SUFFRAGETTES IN LOUGHBOROUGH by Mike Shuker

ISSN 2515-7345

SUFFRAGETTES IN LOUGHBOROUGH

MIKE SHUKER

Leicestershire Labour History Society Journal Volume 1 No 2 (November 2018) Free

Front Cover

Annie Kenney : Mill worker, Trade Unionist, Socialist and Suffragette.

The first Suffragette speaker in Loughborough in September 1906.

Source : https://commons.wikimedia.org/

Inside Back

Top : Flora Drummond, photo c 1906 – 1907, spoke in Loughborough in September, 1912.

Bottom : Charlotte (Charlie) Marsh, photographed at Hyde Park in 1908, spoke in Loughborough in September 1910 and July 1913.

Source : https://commons.wikimedia.org/

Back Cover

The arrest of a Suffragette at ‘Black Friday’, November 1910; the Daily Mirror front page of the following day.

Kathleen Corcoran, of Loughborough, was arrested at this protest.

Source : https://commons.wikimedia.org/

Published by Mike Shuker for Leicestershire Labour History Society, 18, Ashby Road, Loughborough, Leicestershire, LE11 3AE.

Printed by Portland Print, Mansfield 01623 491255 www.portlandprint.org.uk

Acknowledgements Charnwood Arts would like to acknowledge the following people and organisations in the development of this publication.

The funding of the project has been made possible through support from a National Lottery Heritage Fund grant, in addition to the contributions of our core funders, Charnwood Borough Council and Arts Council England.

The research informing this resource was led by Mike Shuker, with Mike Cahill, Dave Neville, Dr Jill Vincent and Lynne Dyer who supplied some additional information about Kathleen and Nora Corcoran. We are also indebted to the Loughborough Library Local Studies Volunteers for their invaluable assistance. Dr Nick Hayes, Dr Roger Knight assisted with the earlier article “For those women have pluck” published in ‘East Midlands History and Heritage’. Dr Ray Sutton read an early draft and made helpful comments.

The ‘Loughborough Echo’ have granted permission for the reproduction of press coverage from the time.

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CHRONOLOGY 1 1870

Married Women’s Property Act.

1875

April Loughborough Town Hall : Jane Ronniger speaks at a meeting in favour of women’s suffrage.

1879

February Caroline Biggs addresses suffrage meetings in Loughborough and Hinckley Town Halls.

1870 – 1880

About 200,000 signatures a year collected on petitions supporting votes for women.

1870

Municipal Franchise Act secures rate-paying women the vote in Municipal Elections. Under the Education Act women become eligible to serve on School Boards.

1882

Extension of Married Women’s Property Act.

1887

March Mrs Fenwick Miller and Mrs Florence Balgarnie (National Society for Women’s Suffrage) address a meeting at Loughborough Corn Exchange.

November Mrs Balgarnie addresses a meeting of the Loughborough Liberal League.

1893

Further changes to Married Women’s Property Act.

1903

October Womens’ Social and Political Union formed

by Emmeline Pankhurst.

1905

Daily Mail coins the term ‘suffragette’.

1906

January Loughborough Independent Labour Party Branch includes a question on women’s suffrage to the General Election candidates in the Division. Liberal landslide : Campbell-Bannerman Prime Minister.

September

Independent Labour Party (ILP) arrange Loughborough Market Place meeting with prominent Suffragette Annie Kenney.

1907

February Maurice Levy, MP (Loughborough) tables motion in response to the Women’s Enfranchisement Bill – that no alteration in the franchise laws will be acceptable

1

Sources are from those cited in the following text and from Liddington, Jill, Rebel Girls, Virago, London 2006, ‘Chronology and Organisations’ and Shuker, Mike, ‘For those women have got pluck’ in ‘East Midlands History and Heritage’, Universities of Nottingham Trent, Nottingham, Bishop Grosseteste, Lincoln, Leicester, Derby, Loughborough, Northampton and NLHA, July 2016.

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which fails to provide adult suffrage. (The Bill was eventually ‘talked out’).

March 2 women candidates, Mrs Jones (Lib) and Mrs Clifford (Cons) elected to the Loughborough Board of Guardians.

1908

February Second reading of Women’s Enfranchisement Bill in House of Commons : Maurice Levy, MP speaks against.

April

1909

Asquith becomes Prime Minister.

January Meeting of the ‘Loughborough Society for the furtherance of women’s franchise’ in the Town Hall. Main speaker : Gladice Keevil, Secretary of the Birmingham and Midland WSPU. Establishment of Loughborough WSPU. Spring Lloyd George’s ‘People’s Budget’ rejected : political crisis.

1910

January General Election : Loughborough’s Maurice Levy amongst the Liberal MPs targeted by WSPU. His majority was reduced. Liberal Government re –elected, dependent on Labour and Nationalist votes.

In Loughborough, Dorothy Pethick and Dorothy Bowker appointed as organisers for the WSPU : various meetings organised including visit by Emmeline Pankhurst.

July Conciliation Bill (which attempts to reach a ‘most acceptable for all’ solution to women’s franchise passed by 109 votes in Parliament. Refused Parliamentary time by Government.

