Under the direction and individual assistance of Mr E. Harcourt Williams and Miss Winifred Mayo, an adaptation of Miss Jane Austin's novel, Pride and Prejudice, was given at the Court Theatre last Friday. It attracted a full house. So far from being a play without a plot as the programme suggested, the exclusive motive of the comedy is the plotting of Mrs Bennett for the marriage of her four daughters. That she should accomplish the wedding of three of them is a testimony to her instinctive matrimonial power.

The more serious and pathetic portions of the play fell to Mr E. Harcourt Williams and Miss Winifred Mayo and could not be in abler hands. The former as Mr Darcy, plays with an earnestness of style and incision that are admirable, and he is the proud and prejudiced squire of a hundred years ago.

Miss Winifred Mayo is, as Elizabeth, all that could be wished, giving an intelligent and winning embodiment of a difficult character.

La Gioconda, a tragedy, in four acts, by Gabriele d'Annunzio, translated into English by Winifred Mayo and played for the first time in English at the King's Hall, Convent Garden, on Sunday, December 8.

It must be believed that Miss Winifred Mayo set herself a difficult task when she essayed an English adapt ion of an Italian play, with which the name and fame of Signora Duse are so strongly bound up. But it can be also believed that Miss Mayo has done her work creditably, and correctly presented the author's ideas. It might be said that those ideas, as forming a play, would not find general favour with British playgoers, and we would very much question the possibility of the financial success of La Gioconda played in English by even a well-selected company. After having seen a representation of the play, one does not leave the theatre feeling in the least but refreshed.

The story is not a pleasant one, and one's impulse is to get out into the open air and forget it as soon as possible. That it affords ample opportunities for tragic acting can be admitted, but - beyond that - that it serves a useful purpose or points a moral must be denied. A play which has for a plot - a struggle between two women to gain the affection of a sculptor - one of the women being his wife and the other his mistress - might not, and probably would not appeal to the average healthy-minded British citizen, even if he was informed that the issue narrowed itself down to the question of the choice by the sculptor of remaining faithful to a woman to whom at the altar he vowed to be true, and who, we are led to believe, loves him with a pure, womanly affection, or of giving his heart and soul to a mistress who is the inspirer of his genius.  

A very interesting meeting under the auspices of the Sydenham and Forest Hill Women's Social and Political Union was held in the Studio, Venner Road, on Wednesday evening.

Mrs Pertwee, of the Actresses' Franchise League, addressed the meeting. She said that although women had been agitating for votes for so many years, it was only during the last few years that any advance had been made and that was owing to the action of the militant suffragists, men and women of deep spirituality and moved by true religious feeling.

Miss Winifred Mayo, the Hon. Secretary of the Actresses' Franchise League, recited "The Mother of the Man", by Hall Caine, following with a few words about the unfair position of mothers in regard to the English law.

Mrs Pertwee proposed and Miss Winifred Mayo seconded the following resolution, which was unanimously carried: That this meeting is profoundly dissatisfied with the wording of the King's Speech on the Suffrage question and calls as Mr Asquith to bring in a government measure giving votes to women as the same terms as men."

The chair was taken by Miss Edith Downing.

Miss Winifred Mayo and Miss Bertha Brewster are doing yeoman service; they have been meeting the prisoners as they were released from Holloway, entertaining them to breakfast and in a very special way acting as hostesses.

It is constantly asserted by Anti-Suffragists that they are supported by the great majority of thoughtful women in the country. This sweeping statement is entirely without foundation. Nothing is more significant than the existence of only one Anti-Suffrage League to represent the entire organisation in opposition to Women's Suffrage in comparison with the three major Woman Suffrage societies and the innumerable smaller suffrage bodies (about forty in number), including artists' actresses, and writers' leagues, a Church League, Free Church League and Catholic Women's League; Conservative and Unionist Women's League; Conservative and Unionist Women's Franchise Association, Forward Women's Suffrage Union (Liberal women), New Constitutional Suffrage Society, the Cymrie Women's League; unions representing English and Scottish Universities, industrial and professional women and gymnastic teachers, five Irish leagues, and five leagues for men only, to say nothing of the International Women's Suffrage Alliance, which has no parallel among Anti-Suffragists of various countries.

Among other organised bodies of women which have declared in favour of Women's Suffrage are the British Women's Temperance Association, Women's Liberal Federation, Association of Head Mistresses, Association of Assistant Mistresses, Women's Co-operative Guild, Women's Industrial Society, and the National Union of Conservatives and Constitutional Association (five times since 1887), the National Liberal Federation, the Labour Party, and the Independent Labour Party. Of the Executive Committee of the Women's Trade Union League 72.2 per cent are Suffragists, 80 per cent of the Women's Trade Union League are in favour, while of the women on the Executive Committees of the Women's Industrial Council, the Humanitarian League (General Council) and the International Association for Labour Legislation the percentages and respectively 76.9, 66.6, and 80. 

