Laura Ormiston Chant

Laura Ormiston Dibbin Chant (9 October 1848 – 16 February 1923, Banbury) was an English social reformer, women's rights activist, and writer.

Chant was born on 9 October 1848, in Woolaston, Gloucestershire, the daughter of Francis William Dibbin (1811–1874), a civil engineer and Sophia Ormiston (1815–1894), who managed a girls institution.

"[6] Her published works include pamphlets, hymns, a novel and a book of poetry and are described as reflecting "many of the tensions characterizing feminism of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries".

[13] Chant shared in her pamphlet Why We Attacked the Empire that she was astonished by the immorality taking place in this theatre during their performances.

She went to visit the theatre and observed many women who came to the promenade (an open space for people to walk around by still view the performance) to prostitute.

[13] Chant was made fun of in the popular music hall ballad "Her Golden Hair Was Hanging Down Her Back".

Chant's reform efforts are considered one of the major factors that preceded the Music Hall Strike of 1907 in London.

[19] Churchill, Winston S., My Early Life, 65-66, discussing Ms. Chant's campaign to close the Empire Theatre in London