LADY RHONDDA’S ACTIVITIES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16750, 3 June 1922, Page 3

LADY RHONDDA’S ACTIVITIES.

WORLD'S FIRST BUSINESS WOMAN, DIRECTOR OF THIRTY-SIX COMPAMIF.S. TOO BUSY TO STAY MARRIED. (London Correspondent “ San Francisco Chronicle.”) She was one-half of one per cent homo interest and ninety-nine and onehalf per cent business ! This, according to a close friend of Viscountess Rhondda, is the domestic proportion which brought Lady Rhondda’s action for restitution of conjugal begun here against Sir Humphrey Maclcworth. 1 .ady Rhondda (pronounced R-ontha) is tlie world’s greatest business woman. She is daughter of the late 1). A. Thomas, Welsh coal bajpn. The action has caused a stir in Eng laud’s highest social circles and has astonished captains of finance who daily meet Lady Rhondda in the big business activities in which she plays an important part. Her friends frankly explain the domestic disruption by the statement that she is too busy to stay married. Nevertheless, influential ones are seeking if possible to avert the divorce toward which the suit already started is tlie first legal step. Lady Rhondda is in a class by herself as a woman financier. She is presiding officer or director of thirty-six corporations. She is also the president of the Women’s Industrial League.

Moreover, she is the first woman member of the House of Lords. On her personal application to King George the Oo miri it tee of Privileges of the upper House of Parliament has given her the right to occupy the seat her late father hold. A COLORFUL ROMANCE. Nor i* Sir Humphrey, her husband, a small figure by any means. He is descended from a long line of noble blood. His ancestral estates in Monmouthshire, adjacent to those of lii3 ■wife’s father, are among the ricliest in England. Ho is a towering personality in high society end also earned merited distinction for lus services during tlie Their romance began as neighbors. Sir Humphrey admired Morgan- 1Thomas because -he had a .mind of her own He, too, was reputed to have great, initiative. And, because of this, friends prophesied a very happy marriage. But it wasn’t long before the discerning ones perceived that trouble had come. Admire as lie did his wife’swinning mannerisms and her wonderful business .acumen. Sir Humphrey began to feo:l a bit resentful toward the activities which kept her out of his home. Even her spare time was occupied by hobbies. HER FIRST FAD-. The first fyd which -he took up was militant suffrage. -She become one of Miss Pankhurst’s most brilliant firebrands. She made public speeches and aided in the rather strenuous campaign that the suffragettes waged. Finallv, .-he was arrested. She served a. short term in. gaol with the proud attitude of a martyr to the causeThe war breaking out, she was given another field of endeavour. She worked ceaselessly and tirelessly among the soldiers and their families. Thousands of men in uniform came to love her for her patriotism and her kindness She gave generously of her income to help bring about victory for British arms. But when the war waß over and lier husband entertained hope that she would devote her time to him and her homo, she took up the direction of the Six Point Group, an organisation aiming: to secure better laws regulating the employment and working conditions of women and children. It would s-eeini, in reading over the list of Lady Rhondda’s “ spare time ” activities, that she could have bad little opportunity for business. Nevertheless, this remarkable woman every day pul - through business deals that would amaze the shrewdest brains in Wail

