LENA CONNELL

Lena Connell was born Adelina Beatrice ‘Lena’ Connell and also later became Beatrice Cundy. After assisting her father with his photography business, Connell began her own and employed feminine staff, becoming one of the first women to photograph male subjects. Connell also took pictures of leading members of the Women’s Freedom League, Emmeline Pankhurst (1858-1928) and other suffragettes such as Gladice Keevil (1884-1959). Connell was also a member of the WSPU and collaborated with Cicely Hamilton on Edith Craig’s production of ‘A Pageant of Women’. Her portraits of those involved in the play such as Ellen Terry (1847-1928) and Christopher Marie St John (1871-1960) were exhibited at the Royal Photographic Society in 1910 and 1911. From 1922 Connell closed her shop and specialised in at home photography, using her married name of Beatrice Cundy.