I joined the WSPU in about 1907. I have a tremendous admiration and affection for Mrs Pankhurst. An eminently loveable woman. She was a marvelous speaker. I heard her speak at Albert Hall, of course, long before the days of microphones, and her voice carried to the farthest seat.

We thought it would be a good idea to wake-up the club men and so a group of us was detailed to go round one foggy November evening and break the windows of the male clubs. I went for the clubs in Pall Mall with a pocketful of stones looking for a suitable window... Finally I saw a large glass door at the Guards Club. I took out a stone and to my great joy and satisfaction broke the glass. The porter ran out and seized me and sent for the police. A number of the servants came out and I addressed them telling them what the point of the attack was... The police arrived and grasped firmly by the arm. I was sent to prison for a fortnight.

Winifred Alice Monck Mason was the second eldest child of Alice Portia Wolley (1844-1935) and Thomas Henry Monck Mason (1837-1874), who worked in the Indian Civil Service in Bombay.

Born near Bombay, India, on 8th November 1869, Winifred was baptised at Bagulkote in India, on 22nd November 1869. Her father, Thomas Henry Monck Mason, was the son of Thomas Monck Mason senior (1803-1889), a member of the Irish gentry who was variously described as a musician (he played the flute), composer, writer and balloon aeronaut.

Further information on Winifred's grandfather - Thomas Monck Mason (1803-1889), was the son of William Charles Monck Mason, an Irish castle owner, customs official and historian. Thomas Monck Mason was known as a flute player, writer and balloon aeronaut. He wrote an account of his 500-mile hot-air balloon trip from England to Germany (1836) and later authored and published books on theology. During the 1830s and 1840s he was impoverished after renting London theatres to stage operas. At the time of the 1881 Census, he was living in Sutton's Hospital in Charterhouse, a home for poverty stricken gentlemen. He is recorded on the 1881 census as an "Author" of religious and scientific books.

Thomas Henry Monck Mason (Winifred's father) was born out of wedlock in 1837 to Maria Henrietta Bishop (1815-1849) and Thomas Monck Mason (1803-1889) - Thomas Monck Mason did not marry Maria Bishop until October 1842, by which time they already had four children. A fifth child was born in 1847. As a young man, Thomas Henry Monck Mason entered the Indian Civil Service. On 3rd October 1867, at the parish church of Wraxall in North Somerset, 30-year-old Thomas Monck Mason, of the "Bombay Civil Service", married 23-year-old Alice Portia Wolley, the daughter of Charlotte Elizabeth Biscoe (1811-1856) and Henry Wolley (1810-1898), gentleman of independent means (described as a "Fundholder" on the 1851 Census). Curiously, on the marriage register, the groom, Thomas Monck Mason declared that his father was Thomas Monck Mason,a "Captain" in the Royal Navy. In fact, Captain Thomas Monck Mason of the Royal Navy was his great uncle Thomas Monck Mason, RN (1788-1838).,

The union of Thomas Henry Monck Mason and Alice Portia Wolley produced 5 children:

(1) Edith Mary Monck Mason (born 1868 Cheltenham, Gloucestershire - died 11th July 1957, Tunbridge Wells, Kent). Qualified as a nurse in 1898. Served as a nurse in Simla. India 1918- 1920. At the age of 52, Edith married on 9th January 1919 in Bombay, India, a widowed army officer, Major Harry de Burgh Codrington (born 1866 - died 9th August 1939), (Harry Codrington later became a Lieutenant-Colonel). Stepson Kenneth de Burgh Codrington (1899-1986).

(2) Winifred Alice Monck Mason (born 8th November 1869, India - died 18th February 1967, Ashurst, Hampshire) - unmarried

(3) Roger Henry Monck Mason (born 19th February 1871, India - died 2nd December 1941, Midhurst, Sussex). Attended Sandhurst Military College. In 1901 a Lieutenant in the Royal Munster Fusiliers. Married twice. On 7th June 1901 married Ethel Beatrice Strickland (born 1868) . Divorced 1908. 2nd Marriage: In 1913 married Geraldine Irene Verity (born 1891). On son: Roger Lewis Monck Mason (1914–1991).

