At the end of the year it is customany to take stock in various ways and start the new year with many good resolutions. Whether the charge be true or not that women are frequently both weak in the matter of finance, Miss Lucy H. Yates, a well-known writer on women and their money matters, makes a strong appeal in The Standard for the removal of the injustice which ties a woman's hands with regard to money. She declares that it was the aim of the greybeards of the last century to put the inheritance of a daughter beyond her reach so far as the principal was concerned, and protests that, in view of changing conditions, this is manifestly unfair. "If she is considered able to choose a life-partner for herself she certainly might be allowed to choose an investment." The advice given is that women should be trained to proper judgement in financial affairs; ability to look ahead and prepare for future developments is needed by one sex as much as by the other. Handicapped women are prevented from acting for the best advantage of their children. It may be fairly claimed that the Suffrage movement has developed in women a true appreciation of the importance of the financial side of their Cause, and the desire to get the best possible result from the contents of their war chest.

At the last of our Discussion Meetings before Easter, Miss Lucy H. Yates, a well-known writer and advises on financial questions, gave a most interesting and thought provoking lecture on "The Spending Sex". She dealt first with women as the spender of the family income, then with her rights and responsibilities in spending the municipal and national income. She spoke of the success of the working women in spending very limited means to the best advantage, because she has full control of what is put into her hands; in this way she learned administration; trouble began when the middle classes were reached, because of the dual control, and the fact that so few husbands take their wives into their confidence as to their income; among landed proprietors the control was completely in masculine hands. She urged that the wife should have entire control of the income allocated for household expenditure including dress and education; and that should be provided with a banking account; the system of payment by cheque was practical and orderly: a woman with a cheque book would be a more scientific spender than if she had loose coins which could be cajoled out of her pocket by tempting bargains. The man who did not trust his wife deserved all he got, and a woman was justified in her resentment of such treatment, financial disagreements were often at the root of the troubles in the Law Courts. In corporate spending, Miss Yates insisted, women must have control with men if poverty and destitution are all to be banished. 

Next Wednesday afternoon we resume our weekly meetings at Caxton Hall, when the speakers will be Mrs M. W. Nevinson, on "The New Poor Law Orders as they Affect Women". The following Wednesday, Mrs Lucy H. Yates whose recent lecture on "The Spending Sex" at 1 Robert Street, was quoted in nearly every London and Provincial paper, will speak on "Women and Financial Independence". Miss Yates has a wide experience of financial matters, so her address should be of particular interest to women.

Lucy Helen Yates (1863-1935) was born in Nottingham, the daughter of a lacemaker. She began writing for the Girls' Own Paper and other periodicals, contributing both short stories and advice on cookery and housekeeping. Her first book was The Profession of Cookery from a French Point of View (!894), while The Convalescent's Diet appeared in 1901. She was a suffragist and gave lectures on 'The Financial Independence of Women', several of her books, such as The Management of Money A Handbook of Finance for Women (1903) and Business Matters for Women Simply Explained (1908) dealing with this subject. In 1912 she wrote  In Camp and Kitchen: A Handy Guide for Emigrants and Settlers (1912)  (she was at this point living in Cheyne Walk, Chelsea with her elder sister Amy). What's Good to Eat appeared in 1926 and Marriage on Small Means in 1931. She contributed to various periodicals and did some broadcasting for the BBC. The Country Housewife's Book (1934) was her last book.

It is unusual, even in these days, for a woman to wield such an influence in the business world, but in her case it was the more remarkable in that those great abilities were a treasure held in an earthen vessel of the frailest, most sorely afflicted type. Few people who heard her resonant voice speaking from a platform had any idea that to walk across a room was a painful, sometimes an impossible feat.

With unflinching courage she held to her duties to the last, and passed away able to say: "I have finished the work that Thou gavest me to do." That work has been to lift higher the banner of business integrity and to make the lot of every worker with whom she had anything to do a pleasant, healthful, interesting, and properly paid occupation.

