (grandson)
}}
Lady Jessie Rose-Innes ({{Nee|Dods Pringle}}, 1 November 1860 – 4 June 1943) was a South African nurse, social campaigner and suffragist of British descent. She married Sir James Rose-Innes, who became Chief Justice of South Africa.{{Cite ODNB |last=Lewsen |first=Phyllis |date=25 May 2006 |orig-date=23 September 2004 |title=Innes, Sir James Rose- (1855–1942), politician and judge in South Africa |url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-35830 |access-date=2024-11-24 |language=en |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/35830}}
Family
Rose-Innes was born in 1860 at Glen Lynden and was raised in the Bedford area of the Eastern Cape. Her parents were the Scottish 1820 settler William Dods Pringle and his wife Harriet Pringle {{Nee|Hockly}}.{{Cite web |title=Jessie Dods Pringle b. 1 Nov 1860 Lynedoch farm, Bedford District, Eastern Cape, South Africa d. 4 Jun 1943 Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa |url=https://www.1820settlers.com/genealogy/getperson.php?personID=I28756&tree=master |access-date=2024-11-24 |website=British 1820 Settlers to South Africa}}
Education
Rose-Innes was one of the first women to attend the University of Cape Town after it became a fully co-educational institution,{{Cite web |date=8 August 2011 |title=125 years of women on campus |url=https://www.news.uct.ac.za/article/-2011-08-08-125-years-of-women-on-campus |access-date=2025-01-19 |website=www.news.uct.ac.za |language=en}} trained as a nurse and during the South African War, and was a member of the Good Hope Red Cross Committee.{{Cite web |title=Olive Schreiner Letters Online |url=https://www.oliveschreiner.org/vre?view=personae&entry=35 |access-date=2024-11-24 |website=www.oliveschreiner.org}} She was also co-founder and president of the Victoria Nurses Institute and was active in the Pretoria Benevolent Society, Pretoria Women's Cooperative and the Young Men's Christian Association.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KCExAQAAIAAJ&q=Jessie+Rose-Innes |title=Historia |date=2004 |volume=49-50 |language=en |via=Historical Association of South Africa}}
Marriage
She married Liberal politician and judge James Rose-Innes on 18 October 1881.{{Cite book |last1=Wills |first1=Walter H. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iScbAAAAYAAJ&dq=Jessie+Rose-Innes&pg=PA79 |title=The Anglo-African Who's who and Biographical Sketch-book |last2=Barrett |first2=R. J. |date=1884 |publisher=George Routledge & Sons, Limited |pages=79 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last1=Gabaccia |first1=Donna R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dvYNwyhZZykC&dq=Jessie+Rose-Innes&pg=RA1-PT131 |title=Gender History Across Epistemologies |last2=Maynes |first2=Mary Jo |date=2013-02-19 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1-118-50822-0 |language=en}} They had known each other since childhood, when the Rose-Innes family had holidayed at the Pringle family farm. They had one daughter, Dorothy Rose-Innes, who was born in 1884, married the German field marshal Count Helmuth von Moltke of Kreisau 1905,{{Cite book |last1=Balfour |first1=Michael |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jmk8EAAAQBAJ&dq=Jessie+Rose-Innes&pg=PT19 |title=Helmuth von Moltke: A Leader Against Hitler |last2=Frisby |first2=Julian |date=2021-08-08 |publisher=Plunkett Lake Press |language=en}} and was active in the Christian Science movement.{{Cite web |date=2021-12-15 |title=Women of History: Countess Dorothy von Moltke |url=https://www.marybakereddylibrary.org/research/women-of-history-countess-dorothy-von-moltke/ |access-date=2024-11-24 |website=Mary Baker Eddy Library |language=en-US}}
Activism
Rose-Innes was also a close friend of the writer, suffragist and activist Olive Schreiner and they exchanged letters throughout their lives.{{Cite book |last=Stanley |first=Liz |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IgwiAwAAQBAJ&dq=Jessie+Rose-Innes&pg=PA35 |title=Imperialism, Labour and the New Woman: Olive Schreiner's Social Theory |date=2014-03-18 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-28170-1 |pages=35 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Dimock |first=Elizabeth |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=itRUEAAAQBAJ&dq=Jessie+Rose-Innes&pg=PR81 |title=Women and Empire 1750-1939: Volume III: Africa |date=2021-12-24 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-000-56060-2 |page=lxxxi |language=en}}
Rose-Innes became active in campaigning for women's suffrage in South Africa and was a member of the Women's Enfranchisement League. In 1914 she was elected chair of the Cape Town branch of the National Council for Women. The suffrage campaign in South Africa was complex and was shaped by race, class and the nation's struggle against apartheid.{{Cite web |date=2023-06-16 |title=A Comprehensive History of Women's Suffrage in South Africa - WeChronicle |url=https://wechronicle.com/womens-suffrage/a-comprehensive-history-of-womens-suffrage-in-south-africa/ |access-date=2024-11-24 |website=We Chronicle |language=en-US}} White South African women were eager to get the vote, and some were willing to conform to South Africa's segregation policies to do so.{{Cite journal |last=Fernandes |first=Monica G. |date=2015-11-30 |title=The transnational factor: The beginnings of South Africa's women's movement |url=https://newcontree.org.za/index.php/nc/article/view/172 |journal=New Contree |language=en |volume=73 |pages=18 |doi=10.4102/nc.v73i0.172 |issn=2959-510X}} Rose-Innes acknowledged the potential race qualification of women's enfranchisement in 1926, saying that "we know in our hearts we shall not get all that we ask, but we are very anxious for that half loaf. The other may come."{{Cite book |last=Walker |first=Cherryl |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MFwLAQAAIAAJ |title=The Women's Suffrage Movement in South Africa |date=1979 |publisher=Centre for African Studies, University of Cape Town |isbn=978-0-7992-0287-8 |language=en}} The Women's Enfranchisement Act, 1930 granted the vote to white women only.{{Cite book |last=Scully |first=Pamela |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-LuUwwEACAAJ |title=Women's Suffrage in the British Empire: Citizenship, Nation, and Race |date=2000 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-203-71463-8 |editor-last=Fletcher |editor-first=Ian Christopher |pages=68–84 |language=en |chapter=White maternity and black infancy The rhetoric of race in the South African women's suffrage movement, 1895-1930 |editor-last2=Mayhall |editor-first2=Laura E. Nym |editor-last3=Levine |editor-first3=Philippa |chapter-url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/368328304}}
Death
References
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Category:South African women's rights activists
Category:South African suffragists
Category:20th-century South African women
Category:People from Raymond Mhlaba Local Municipality