Autumn Campaigning Loughborough announced.

activity

by

WSPU

in

November

Kathleen Corcoran, from Loughborough, arrested as 300 Suffragettes march on House of Commons.

December

General Election. Maurice Levy returned for Loughborough – majority further reduced - as part of a Liberal Government.

1911

May On the 5th, a second and revised Conciliation Bill was introduced. It passed the second reading by 255 to 89. Lloyd George announced that the government had

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decided that further time would not be allowed for the bill that session.

1912 – 1913

Records of Loughborough WSPU ‘At Homes’, ‘Cafe Chantant’ and participation in local debates.

1913

January House of Commons Speaker announces no suffrage amendment to Reform Bill.

April First release of Suffragette prisoners under ‘Cat and Mouse’ Act. Kathleen and Nora Corcoran’s refusal to pay local tax .

June Derby.

Death of Emily Wilding – Davison at Epsom

Loughborough Town Council ban suffrage meetings from Town Hall premises.

October Attempted firing of Red House, Burton Walks, Loughborough.

1914 June

Loughborough WSPU reported to have set up a ‘shop’ in Baxter Gate, Loughborough.

August

Outbreak of the Great War and WSPU formal cessation of militant activity.

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What was Loughborough?

In the nineteenth century, Loughborough boasted a number of advantages which gave it potential for development. “It was on a waterway network which linked it to the east coast, the Erewash Valley coalfield to the north, and southwards along most of the route to London ... The town also had good communications on the turnpike system, along which ran the Royal Mail and passenger coaches.” 2 The town grew rapidly. The population in 1871, shortly before the first women’s suffrage meetings to be held in the town, was 11,588.3 In 1881 this had risen to 14,803, by 1891 it had grown to 18,196 and in 1901 there was a population of 21,508. When the General Elections of 1910 came about, there were close to 23,000 people living in the town.4 A staple industry of the area had been hosiery manufacture with some lace manufacturing. The dominance of the textile sector in Loughborough’s economy in the mid nineteenth century meant that almost one in three of all ‘heads of families’ were engaged in the industry.5 The shift from homeworking to factory based manufacture not only brought more women and girls into the industry to ‘machine mind’, but was also a factor in the development of hosiery machine manufacture in the town at William Cotton’s.

Engineering employment in the town grew through the nineteenth century. Early in the century some 14% of ‘heads of households’ were engaged in manufacturing : by the 1880s this was 18%.6 Taylor’s Bell Foundry moved to its current town location in Loughborough in 1839, although it did not provide as many employment opportunities as some of the other Loughborough firms. The Falcon Works moved from Derby Road to a site adjacent to the Midland Railway in 1864 and was taken over by the Brush Electrical Engineering Company in 1889. ‘The Brush’ was to become a ‘major source of employment’ complementing the established Cotton’s. Later in the century, 1897, the lifting gear manufacturers Morris and Bastert moved to the town.7 So, by the turn of the nineteenth to twentieth centuries, the ‘traditional’ town industries were supplemented by engineers, foundry workers and a growing number of municipal workers from the Loughborough Borough which was incorporated in 1888.

Transport links had also developed and, by the time the Women’s Social and Political Union formed a branch in Loughborough, the town had three railway stations : the Charnwood Forest Railway (linking to Shepshed, Ashby and eventually Nuneaton); 2

Humphrey, Wallace, ‘An Outline of the Industrial History of Nineteenth Century Loughborough’ in ‘Loughborough 1888 – 1988. The Birth of a Borough’, Charnwood Borough Council, Loughborough, n.d., p22.

3

‘Kelly’s Directory of Leicestershire and Rutland, 1876’, p439.

4

Figures for 1881, 1891, 1901 and 1910 come respectively from Humphrey, W, op cit, p24; Wills’ Loughborough Almanac, 1893’, page unnumbered; Humphrey, W, op cit, p24 and ‘Wills’ Loughborough Almanac, 1912’, p189.

5

Humphrey, W, op. cit., p24.

6

Ibid.

7

Information from Humphrey, W, op. cit., pp 22 – 24 and www.taylorbells.co.uk , accessed October 12, 2016.

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the Midland Railway (London to Derby, Nottingham and Sheffield) and the Great Central (from Manchester and Sheffield to London Marylebone.).

Politically, Loughborough was a Liberal Parliamentary Division from its establishment in 1885 until 1929, apart from a Conservative period from 1886 – 1892. The first Labour Parliamentary Candidate was W H Hallam who stood in the 1918 election. The first Labour member to hold the seat was Ernest Winterton, briefly the town’s MP from 1929 – 1931.8 In terms of local party politics, Liberalism was seen as the ‘home’ for working men. In 1898 the first ‘working man’, the hosiery worker William Cartwright, was elected to Loughborough Council as a Liberal. However, there was a strong base of the Independent Labour Party in Leicester. Through their county Federation they established a presence in Loughborough, although there was a tendency for the branch to fold and then be re-established. Often prompted by the Loughborough Trades Council, formed in 1893, Labour candidates stood at occasional municipal elections . Joseph Jarrom (1906); Frank Lovett (in 1909) ; Frank Manning Dunkley (in 1911 and 1912) stood but were not successful in their candidacies.

