It was the late Victorian era – a time of rigid social norms – when Christabel Marshall was born on 24th October 1871 in Exeter. She was the youngest of 9 children. Upon converting to Catholicism – something frowned upon by her mother and society at large – she changed her name to Christopher Marie St John.
After Oxford University, where she honed her skills as a historian and translator, she moved to London and began to cohabit with Edy Craig. They subsequently added a second home, first The Priest’s House in Tenterden, Kent, and later Smallhythe Place in the same town.
Christopher wrote about her relationship with Edy in her book The Golden Book (1911), a love journal that detailed her intimate feelings for Edy. This wasn’t Christopher’s first publication. Her literary debut was a novel called The Crimson Weed (1900), which explored passion and revenge.
On top of that, she was a passionate activist in the suffrage movement. She appeared in Edy’s play, A Pageant of Great Women, was arrested for setting fire to a pillar box, was involved with the WSPU and served on the committees of the Catholic Women's Suffrage Society and the Women Writers’ Suffrage League.
Edy was born on 9th December 1869 at Gustard Wood Common, Hertfordshire. She was the eldest of 2 children born to the extremely successful actor Ellen Terry and Edward William Godwin, a couple who remained unmarried, defying Victorian conventions. The family lived in Fallows Green, Harpenden, Hertfordshire, until 1874. After her parents separated in 1875, Ellen married Charles Wardell and Edy took his last name.
Edy made her first stage appearance at the age of 9 in a play where her mother had the starring role. Throughout her life, Edy was devoted to her mother. And even before meeting Edy, Christopher’s idolisation of Ellen Terry caused her to bombard the actor with letters until she was invited to meet her. The story goes that on the first meeting, Ellen got her daughter, Edy, to entertain Christopher whilst she finished what she was doing. It was love at first sight for Christopher. And Christopher was not disappointed upon meeting her idol, either: she would later write a biography of Ellen after Ellen’s death in July 1928.
With a dream to become a professional pianist, Edy studied at the Royal Academy of Music, but rheumatism in her hands cut her training short. Instead, she adopted the stage name Ailsa Craig and worked as an actor, producer and costume designer for theatre shows. She had herself officially christened Edith Geraldine Ailsa Craig in the year 1887.
For the suffrage movement, Edy was less militant than Christopher. She sold newspapers, joined several suffrage organisations and directed a play she’d co-written called A Pageant of Great Women in 1909, which included figures like Jane Austen and Joan of Arc, in addition to using her theatrical brilliance to produce an astonishing catalogue of roughly 150 other suffrage plays.
On 7th September 1911, Christopher and Edy each planted a holly tree at Eagle House. I suppose Christopher was eligible to plant a conifer. Maybe she chose to plant the same type of tree as Edy, who was expected to plant a holly tree due to her non-militancy.
From 1916 until Edy’s death in 1947, the couple once again defied social norms by living in a polyamorous relationship with the artist Clare “Tony” Atwood (1866–1962), who painted portraits, still life, landscapes and war scenes. The three of them were known as “Edy and the boys”, which, amongst other things, shows how Edy was seen as the pivotal figure in the relationship.
After Ellen’s death in 1928, Edy created a museum to her mother within Smallhythe (now run by the National Trust) and she converted a barn on their Kent property into a theatre. Each chair inside was sponsored by people from their network, including several suffragists and suffragettes.
It was at Smallhythe Place that Edy died on 27th March 1947. Christopher and Tony carried on living together in the same house until Christopher’s death on 20th October 1960. The two of them are buried next to each other in the nearby churchyard with flat commemorative gravestones. It is unknown where Edy’s ashes are, but in 2012, a flat stone plaque was added for her in the same churchyard. It was placed in between but a bit higher up than the other two women’s stones to form a triangle pattern.
How can we, today, honour their legacy and be effective, kind allies to our LGB siblings?
© Helen Pugh 2025, author of On This Day in Somerset.
Unearthing the Suffragette Spirit Project
Sources: Edy Craig And The Pioneer Players' Production of "Mrs. Warren's Profession" by James Fisher; Nest of Suffragettes in Somerset by BM Willmott Dobbie; oxforddnb.com; spartacus-educational.com; thesuffragettes.org; The Times Oct 25 1960 and March 28 1947; nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/kent/smallhythe-place/lgbtq-history-at-smallhythe-place; “A Creative Retreat to Smallhythe Place” (a Past Loves podcast episode); historicengland.org.uk/research/inclusive-heritage/lgbtq-heritage-project/love-and-intimacy/graves-and-monuments/.
