Sime Seruya
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}}{{Use British English|date=February 2025}}
{{Infobox person
| birth_date = 1876
| birth_place = Lisbon, Portugal
| death_date = 1955
| organization = Women's Social and Political Union, Women's Freedom League, Actresses' Franchise League, Fabian Society
| party = Independent Labour Party
}}
Sime Seruya (1876–1955) was a Portuguese actress, suffragist and socialist who campaigned in Britain.
Biography
Seruya was born in Lisbon, Portugal in 1876.{{Cite web |last=Simpkins |first=John |date=January 2020 |orig-date=September 1997 |title=Sime Seruya |url=https://spartacus-educational.com/Wseruya.htm |access-date=2025-02-18 |website=Spartacus Educational |language=en}} She worked as an actress in Portugal before arriving in London in 1906. She lived in West Lewisham.{{Cite web |date=2010-06-20 |title=Suffrage Actors & Performers, Directors and Designers Biographies |url=https://www.thesuffragettes.org/campaigning-performance/hidden/sapdd-biographies/ |access-date=2025-02-18 |website=The Suffragettes {{!}} How the Vote was Won}}
Seruya joined the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) in 1907 and donated £100 to the cause.{{Cite web |title=Miss Sime Seruya |url=https://www.suffrageresources.org.uk/database/2437/miss-sime-seruya |access-date=2025-02-18 |website=Database - Women's Suffrage Resources}} Also in 1907, she was arrested and sentenced to 14 days in prison for taking part in a women's suffrage deputation outside the House of Commons.{{Cite book |last=Paxton |first=Naomi |url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=KXG5DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT58&dq=Sime+Seruya&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjevpmRtc2LAxW7VUEAHf3wFFg4FBDoAXoECAsQAw |title=Stage rights!: The Actresses’ Franchise League, activism and politics 1908–58 |date=2018-04-11 |publisher=Manchester University Press |isbn=978-1-5261-1481-5 |language=en}} By Autumn, she was among the seventy members of the WSPU who left to form the Women's Freedom League (WFL). In 1909, she also joined the Women's Tax Resistance League (WTRL).
File:Suffrage Campaigning- Actresses Franchise League1906-1914 (22475240843).jpg
In 1908, Seruya founded the Actresses' Franchise League,{{Cite book |last=Dotterer |first=Ronald L. |url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Yqnqmgz1vfIC&pg=PA77&dq=Sime+Seruya&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj015OXsc2LAxUHUUEAHdUqK6QQ6AF6BAgHEAM#v=onepage&q=Sime%20Seruya&f=false |title=Politics, Gender, and the Arts: Women, the Arts, and Society |last2=Bowers |first2=Susan |date=1992 |publisher=Susquehanna University Press |isbn=978-0-945636-30-4 |pages=77-78 |language=en}} with Gertrude Elliott, Winifred Mayo and Adeline Bourne.{{Cite book |last=Crawford |first=Elizabeth |author-link=Elizabeth Crawford (historian) |url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=a2EK9P7-ZMsC&pg=PA5&dq=Adeline+Bourne&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj0vKKcrc2LAxU_VUEAHSMzH78Q6AF6BAgKEAM#v=onepage&q=Adeline%20Bourne&f=false |title=The Women's Suffrage Movement: A Reference Guide 1866-1928 |date=2003-09-02 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-43402-1 |pages=4, 627 |language=en}} The League represented actresses of both militant and non-militant suffrage tendencies.{{Cite book |last=Doughan |first=David |url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=T423AwAAQBAJ&pg=PA11&dq=Sime+Seruya&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi624e5tM2LAxUUTkEAHeQ9IFQ4ChDoAXoECAwQAw |title=Dictionary of British Women's Organisations, 1825-1960 |last2=Gordon |first2=Peter |date=2014-06-03 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-89770-2 |pages=11 |language=en}} Seruya organised the WFL contribution to A Pageant of Great Women in 1910 with fellow actress Edith Craig.