So, by the time the Suffragettes became active in Loughborough the town had developed from a base of the ‘traditional’ trades in the textile industry to include a range of manufacturing employment and foundry work as well as railway and municipal work.

In 40 years prior to the 1910 General Elections the population had doubled to almost 23,000. The Parliamentary electorate for the Loughborough wards was just 4,341.9 Politically, the town and Shepshed were Liberal. In the Parliamentary Division there had been only one break in Liberal representation since 1885. In Shepshed, the Conservatives did not break the Liberal hold on power from the Council’s formation in 1894 until 1911.

This was the Loughborough in which the issues of women’s suffrage were first raised and in which the Women’s Social and Political Union campaigned in the Town.

8

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loughborough_(UK_Parliament_constituency) accessed October 12, 2016.

The MPs elected were 1885 Sir Edward Johnson – Ferguson (Lib); 1886 Edwin de Lisle (Con); 1892 Sir Edward Johnson – Ferguson (Lib); 1900 Sir Maurice Levy (Lib); 1918 Oscar Guest (Lib).

9

The electorate in Shepshed was just 1,085. Loughborough Herald, January 20, 1910, p8.

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Early Suffrage The earliest references to women’s suffrage campaigning in Loughborough so far identified can be found in the mid to late 1870s. On Friday April 2nd 1875 Mrs Jane Ronniger of the London National Society for Women’s Suffrage addressed a meeting at which Rev J Lemon took the chair.10 The meeting, at Loughborough Town Hall, was a part of a ‘week - long tour of the East Midlands’. Throughout the 1870s and 1880s she appears to have addressed meetings across the country.11 With ‘ladies particularly invited’, Mrs Ronniger spoke on “... the desirability and importance of conferring the Parliamentary Franchise upon Women.” 12 The Loughborough Advertiser was impressed by her lecture : “... the society have done well to secure her services as a champion of their cause, and an exponent of the rights of women. She ... secured the entire attention of her audience; and at the close she was greeted with liberal applause.” At the end of the meeting, Reverend Lemon signed the adopted petition in favour of repealing the Women’s Disabilities Bill, so that women could vote on the same terms as men. 13 Four years later the Reverend John Page Hopps, a Leicester Unitarian Minister, chaired women’s suffrage meetings addressed by Caroline Biggs in both the Loughborough and Hinckley Town Halls. Biggs had been born in Leicester where members of her family had been prominent Unitarians and Liberals. By then she was ‘one of the most active speakers of the Central Committee of the National Society for Women’s Suffrage’. 14 At Loughborough, on Wednesday 5th February 1879, a ‘small but appreciative audience’ listened to Miss Biggs confirm the aim of removing women’s disqualification for householders and ratepayers – so that women could vote on the same terms as men in Parliamentary elections. “... women householders were taxed just the same as men householders, and it was unjust to refuse them a vote in choosing those men who settled how the taxes were to be spent ... it was unjust that women who had to obey the law in equal degree with men, should be deprived of a share in electing the men who made the laws.”

10

‘Local and District News’, Loughborough Advertiser, April 1, 1875, p5. (The Advertiser also carried some coverage of national Society for Women’s Suffrage events. See, for example, the St Pancras meeting reported on June 3, 1875, p3.)

11

From 1870 to 1880 about 200,000 signatures a year were collected on petitions supporting votes for women.

Mrs Ronniger was amongst the speakers involved. (http://www.historyofwomen.org/suffrage.html Accessed January 7, 2016). Google searches identify meetings in Coventry (November 1871), Dover (February 1872).

12

‘Local and District News’, Loughborough Advertiser, April 1, 1875, p5.

13

‘Local and District News’, Loughborough Advertiser, April 8, 1875, p5.

14

See E. Crawford, ‘The Women’s Suffrage Movement 1866 – 1928’, Routledge, 2000, p68, accessed via Google search, December 2015 – January 2016. See also Jenkins, Jess, The Burning Question, Friends of the Record Office for Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland, Occasional Paper 5, pp 186, 187.

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As cases for reform Biggs saw the Married Women’s Property Act “...a most incomplete business, abounding in inconsistency...” ; stressed the need for tackling the “...untouched ... Common Law which gave all the property a woman possessed unconditionally to her husband ...”; and raised the constraints on a woman’s right to guardianship of her children as “... only samples of the one-sidedness of the law.” 15 The National Society for Women’s Suffrage held a meeting at Loughborough Town Hall on March 14th, 1887. There was a ‘good attendance’ with ‘about half of those present being ladies’ to hear Mrs Fenwick Miller and the Society’s Secretary, Miss Florence Balgarnie. Miss Balgarnie had written to the recently elected Conservative MP (Edwin de Lisle) and his Liberal opponent (Sir Edward Johnson – Ferguson) to invite them to the meeting. Johnson – Ferguson was unable to attend, but supported the extension of the franchise to women “... who possess the qualifications which entitle a man to vote.” de Lisle had written to Balgarnie that he “... cannot in any way countenance your meeting in favour of the extension of suffrage to women. [Suffrage] would be to initiate a social revolution which might wreck the domestic happiness of half the homes of England.” 16 In November of that year, Balgarnie addressed a meeting of the local Liberal Association. From then on there is no local reportage of Suffrage activity so far identified – possibly an indicator that the local press had lost interest rather than a lack of activity. The reports resume in the new century.

