Sex and Common-sense

Agnes Maude Royden, CH (1876-1956) was a preacher and suffragist. She was educated at Cheltenham Ladies' College and Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. She also lectured on English Literature for the university extension movement, and in 1909 was elected to the executive committee of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies. From 1912 to 1914 she edited the Common Cause, the organ of the union. She became the secretary of the Fellowship of Reconciliation with other Christian pacifists. She became well known as a speaker on social and religious subjects, and in 1917 became assistant preacher at the City Temple in London, being thus the first woman to occupy this office. After World War I, Royden's interest shifted to the role of women in the Church. In 1929 she began the official campaign for the ordination of women when she founded the Society for the Ministry of Women. Her works include: Downward Paths (1916), Sex and Common-Sense (1922) and Prayer as a Force (1923).