d street. She performs 3ier tasks so s rapidly that she never after business hours, and she a n punctuality also in her avocation a! aft fairs that is the wonderment of women s who work with her. youthful, talent But she lias displayed that remarku able talent since sire was a. young gill. I Much of it can be traced to inherent I ability which was properly nurtured ( and developed by her late father, I>. A. Thomas, the coal baron, who was made Baron Rhondda in 1916 and who died r in 1918. It was the belief of her father that 1 in the absence of a son in the home, a . " daughter should be trained to carry on the family business. He began teach--5 i n-v her the ‘ ‘ inside” to his great " collieries when she was still in her i teens. And in her early twenties, before her marriage, she gave a startling exhibition of resourcefulness and in- * itiativc. Her father had gone to Cali- [ ada on an important business mission. J A. most pressing situation suddenly | 1 developer! at home with no one on hand 4 who dared risk acting for Mr Thomas. I “I’ll do it!” spoke np tlie daughter. J “On whose authorityshe was asked. *. * “My own,” she responded, laconically. Then she went ahead, called n. meeting of tho hoard of directors, dictated what was to bo done and with a stroke! of her pen put through a deal involving 5,000.000 dollars. When ] lor father returned home lie could not find words to express Ins satisfaction at tho wav his child and basinets protege had “made good.’ In this feat friends of Lord Rhondda since have seen something that reminded them of Ear! Haig, to whom Lady Rhondda is related. They point -out that one of the great soldier’s char acteristics which stood his country such good service in time of need was his ability instantly to grasp a complex situation and act with nicety and dispatch. HUSBAND IN THE BACKGROUND. Yet, friends of the unhappy couple declare that it was not wholly business interests and other activities that caused the two to take diverging paths. Jealousy of his wife’s distinction is said to have been a great factor. And when the situation is closely inspected much sympathy will be found for Sir Humphrey among husbands whose wives become prominent. Sir Humphrey, as I have already remarked, comes of a very distinguished family and has always been used to that deference which is shown one of his station. The title “ master ” of his | estates seemed to be chosen particular- i ly well in hia case, even liia personal appearance suggesting command. But, after his marriage to Lady Rhondda, he dwindled in the public appraisal while his wife grew more and more in estimation. In a very short time she had reduced him to pigmy proportions bv contrast with herself. And he began to be known as “ Lady Rhondda’s husband. ’’ Americans will appreciate the bitter : pill he had to swallow in his unwilling , acceptance of this identification. The , more he protested against it the more • general th« apuellation became. So that J to-dav, throughout England, one knows , this descendant of strong men, whose j ladies liad been content for centuries j to have the distinction of an alliance with the Mack worth name, merely as a husband dragging along behind a/distinguished wife. “ WOMAN THE SUPERIOR OF MAN.” Lady Rhondda, does not hesitate to air her opinions on tho subject -of equality. She is one of those who believe that man is in no way the superior of a woman. In fact, she rather takes tlie opposite viewpoint, bhe considers woman the superior of man in many, many respects. Talking on thia subject she recently said: “If we were asked what gift we held most dear, both for ourselves and for our children, we would answer. Freedom. I mean not only freedom for nations, but freedom from bodily slavery, freedom of thought, and, most essential, freedom of opportunity. “What is the freedom we women now have? Men put us on a. pedesta.li to get us out of the way. A pedestal is very uncomfortable and quite useless.” If Lady Rhondda had been compelled through the force of economic condito attend to her own household — in other words, if she bad been forced to do lier own housework, perhaps she to-day would be higher in the regard of her husband and not involved in a j marital proceeding in the court. But j she employed housekeepers and servants j to do the most trivial things and, as ( tho result, lost that enjoyment which j most wives find ill preparing meals and j maintaining the household. It gener- j ally follows that when the wife tires j of these tasks it isn’t long before she j is in some sort of domestic legal ac- j tion. ! Lady Rhondda is not now in Pencoed j Castle. She lias gone to France for a j short stay. And, in the meantime, friends of both are working to effect j a reconciliation. Under the law she i must soon write a request to her hus- • band to return to her. If he ignores this letter then her action becomes cn© for divorce based on desertion. W. L. George, the English novelist, recently made a statement which friends of Lady Rhondda have applied to her case. He said : “It will take fifty years for man ro accustom himself to the changed position of woman. In fact, it may take one hundred years. The quicker men adjust themselves to the new situation the better for them, for they’ll have to do it sooner or later. But', looking back over the history of women, you must admit that one hundred years would lie a short time, after all, in which to readjust the social programme.”