Early Suffragette Activity With the 1906 General Election pending, Mr W Miles, Secretary of the Loughborough Branch of the Independent Labour Party (ILP), posed 8 questions to both of the candidates. The final question was “Will you support ... (8) Female suffrage?”

The Liberal candidate, Sir Maurice Levy replied “... that for years I have publicly advocated these reforms ...”.17 Levy’s Conservative opponent, Mr Du Pre, did “...not consider that among the women of England there is any united demand for female suffrage. My experience of the sex is that when they really want anything they usually manage to get it.” 18 Maurice Levy was returned to Westminster as Loughborough’s MP. Apart from the ILP’s intervention, pre- election questions, there appears to be little reference to local activities around Loughborough, although the Loughborough Herald is starting to report general Suffragette activity from mid 1906. 19

15

‘Women’s Suffrage’, Loughborough Advertiser, February 6,1879, p5.

16

Loughborough Herald, March 17, 1887, p6.

17

‘ILP Questions’. Loughborough Herald, January 11, 1906, p3.

18

ibid.

19

See, for example, ‘Women Suffragettes’ ,“Asquith’s Prisoners”, Loughborough Herald, June 28,1906, p4 and August 16, 1906, p8 respectively.

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In Loughborough Market Place on September 10th, presided over by Mr de Laine, president of the Loughborough ILP, a meeting was addressed by Annie Kenney (referred to as ‘Kennie’ in the local papers) who with Christabel Pankhurst in Manchester had been “... thrown out [of a Liberal meeting] by liberty-loving Liberals...” and subsequently imprisoned in Strangeways. 20 Speaking of the women cotton operatives in Lancashire and Yorkshire paying their union’s political levy “...to help send a labour member to the House of Commons to represent the women, even though indirectly...” she went on to declare “...it was the duty of the State to allow women to say how the money of the State should be spent.

They would not spend it on a wasted war to fill the pockets of the capitalists. They would think of the children and solve the unemployed problem.” At the end of the meeting the resolution “This meeting protests against the withholding of the Parliamentary vote for the women of the nation, and demands the insertion by the Government of a women’s franchise clause in the Plural Voting Bill now before Parliament ” was carried ‘with some dissent’. 21 The next month the Liberal supporting Loughborough Herald argued that the tactics of ‘some advocates’ of the suffrage movement “... contend that the history of all great political movements has proved that it is only by demonstrations that the public attention is forced upon a cause ... For the present...” the editorial continues “... the agitators have certainly covered themselves with a certain ridicule.”

Concluding that the “ ... day of female suffrage is not yet...” the Herald finalised its argument with the words “Men who indulge in violent language can be answered back.

It would be difficult to deal with an opponent of the sex whose boast it ever is that they always get in the last word.” 22 A few months later, though, Loughborough had its first 2 women nominees for election to the Board of Guardians : the body which administered the Poor Law locally. One was a Liberal (Mrs Jones) and one a Conservative (Mrs Clifford). Labour stood only 2 candidates - both men. Both women were elected.23 The Herald editorial obviously urged its readers to support Mrs Jones, although hoped that Mrs Clifford would also be one of the Guardians. However, it had a clear view of the advantages of electing women Guardians “... there are innumerable details of management – cooking, quality, price of food, and the various articles required – which

20

Annie Kenney (1879 – 1953) was born in Oldham, the 5th of 11 children. A half time cotton worker from the age of 10 she was attracted to the suffrage movement after hearing Christabel Pankhurst in 1905 and went on to organise in the North West and work with Sylvia Pankhurst and support campaigns for Keir Hardie’s election. See Marlow, Joyce (ed), Votes for Women, The Virago Book of Suffragettes, Virago, London, 2000, p 288.

21

‘Suffragists’ Meeting at Loughborough’, Loughborough Herald, September 13, 1906, p6.

22

‘Women’s Suffrage’, Loughborough Herald, November 1, 1906, p5.

23

‘Guardians Election at Loughborough’, Loughborough Herald, March 28, 1907, p6.

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belong primarily to the province of women, and with which they must through their own personal experience be better qualified to deal than men.” 24 This was not the only example of the prevailing attitudes of the time towards women’s role and suffrage campaigners. The Adult School Movement appeared from the topics highlighted at its local meetings to be a generally progressive body, but the topic ‘Women’s Suffrage or should women vote’ was the subject of ‘an amusing sketch’ which ‘caused much amusement’ at the Kegworth school at the end of 1907. 25 Loughborough’s MP at the time, Maurice Levy, opposed various women’s enfranchisement measures - claiming that only women like the Suffragettes would benefit. In February 1907 he responded to the Women’s Enfranchisement Bill by tabling a ‘declaratory motion’ “...that no alteration to the franchise laws will be acceptable which fails to provide adult suffrage.” 26 In March 1907 he had introduced a Bill which would enable “Every man and woman of full age, whether married or single, shall be qualified to vote at a Parliamentary election who resides in the area for which the election is held and is duly registered unless disqualified (for a reason other than sex or marriage) by common law or Act of Parliament. No other person shall be qualified to vote at any such election” 27 A consequence of Levy doing this was that a ‘notice of a motion in general terms’ tabled by Sir Charles McLaren (a Liberal and Parliamentary neighbour in Bosworth) was halted – as a result of a rule of procedure. This would have supported the extension of the franchise to women on the same terms as men.28 In Liberal circles, as in the correspondence columns of the Loughborough Herald, the dispute continued.

