Lonsdale was the daughter of John Gylby, canon of Lichfield and Sarah Martineau, née Jardine. Her elder sister,
Margaret Lonsdale, would be a nurse and writer. She was also the granddaughter of Anglican bishop
John Lonsdale. A vocal
anti-suffragist, Lonsdale's name appeared on the list of signatories to "A Woman's Protest Against Female Suffrage" published in
The Nineteenth Century in 1889. Lonsdale was an early organizing member of the
Women's National Anti-Suffrage League and part of the group's executive committee together with
Mary Ward. Her letter published in
The Times in 1907 encouraged readers to sign a petition against the woman's vote, which was presented to Parliament after collecting 37,000 signatures. In 1892, Lonsdale opened a girls' high school in Lichfield which would eventually become
The Friary School. Much of her work focused on
poor relief, as a member of the
Charity Organization Society and
board of guardians member of the
Lichfield union. Lonsdale published
The English Poor Laws: Their History, Principles, and Administration in 1902. She wrote the Introduction to
The Slippery Slope, and Other Papers on Social Subjects by William Amias Bailward, published in 1920. Her memoirs,
The Recollections of Sophia Lonsdale, were edited by her cousin Violet Martineau (1865-1948) and published in 1936. == References ==