But those who knew Mrs Thomson-Price as personal friend and literary comrade saw another side of her jewel-like personality. It was one fall of charm and unexpectedness. A little sketch, a few verses, a humorous recollection were always ready to light up the most ordinary subject. An ardent enthusiast, with very broad sympathies, she never stayed her hand when her pen could be used, nor her voice when speech could help any cause. 

In 1905 Lucy H. Yates wrote the Model Kitchen as a guide to setting up a domestic kitchen in a modern urban flat. She list all the necessary equipment, together with prices. This includes a refrigerator, the most expensive item, costing £6 6s. Other items deemed essential requirements consists of an asparagus boiler, a game pie dish, an omelette pan, a coffee mill and a cafeteria, a frying pan with a shield, a tea infuser, egg poacher, pastry cutters, glass lemon squeezer, gravy strainer, bread mixer, egg beater, can opener, apple corer, oyster knife, a refuse holder, sink tidy, fruit stoner, meat saw, a "Spong" chopper, grey granite enamel ware sauce pans and jugs and so on. Yates estimates that the cost of equipping a kitchen flat with all modern items should equate to around £16 6s 1d in today's currency this would amount to approximately £1,000 or slightly more.

Henry Yates (born 22 September 1828, Sneinton, Nottinghamshire) was the son of Penelope & Henry William Yates, a Non-Conformist lacemaker. One of 7 children, Henry Yates was working as a "Lace Designer" when he was in his early twenties.

In 1852, at Basford, Nottinghamshire, Henry Yates married Maria Sisling, the daughter of Maria & John Sisling (1808-1898), also a lace manufacturer.

In 1861, Henry Yates (junior) and his family were living next door to John Sisling (Maria's father) and his family in Sherwood Street Nottingham.

Henry Yates (Maria's father) was a partner in the lace manufacturing firm of Sisling & Yates of Nottingham. On the 1861 Census return, John Sisling stated that he employed "21 men, 3 boys & 29 women".

The union of Henry Yates (1828-1909) and Maria Sisling (1829-1909) produced 4 children:

(1) John Henry Yates (born 1853, Basford, Nottinghamshire - died 1904)

(2) William Sisling Yates (born 1858, Nottingham, Notts. - died 1943.)

(3) Amy Yates (born 1860, Nottingham, Notts. date of death unknown). Living with her sister Lucy at the time of the 1911 Census. Described as an unemployed "Lady Gardener".

(4) Lucy Helen Yates (born 1863, Basford, Nottinghamshire - died 1935)

There is a suggestion that Lucy's parents may have separated late in their marriage.

They were not living together at the time of the 1901 Census (Henry Yates was residing in a cottage in Sidmouth, Devon) and Henry Yates died in Honiton, Devon, in 1909. Henry's wife, Maria, died in Bingham, Nottinghamshire, in 1909.

Strangely, there is no record of the death of Lucy Helen Yates in English records.e.g. Death Registration, Probate, Wills.

I suppose there is a possibility that she died abroad or she married late in life.

On the 1901 Census, Lucy Helen Yates was residing in Barnet Vale, Hertfordshire, with her mother, Mrs Maria Yates, described on the census return as a 72 year-old widow changed to 'married' (her husband was still alive in 1901)
Lucy Helen Yates was described on the 1901 census return as "Author", aged 37.

In 1911, Lucy Helen Yates was residing at 123 Cheyne Walk, Chelsea, SW London with her 50-year-old sister
Amy Yates, an unemployed "Lady Gardener''. Lucy Helen Yates describes herself on the 1911 census form
as"Journalist" / 'Daily Mail'/ worker/ aged 47.

In 1924, when Miss Lucy H.Yates was returning to England from Cape Town, South Africa, she gave her address as
63 Gloucester Crescent, London NW1

On the Electoral Roll for South-West Pancras, compiled in 1934, the home address of Lucy Helen Yates is listed as
63 Gloucester Crescent, London NW1