In late February of the following year the Women’s Enfranchisement Bill, identical to the 1907 one, was introduced. Levy described it as a ‘bad Bill’, opposed to the Liberal principle of ‘One Man, one vote’ by giving the vote to the ‘rich women in the country’ thus preventing the extension of the franchise to those ‘more in need of it’. He was reported as saying that “...the country would not be convinced by a few noisy demonstrators, whose ideas of justice seemed to exclude the greater portion of their sex from the privilege of the franchise, and whose notion of fairness was an unmannerly disturbance of other people’s meetings.” 29 These may have been some of Levy’s actions which led to the WSPU’s campaign in Loughborough in early 1910.

With Levy’s approach to the WSPU’s aims remaining unaltered, the WSPU undertook three weeks of organising in the Midlands in the run up to the Suffragette’s major Hyde

24

‘The Guardians’ Election’, Loughborough Herald, March 21, 1907, p5.

25

Loughborough Herald, January 2, 1908, p5.

26

‘Women’s Suffrage Bill’, Loughborough Herald, February 21, 1907, p6.

27

‘Mr Levy Introduces his Adult Suffrage Bill’, Loughborough Herald, March 28, 1907, p4. The quotation is from one of the two clauses of the Bill, ‘Mr Levy’s Suffrage Bill’, Loughborough Herald, April 11, 1907, p5.

28

‘Mr Levy and the Suffrage’, Editorial in Loughborough Herald, March 28, 1907, p5. For McLaren’s detailed explanation see ‘Mr Levy, MP, and Women’s Suffrage’, Loughborough Herald, June 6, 1907, p4.

29

‘Women’s Suffrage Bill’, Loughborough Herald, March 5, 1908, p3.

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Park demonstration in June 1908. “A party from Leicester invaded Loughborough”. 30 They were distributing handbills, chalking pavement slogans and promoting the meeting to be addressed by Nellie Kenney because “Considering it’s Maurice Levy’s stronghold, it wants educating in regards to votes for women.” 31 Nellie tried to ‘educate the locals’ at a meeting in Devonshire Square on the evening of June 6th, 1908. Alice Hawkins, from Leicester, presided. 32 Both Nellie and Alice were from working class backgrounds, cotton and shoe making repectively, and socialists. The meeting and its preceding campaigning was not a surprise. “It was quite expected that they would be on Sir Maurice Levy’s track after the dressing down he has given them from time to time, but as far as I can learn they have not found much to encourage them in their campaign in the division.” 33 Given a ‘very fair hearing’ despite ‘several interruptions’ Nellie “ ... proved quite the match of any present either at answering any questions or ignoring them.” 34 The response to one persistent interrupter was “ I think if men had votes for intelligence many of you would have them taken away.” 35 She defended the WSPU’s opposition to the Government : “... they were not going to the extreme measures which men took when they demanded the vote ...” but assured her audience that they would continue the agitation until there was a definite pledge on the women’s vote. 36 In November 1908 a Loughborough ‘Suffrage Society’ was set up at a Town Hall meeting. Miss Hardy was elected President and Miss Chilton Secretary. The local press hoped it would not become a militant (WSPU) Branch. A Loughborough Herald commentator remarked “So far we have kept very clear … of the women’s suffrage movement, and no very keen desire has been manifested on the part of women to identify themselves with it ... I hope they will decide to keep clear of the societies whose hysterics have so disgusted the country.” 37 On January 22nd, 1909, Loughborough moved towards establishing a WSPU Branch.

A Town Hall meeting was presided over by the Borough’s Medical Officer of Health, Dr Corcoran. He claimed those present “… ought to be proud of the pioneers of the movement which their society supported, and they ought not to be ashamed of them even if they did go to prison occasionally.” 38

30

‘The Suffragettes in Loughborough’, Loughborough Monitor, June 11, 1908, p8.

31

Votes for Women, June 11, 1908 cited in Jenkins, Jess, op cit, p51. Jenkins suggests that Annie Kenney had changed her name to Nell, but local papers record that it was Annie’s sister. For Sarah Ellen (Nellie) Kennie see mycommunityhub.co.uk/suffragettes–bingley-shipley-glen/ 32

Alice Hawkins was a prominent Suffragette from Leicester and would probably also have spoken. For more details on Alice Hawkins see http://www.alicesuffragette.co.uk/aliceslife.php 33

‘Local & General Chat’, Loughborough Herald, June 11, 1908, p6.

34

‘Notes by Argus’, Loughborough Monitor, June 11, 1908, p8.

