Strachey, Ray (1887–1940)

British suffragist. Name variations: Rachel Mary Costelloe; Rachel Strachey. Born Rachel Mary Costelloe, June 4, 1887; died July 1940; dau. of Frank (died 1899) and Mary Pearsall (Smith) Costelloe, also known as Mary Berenson (1864–1944, who later married Bernard Berenson); granddau. of Hannah Whitall Smith; sister of Karin Costelloe Stephen (1889–1953, one of the 1st British psychoanalysts, who m. Adrien Stephen, brother of Virginia Woolf); niece of Alys Russell (1866–1951); sister-in-law of Pippa Strachey; educated at Newnham College and Bryn Mawr College; became 2nd wife of Oliver Strachey (1874–1960), May 31, 1911; children: Barbara Strachey (b. 1912); Christopher Strachey (1916–1975); stepchildren: Julia Strachey (1901–1978, writer).

Often working with sister-in-law Pippa Strachey, took a high-profile position both in National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) and the Women's Service Bureau; negotiated for passage of 1918 suffrage bill that granted the vote to women over 30; stood unsuccessfully for a seat in Parliament (1918, 1922 and 1923); served as parliamentary secretary for Nancy Astor; assumed control of the Women's Employment Federation (1935), a natural progression from her early days with the Women's Service Bureau; edited suffrage paper The Common Cause (later renamed the Women's Leader); published most famous book, The Cause (1928), a germinal work on the history of British women's movement.

See also Barbara Strachey, Remarkable Relations: The Story of the Pearsall Smith Women (Universe, 1982); Brian Harrison, Prudent Revolutionaries: Portraits of British Feminists between the Wars (Clarendon, 1987); and Women in World History.