DePauw in 1897, Ritter found employment in Greencastle as a public high school German language teacher, while Beard, then her fiancé, traveled to England in August 1898 to pursue graduate studies at the University of Oxford. He also helped to establish Ruskin Hall (present-day Ruskin College), a free university for working-class men, before returning to the United States in late 1899. The couple married in March 1900. A month later, they moved to England, where they initially lived at Oxford, then relocated to Manchester while Charles continued his studies and worked as director of Ruskin Hall's extension department. Their daughter, Miriam, the first of their two children, was born at Manchester in 1901. In 1902, after deciding to return to the United States, the Beards settled in New York City, where they both enrolled as graduate students in the School of Political Science at Columbia University. By 1904, Mary Ritter Beard had discontinued her studies in sociology and became more active in the women's suffrage movement. The Beards' son, William, was born in 1907, the same year they bought a sixteen-room home in New Milford, Connecticut, where they frequently entertained guests. Charles Beard completed his doctor of philosophy (PhD) degree in history, and became a faculty member at Columbia University. He resigned his professorship in 1917 as a protest, following the dismissal of three anti-war faculty members during World War I, but continued his career as a writer and historian. European influences While living in England from 1900 to 1902, Mary Beard studied history and taught German. She also observed the plight of the working class in British industrial society. Beard became involved in the British labor and women's suffrage movements through her friendships with radical suffragists and socialist reformers Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughters, Christabel Pankhurst and Sylvia Pankhurst, who were members of the Independent Labour Party, and other leaders. Beard's acquaintances with European intellectuals also influenced her interests in the struggles of the working class, progressive politics, social reform, and social injustice. Suffrage movement Beard became involved with radical supporters of the women's in the suffrage movement in England through her friendship with Emmeline Pankhurst, a neighbor in Manchester, and Pankhurst's daughters. Beard also began to support issues affecting working-class women. After the Beards returned to the United States in 1902, Mary continued her activism in labor organizations such as the New York Women's Trade Union League (WTUL),