“Queen Frances”

Abstract This chapter explores Frances Willard’s time in England with Isabel Somerset through 1893. Highlighting her and Somerset’s campaign to bring Do Everything reform to British women’s temperance organizations, the chapter discusses Willard’s professional triumphs early in her time in England. However, Willard’s growing health struggles ultimately forced her to abandon public speaking for several months. Willard’s prolonged absence from the United States led to multiple crises, with Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) leaders like Anna Gordon and Lillian Stevens staving off a series of challenges to Willard’s authority. Most damaging was a protracted campaign to detach the WCTU from ownership of the Woman’s Temple, in which several WCTU members called for the removal of one of Willard’s chief supporters, Matilda Carse.