35

‘The Suffragists in Loughborough’, Loughborough Monitor, June 11, 1908, p8.

36

Loughborough Herald, 11 June, 1908, p5.

37

‘Local & General Chat’, Loughborough Herald, December 3, 1908, p6.

38

Loughborough Herald, January 28, 1909, p4.

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The main speaker, supported by local supporters the Misses Hardy, Judges and Edwards was Gladice Keevil, then Birmingham and West Midlands organiser for the WSPU. (Miss Hardy became the President and Miss Chilton the Secretary. 39 Miss Judges, who was probably a teacher, read a paper ‘Should Women Vote?’ at the Loughborough & District Teachers’ Association quarterly meeting in March, 1909.).

Keevil tackled the arguments against enfranchisement on the same terms as men.

Only rich women would be getting the vote : “… 80 out of 100 women who would receive the vote would be women who earned their own living.”

Women couldn’t become soldiers, sailors or policemen : “… the women brought the children into the world and … it would be found that this was a much more dangerous business.”

Citing women’s lower pay than men for teachers, Post Office clerks and various Inspectors, Gladice made the point that women “… would never receive fair wages until they had voice.” 40 On the view that it was ‘unwomanly’ to want to enter politics, Kevil responded that “… men … did not think it unwomanly … to do rag picking and other dirty work or chainmaking.” 41 Finally, she pointed out that “the nation had been run by men who had ‘made a hash of it’ and needed mothering.” 42 Despite the Loughborough Herald’s earlier pleas, it would appear that Loughborough’s women’s enfranchisement campaign was set on the more militant path.

The 1910 Campaign As a result of the House of Lords’ rejection of Lloyd-George’s 1909 Budget a General Election was called for January 1910. The Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) had no faith in Liberal leader Asquith’s pledge to introduce an Electoral Reform Bill, which could be amended to include women’s suffrage, were he returned to office. Balfour’s Unionists (Conservatives) had no mention of suffrage in their programme. The WSPU resolved to oppose the Liberal candidates in a number of Parliamentary seats. Other suffrage societies urged the WSPU to set aside the campaign – but their pleas were rejected. 43 Loughborough was one of the Liberal seats targeted. “We opposed Liberal candidates in forty constituencies and in almost every one of these the Liberal majorities were 39

Loughborough Herald, January 28, 1909, p4 and Loughborough Monitor, January 28, 1909, p8.

40

Loughborough Herald, January 28, 1909, p4.

41

Loughborough Monitor, January 28, 1909, p8.

42

Loughborough Herald, January 28, 1909, p4.

43

For a summary of the position see, for example, Pankhurst, Emmeline, My Own Story, Vintage Classics, London, 2015, pp 147 – 148.

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reduced and no less than eighteen seats were wrested from the Liberal candidates.”

44

For the Loughborough Division, Levy’s previous interventions in the suffrage debate may have been a key reason why the seat was targeted in the January 1910 election.

The Suffragettes moved on the Loughborough Division “... with the object of assisting the Conservative candidate” as the Liberal supporting Loughborough Herald reported it. As a part of their organisation, some of the women took rooms in the town. Miss Dorothy Pethick acted as Organiser for the Division alongside Dorothy Bowker. 45 Prior to the 1910 General Election the WSPU “... opened a shop in Baxter - gate for the display of their propagandist literature and posters .” 46 This built on the formation of the Loughborough Branch which Gladice Keevil had attended.

Very early in January, the WSPU were active locally. At a Loughborough Market Place meeting on January 4th they were ‘put to flight’ in ‘a few minutes’ once they had stated that they were there to work against Sir Maurice Levy. Their dray “...began to move round the fountain in the centre of the Market – place. Orange peel and eggs were freely thrown ...” and the dray turned over “... and the occupants “slithered” to the ground.” The understated Loughborough Herald report refers to the speakers’ position as “...not a happy one ...” The police “ deemed it desirable to escort them away into safety, to the police station ...” followed by a raucous crowd of ‘several hundred’. 47 On the following Monday (10th), the police were prepared. There were Suffragette meetings in Loughborough Market Place at lunchtime as well as in the evening. The lunchtime meeting attracted ‘a good crowd’ to hear Miss Dorothy Pethick – protected by “... the superintendent of police, one inspector, two sergeants and three constables, and a number of constables in plain clothes ... among the crowd.” 48 Earlier in the day, Miss Pethick had managed to “...advocate her case without interruption.” 49 This was not to be the case in the evening, where a crowd of ‘some thousands’ had gathered. Apparently reference to the Liberal Party was the goad which spurred on the crowd to continually try to rush the speakers’ dray. The president, Miss Bowker of London concluded her address as the police tried to fight back the crowd. Miss Pethick taking to the platform “... was the signal for another angry

44

Pankhurst, Emmeline, My Own Story, Vintage Classics, London, 2015, p 148.

45

‘Suffragettes at Loughborough’, Loughborough Herald, January 6, 1910, p8.

46

Ibid. Dorothy Pethick was the younger sister of Emmeline Pethick – Lawrence. Dorothy had been a member of the WSPU since 1906 and already the veteran of arrest and imprisonment. See also http://www.nednewitt.com/ whoswho/P-Q.html accessed October 22, 2018.

