Suffragettes and International Carrom Day

 

Sally Jones 2nd from right

As WW1 was raging across Europe, a band of women took to the streets of Great Britain to demand emancipation and a place at carrom boards. Sally Jones is credited as the leader of this movement. Born of humble milliners, Jones grew up in Bristol in the George V era and was the first female seaborne dentist to have been acknowledged by the Admiralty.

At age 26, Jones made port at Gujarat, India where she became fascinated by the traditional game of carrom. Her husband, Sir Neville of Stank, was a lawyer and a noted billiards player, oft mentioned at the counting houses and lanyards of London. The sport of carrom was new and novel in Great Britain, favoured by the gentry but, however, a male-dominated hobby and.played in awkward style which belied the finesse of Indians,

On her return to Britain in 1912, war had broken out, women still did not have the vote and nobody with a vagina was allowed to play carrom.This, despite that Queen Victoria herself had owned a board and a bespoke striker made of ivory from the tusk of her favourite Indian elephant. (Trunky).

It was not until the Equal Franchise Act of 1928 that women over 21 were able to vote and women finally achieved the same voting rights as men. This act increased the number of women eligible to vote to 15 million. Still, it took forty more years before females were granted equal access to carrom boards. 

Jane Fonda (still a divisive firgure) is noted as a critic of The Vietnam War and, too, as a proponent of gender-loose sets. Her hit single of 1970, "Call me Moira", became a rallying call to carrom women across the world.  

Friday 3rd November marks International Carrom Day, when players, enthusiasts and Beards come together for a festival of board-based fun at the Pierce Insitute in Govan. This year, guest speakers include Sir Keir Starmer, Andrei Bukachenko, Megan Thee Stallion, John McManus and Fatima Uygun. Music from The Young Fathers and Creeping Palsy. Spoken word from Jim Monaghan and Her With The Purple Hair.

And as tribute to Sally Jones, our sister and pioneer, on what would have been her 120th birthday, International Carrom Day this year features the Govanhill Chorus and the Battlefield Barber Shop in a rendition of Freedom Come All Ye.