Hope Squire facts for kids

Evelyn Hope Squire Merrick (1878–1936) was a talented British composer and pianist. She was also a strong activist who believed in many important causes. She supported women getting the right to vote, eating only plant-based foods (vegetarianism), and a special international language called Esperanto. Hope Squire also stood against England joining World War I. She used the names Hope Squire and Hope Merrick for her work.

About Hope Squire Merrick

Her Early Life and Music

Hope Squire was born in Southport, England. Her father was an engineer and a poet. In 1911, she married another composer named Frank Merrick.

Hope loved playing the piano. She studied with famous teachers like Henry Gadsby, Tobias Matthay, and Ernst von Dohnanyi. She taught piano lessons and gave concerts in places like London's Steinway Hall.

Hope and her husband, Frank, often played piano together. They would sometimes play new songs without telling the audience who wrote them. In 1915, they played a duet version of a famous piece called La Mer by Claude Debussy.

Fighting for Rights

Hope Squire was a passionate activist. She believed in equal rights for women. Her husband, Frank Merrick, was also involved. He was an active member of a group called the Manchester Men's League for Women's Suffrage. This group worked to help women get the right to vote. Hope even sewed a special banner for them in 1914.

Hope also strongly opposed war. She was against England joining World War I. Her husband, Frank, was a "conscientious objector." This means he refused to fight in the war because of his beliefs. Because of this, he was sent to prison from May 1917 to April 1919. While he was in prison, Hope took over teaching his music students at the Royal Manchester College of Music, along with her own students.

Hope was part of many important groups that worked for change. These included the Independent Labour Party (ILP), which focused on workers' rights. She was also in the No-Conscription Fellowship (NCF), which opposed forcing people to join the army. She joined several groups that fought for women's voting rights, like the United Suffragists, the Women's Freedom League (WFL), and the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU).

Hope worked with many other activists and artists. Some of them were Margaret Ashton, Lillian Forester, and Emmeline Pethick Lawrence.

Her Legacy

The writings and musical papers of Hope Squire and Frank Merrick are kept safe at the University of Bristol Archives. Hope's music was published by several companies, including Boosey & Co. and Stainer & Bell.

Hope Squire's Compositions

Hope Squire wrote many pieces of music. Here are some of them:

Piano Music

• Tom Bowling (for two pianos)
• Variations on Black Eyed Susan

Vocal Music (Songs)

• Four Songs of Hiawatha’s Childhood (words by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)
• “Imogen” (words by Henry Newbolt)
• “Merry Merry Lark” (words by Charles Kingsley)
• “Messmates” (words by Henry Newbolt)
• “My Valentine” (words by L. Barret)
• “Skylark” (words by L. Barret)
• “The Boy and the Rosebud” (words by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)
• “Two Red Indian Love Songs” (words by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)
• Two Songs from Hiawatha (words by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)
• “When I am Dead, My Dearest” (words by Christina Rossetti)
• “Widow Bird Sate Mourning” (words by Percy Bysshe Shelley)