In 1910, Seruya began selling feminist books and suffrage collectables (including postcards that she had published{{Cite book |last=Florey |first=Kenneth |url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=0o0-CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA8&dq=Sime+Seruya&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwicuNLEus2LAxWEJUQIHd7YJwM4KBDoAXoECAkQAw |title=American Woman Suffrage Postcards: A Study and Catalog |date=2016-04-29 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-1-4766-2078-7 |pages=8 |language=en}}) out of one of Edith Craig and her partner Christabel Marshall's rooms at 31 Bedford Street, London, founding the "International Suffrage Shop."{{Cite book |last=Hester |first=Diarmuid |url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=2bzEEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA1889&dq=Sime+Seruya&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj015OXsc2LAxUHUUEAHdUqK6QQ6AF6BAgEEAM#v=onepage&q=Sime%20Seruya&f=false |title=Nothing Ever Just Disappears: Seven Hidden Queer Histories |date=2024-02-06 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-1-63936-556-2 |pages=1889 |language=en}} She published an advertisement in the Votes for Women newspaper about the opening of the shop.{{Cite book |last=Florey |first=Kenneth |url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=XWgsAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA187&dq=Sime+Seruya&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj015OXsc2LAxUHUUEAHdUqK6QQ6AF6BAgJEAM#v=onepage&q=Sime%20Seruya&f=false |title=Women's Suffrage Memorabilia: An Illustrated Historical Study |date=2013-06-06 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-1-4766-0150-2 |pages=187 |language=en}} In March 1911 the shop moved to larger premises on Adam Street in the Strand.{{Cite web |last=Crawford |first=Elizabeth |author-link=Elizabeth Crawford (historian) |title=Sime Seruya |url=https://womanandhersphere.com/tag/sime-seruya/ |access-date=2025-02-18 |website=Woman and her Sphere |language=en}} That year, Seruya also fought successfully against a conviction for selling Votes for Women on the steps of the Lyceum Theatre.
Seruya was also a socialist and a member of the Independent Labour Party and the Fabian Society.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=d8g4AQAAIAAJ&q=Sime+Seruya+socialist&dq=Sime+Seruya+socialist&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiKyoGlvc2LAxU_LkQIHTWzGBQQ6AF6BAgGEAM |title=Annual Report |date=1954 |publisher=Fabian Society. |pages=14 |language=en}} In 1908, she was the honorary treasurer of the Penal Reform League{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=nA9MAQAAMAAJ&q=Sime+Seruya+socialist&dq=Sime+Seruya+socialist&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiKyoGlvc2LAxU_LkQIHTWzGBQQ6AF6BAgFEAM |title=The Reformers' Year Book: Formerly the Labor Annual |date=1908 |pages=208 |language=en}} and in 1910 she attended the 8th International Socialist Congress in Copenhagen, Denmark.
In the interwar period, she was a member of the Film and Photo League{{Cite book |last=Hogenkamp |first=Bert |url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Sa1ZAAAAMAAJ&q=Sime+Seruya&dq=Sime+Seruya&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwicuNLEus2LAxWEJUQIHd7YJwM4KBDoAXoECAYQAw |title=Deadly Parallels: Film and the Left in Britain, 1929-1939 |date=1986 |publisher=Lawrence and Wishart |isbn=978-0-85315-655-0 |pages=129, 223 |language=en}} and was involved in the workers film movement with other left wing activists such as Ivor Montagu, Eva Reckitt, Ernie Trory and others.{{Cite book |last= |url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=VMeEEAAAQBAJ&pg=RA13-PA184&dq=Sime+Seruya&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwicuNLEus2LAxWEJUQIHd7YJwM4KBDoAXoECAoQAw |title=Routledge Library Editions: The Labour Movement |date=2021-07-28 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-0-429-78498-9 |pages=184 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Macpherson |first=Don |url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=UYk3AAAAIAAJ&q=Sime+Seruya+communist&dq=Sime+Seruya+communist&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi5lrLxv82LAxWtJEQIHaxqN30Q6AF6BAgIEAM |title=Traditions of Independence: British Cinema in the Thirties |last2=Willemen |first2=Paul |date=1980 |publisher=BFI Pub. |isbn=978-0-85170-093-9 |pages=61 |language=en}} She was also active in the Women's Committee for the Relief of the Miners' Wives and Children,{{Cite book |last=Phillips |first=Marion |url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=NMETAAAAQAAJ&q=Sime+Seruya&dq=Sime+Seruya&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjevpmRtc2LAxW7VUEAHf3wFFg4FBDoAXoECA0QAw |title=Women and the Miners' Lockout: The Story of the Women's Committee for the Relief of the Miners' Wives and Children |date=1927 |publisher=Labour Publishing Company |pages=83 |language=en}} after the 1926 United Kingdom general strike and subsequent miners' lockout.
She had a son, Ivan Seruya, who was a member of the Friends of the Soviet Union and the Young Communist League as a student at Regent Street Polytechnic.{{Citation |last=Smith |first=James |title=Soviet Films and British Intelligence in the 1930s: The Case of Kino Films and MI5 |date=2013-09-26 |work=Russia in Britain, 1880-1940: From Melodrama to Modernism |pages=0 |editor-last=Beasley |editor-first=Rebecca |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/8908/chapter-abstract/155193466?redirectedFrom=fulltext |access-date=2025-02-18 |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199660865.003.0014 |isbn=978-0-19-966086-5 |editor2-last=Bullock |editor2-first=Philip Ross}} She died in 1955.
References
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Category:Suffragists from London
Category:Actors from the London Borough of Lewisham
Category:Actresses from Lisbon
Category:20th-century Portuguese actresses
Category:Independent Labour Party members
Category:Members of the Fabian Society
Category:Portuguese emigrants to England
Category:Portuguese socialists
Category:Portuguese suffragists
Category:Portuguese women activists