(4) Thomas George Monck Mason (born 1872, Cheltenham, Gloucester - died 23rd December 1935, Perth, Western Australia). Attended Bath College and Cambridge University. Served as an officer in the Indian Army and later in the Royal Munster Regiment. Rank of Major and Lieutenant-ColoneI. In 1902, married Jane Taylor Climie in Australia. Settled in Australia. One daughter Eileen Alice Monck-Mason (born 1903, Albany, Western Australia). Served in the Australian Imperial Force (AlF) during the First World War.

(5) Dorothea Monck Mason (born 14th May 1874, Bath, Somerset - died 1878, aged 4)

It appears that Thomas Monck Mason and his family returned to England from India before 27th October 1872, the date of the baptism of his fourth child, Thomas George Monck Mason. Wiifred's father, Thomas Monck Mason died in Bath, Somerset, on 26th February 1874 at the age of 36. (Winifred was only 4 years old at the time of her father;s death). According to the Probate Calendar and Index of Wills, Thomas Monck Mason left effects valued at under £1,500.

When the death of Winifred's father, Thomas Monck Mason, was reported in 1874 it was recorded that he was "late of 1 Thornborough Villas, Park Road, New Wandsworth, Surrey", but it appears that between 1872 and 1873 the family were living at 33 Montpellier Terrace in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, and between 1874 and 1878 his widow and their children were residing in Bath, Somerset. When the 1881 Census was taken, Mrs Alice Portia Monck Mason and her children were recorded at 19 Bathwick Hill, Bathwick, near Bath, Somerset. On the 1881 Census return, Mrs Alice P. Monck Mason, a 37-year-old widow, declared that she was living on "Income derived from Dividends". Residing with Mrs Monck Mason at 19 Bathwick Hill were her four surviving children Edith (aged 12), Winifred (aged 11), Roger (aged 10) and Thomas (aged 8). Also living in the household were three domestic servants - one cook and two housemaids.

A decade later in 1891, the family were living in a cottage named "Enniskerry" in the village of Littleham, near Exmouth, Devon. 47-year-old Mrs Alice Monck Mason stated she was "Living on Own Means". Three of her children - Edith (aged 22), Winifred (aged 21), and Roger (aged 20) were living at home. The youngest child, 18-year-old Thomas Monck Mason was boarding at Bath College. No occupation is given for either Edith Monck Mason or Winifred Monck Mason, but their younger brother, Roger Monck Mason is recorded as a "Sandhurst Cadet". Mrs Alice Monck Mason was now employing two servants - a cook and a parlour maid.

At the time of the 1901 Census, Mrs Alice Portia Monck-Mason and two of her grown-up children were living at 22 Rugby Mansions, Fulham. On the census return, 31-year--old Winifred Alice Monck-Mason was described as an "Actress" and her younger brother, 30-year-old Roger Henry Monck Mason is entered as an army officer, recorded as "Lieutenant , Royal Munster Fusiliers". Edith Mary Monck Mason was away training as a nurse and Thomas George Monck Mason was either in India serving in the British Indian Army - he was recorded as a major in the 84th Punjabis, or was based in Australia. [ In 1902, Thomas George Monck Mason married Jane Taylor Climie in Australia. After serving in the First World War, Thomas George Monck Mason settled in Australia and ran a farm at "Masonbrook", Cranbrook, Western Australia.

At the time of the 1911 census, Winifred Alice Monck Mason and her mother, Mrs Alice Portia Monck Mason, and her aunt, were living at 93 Oakley Street, Chelsea, S.W. London, but they boycotted the census, writing across the original census form "no vote, no census".

When the 1921 Census was taken, Winifred Alice Monck Mason was recorded as a boarder at Massena House, Hawkinge, Elham, Kent (now a civil parish in the Folkestone and Hythe district of Kent). On the 1921 census form, Winifred Alice Monck Mason is described as a single woman, aged 49 years 7 months. Under the heading of 'Personal Occupation' is written "Theatrical Organiser - out of work".

In 1936, Winifred made a trip to Australia. (Her younger brother,Thomas George Monck Mason, who had settled in Australia, had died in 1935)

The 1939 General Register records Winifred Monck Mason (now aged 69) residing with her widowed sister, Mrs Edith Codrington at Granville House, Market Square, Midhurst, Sussex. On the 1939 Register, Winifred Monck Mason is described as " Actress & Organising Secretary (Retired)". Her sister Mrs Edith Codrington, is entered as "Trained Nurse (Retired)". The two sisters employed a single domestic servant.

Winifred Alice Monck Mason of 25 New Road, Hythe, Southampton, died on 18th February 1967 at 16 Peterscroft Avenue, Ashurst, Hampshire, leaving effects valued at £6,473. Winifred's nephew, Roger Lewis Monck Mason, a major in the British Army, is named as the executor of her will.