Description

Isabel Cowe (1867-1931) managed a boarding house in St Abbs, a small coastal town in the Scottish Borders. She was a suffragette, a member of the Women’s Freedom League and in 1912 organised the Scottish Suffrage March to Downing Street. Isabel took her bike on the 400 mile march, cycling ahead to get signatures in nearby farms wearing the suffragette colours with her green hat and white scarf. Only six women completed the whole journey and she was arrested along the way for cycling on the pavement.

She was a well-known member of the community, campaigned for St Abbs to have its own lifeboat and was nicknamed “the Provost of St Abbs”. She took over The Haven guest house offering refuge for women and girls suffering hardship. Iain E Brown’s Isabel Cowe: Shore Gull and Suffragist tells her story.

This portrait of Isabel Cowe shows her wearing suffrage colours and looking out to sea. The sea is made with exquisite, hand-rolled, mottled Uro by Yough art glass, and the sky is Wissmach iridescent ripple glass that shows rainbow colours from certain angles. Her sleeve has been hand painted and fused, making the paint permanent. The picture has a zinc frame which makes it lovely and strong, and a chain for hanging.

Although this stained glass picture can be hung at a window, the real beauty of the art and iridescent glass shows against a wall. It’s approx 31cm square, including the frame.

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Price includes postage and packing, UK only. Please contact me if you wish to send overseas.