47

‘Suffragettes at Loughborough. A bad start.’, Loughborough Herald, January 6, 1910, p8.

48

‘Suffragette Meetings at Loughborough. Police Protection’, Loughborough Herald, January 13, 1910, p5.

49

Ibid.

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outburst... not so easily stemmed, and the dray ... began to perambulate around the lower end of the Market – place ... from the Fountain into the Fishmarket. “ 50 With the atmosphere ‘becoming threatening and several minor injuries and cases of fainting occurring’, Miss Pethick ‘discreetly capitulated’ and she and Miss Bowker sought refuge in the police station.

But the commitment to the cause was undimmed and on the Tuesday evening a further Market Place meeting went ahead – earlier in the evening to avoid the section of workmen thought to be responsible for Monday’s disturbances and with the dray chained to the fire alarm post by the Fountain. A smaller crowd, partly due to the earlier start and partly to ‘inclement weather’, quietly listened to the Suffragette’s message.

51

With Loughborough’s Polling Day in the General Election 52 set for January 25th regular Suffragette meetings were held in Loughborough and the surrounding districts in mid January 1910. Amongst these was the meeting at Shepshed in the Bull Ring on January 17th. Miss Bowker and Miss Pethick spoke from a dray with the wheels locked and the shafts tied. The “... largest crowd witnessed in Shepshed for many years ...” heard Miss Bowker outline the Suffragette demand “... with considerable attention.”

However, Miss Pethick, who spoke on women’s declining wages as well as being ‘against the Government’ of ‘whatever party’ until they got votes for women “... had a mixed reception.” The crowd rushed the dray moving it ‘several yards’ but Miss Pethick “...maintained her imperturbability and continued her address.” At the end of the meeting, the speakers had to be conducted to the station by the Police – followed by a large and noisy crowd. 53 Meetings such as this led up to Mrs Pankhurst’s visit to Loughborough on Wednesday 19th. There is scant reference to her evening meeting but her afternoon meeting in Loughborough Town Hall, presided over by Miss Dorothy Pethick “... was a great attraction ... the hall ... well filled by women only.” 54 As well as women, Mrs Pankhurst outlined others who were denied the vote.

“Beginning with aliens, she said that in the Loughborough Division, they had seeking the votes of the men a candidate who, if to judge by his name, was if not once an alien himself at least descended from aliens.” 55 This drew hisses of disapproval from the crowd. Mrs Pankhurst swiftly developed her argument. “No, don’t hiss at me, ladies. I have nothing against an alien if he becomes a good citizen. I do not object to him

50

Ibid

51

Ibid.

52

Different Divisions had different Polling Days. For example, Market Bosworth was due to poll on January 27th.

53

‘Shepshed. Suffragette Meeting’, Loughborough Monitor, January 20, 1910, p3; ‘Suffragettes at Shepshed. A Noisy Meeting’, Loughborough Herald, January 20, 1910, p4.

54

‘Mrs Pankhurst at Loughborough’, Loughborough Monitor, January 20, 1910, p4.

55

Ibid.

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having a vote : but I do object to him preventing British born women having votes.” 56 This won applause from her audience. (Interestingly, the Loughborough Herald makes no mention of this part of the speech.)

Referring to the Liberal poster highlighting the Tory threat of taxation on food (‘The Woman’s Answer’) where a woman is shown saying ‘Don’t let them tax our food’, Mrs Pankhurst said to applause that it was “... the most hypocritical poster that I have ever seen. Here are women for the last four years asking the Liberal Government to give the women the power to say what shall be taxed. Our answer to this poster is ‘Give women the vote, and they will be able to protect their food for themselves’.” 57 Concluding, Mrs Pankhurst spoke on forcing the vote, indicating that “Political parties were all alike, and neither would give women the vote until a way was found of forcing them to do so.” 58 A part of this was to “...take all we can get and clamour for more, like Oliver Twist, and ... never be satisfied until we can get the vote.” 59 On the day of Mrs Pankhurst’s speech, Bertha Clarke cycled from Leicester adorned in WSPU colours and helped out at the WSPU shop at lunchtime until news of Mrs Pankhurst’s imminent arrival came. The afternoon meeting started at three and Bertha ‘found herself embroiled in trying to make the flags which formed the platform decoration stand up unsupported.’ Of the afternoon meeting, she recalled that Mrs Pankhurst “...carried her audience off its feet with her powerful interpretation of the great moral issues of the movement. And the fine scorn she poured on the women who were working their hardest for men who denied to woman her right to help women, was a thing not to be lightly forgotten by any woman present.” Of the evening meeting, she recalled a new recruit saying “ I can understand women being ready to die for her.”

60

January 21st saw a return to the Bull Ring in Shepshed attracting a ‘good number’ to hear Miss Brackenbury 61 outline the WSPU cause. The meeting passed off without incident according to the Loughborough Herald, since “... Shepshed folk had had their fun at the first meeting on the previous Monday evening.” 62 With 3 days to go to Polling Day, the WSPU held a meeting in the Latimer Street Council School at Anstey in the Loughborough Division on the evening of January 22nd. Announcement of the intention of keeping the Liberal out was greeted with groans, whilst the mere mention of the names of Maurice Levy (the sitting MP) or other Liberal leaders raised ‘deafening cheers’. Eventually “... uproar and disorder prevailed,

56

Ibid.

57

Ibid.

58

‘Mrs Pankhurst in Loughborough’, Loughborough Herald, January 20, 1910, p4.

59

‘Mrs Pankhurst at Loughborough’, Loughborough Monitor, January 20, 1910, p4.

60

Leicester Pioneer, January 29, 1910 cited by Jenkins, Jess, op cit, pp 84, 85.

61

This is likely to be Georgina Brackenbury, since Votes for Women records her active in the Leicester area in late 1909 onwards. See Jenkins, Jess, op cit, p81.

62

‘Suffragettes at Shepshed’, Loughborough Herald, January 27, 1910, p8.

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and only those in the immediate vicinity of the speakers could hear what was said... A strong body of police afforded protection to the speakers as they left the building.” 63 On the eve of Poll, the Tory supporting Monitor reported the ‘Labour and Liberal alliance’ in Loughborough organising an evening demonstration with “... the Radicals who helped to upset the Suffragists on the occasion of their first meeting ... in evidence.” In the Market Place, both the Liberals and the Suffragettes had set up platforms. Originally, the WSPU planned to hold two meetings : one adjacent to the Liberals by the Fountain and one outside the Town Hall. After the Chief Constable’s intervention the WSPU decided to hold one meeting, a distance away from the Liberals. Although “... nothing was heard but the din of the audience most of whom preferred the ladies’ platform as promising fair sport.... they rushed the Suffragist platform ... beat down the opposition of the police, and the whole affair was pushed under Messrs Wills and Hepworth’s gateway.” 64 After a ‘bit of pelting’, eggs being involved, Miss Pethick, Miss Brackenbury and Miss Bowker found themselves in the not unusual position of being escorted safely from the Market Place by the police.65 Unheard though much of their argument had been : “The women stuck to the dray for an hour and a half, determined that if they could not obtain a hearing themselves they would at least draw off some attention from the Liberal meeting.” 66 Unsurprisingly, most newspaper coverage is given to the public or women’s meetings likely to attract larger audiences and, potentially, ‘fun’ or ‘uproar and disorder’ depending on your point of view. However, there is the occasional report of quieter, ‘behind the scenes’ organising.

Prior to the first Shepshed meeting of the campaign (January 17th) a private meeting was held at the Old Institute “...attended by a number of Shepshed ladies, when the tenets of the Suffragette movement was explained.” Unfortunately, it seems that there were unlikely to be many recruits since “... the property qualification suggested was not looked upon with any general favour.” 67 The afternoon’s work in Shepshed prior to Miss Brackenbury’s evening Bull Ring meeting was spent with “ ... a number of personal calls, and ... chats with workpeople.” 68 The declaration saw Sir Maurice Levy returned for the Loughborough Division, albeit with a majority reduced from 1780 (in 1905) to 753. The Monitor saw the result auguring well for the future (of the Unionist cause) : the Herald as a Conservative defeat ‘all the more pronounced’ because of the ‘strenuousness of the contest’.

63

‘Suffragettes at Anstey’, Loughborough Herald, January 27, 1910, p8.

64

‘The Eve of the Poll. Lively Times in the Market-Place’, Loughborough Herald, January 27, 1910, p8.

65

‘Loughborough Division. Mr Smith-Carrington’s Great Fight’, Loughborough Monitor, January 27, 1910, p4, col 5.

66

‘The Eve of the Poll. Lively Times in the Market-Place’, Loughborough Herald, January 27, 1910, p8.

67

‘Shepshed. Suffragette Meeting’, Loughborough Monitor, January 20, 1910, p3.

68

Suffragettes at Shepshed’, Loughborough Herald, January 27, 1910, p8.

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The Monitor did not mention the suffrage question in its assessment of the campaign whilst the Herald noted the impact as a ‘new factor’ in the Division. Obviously, the work of the WSPU was against the Liberal candidate and although Mr Smith-Carrington (the Conservative) was also opposed to woman’s suffrage “... he was not averse to the help afforded him by the militant suffragettes.” 69 The Herald summarised the WSPU campaign in the Loughborough Division as meeting with “... little sympathy ... except from the Conservative side, and much amusement has been caused at the welcome given to them by members of that party, who have hitherto been emphatic opponents of the movement.” 70 Noting that they had had a ‘hostile reception’ and a ‘lively time’, the Herald concluded “... that it is improbable that they have succeeded in weakening the loyalty of Liberals to any appreciable extent.” 71 Then, they would conclude that, wouldn’t they?

Following the election, the Government had no majority of its own “... largely, if not mainly, due to the woman suffrage issue. Liberal women had lost their enthusiasm for a Government who would not give them the vote. The earnest and energetic campaign of Mrs Pankhurst and her followers had stirred the electors to vote against the Government.” 72 Consequently the Asquith Government “... were dependent for their very existence on the votes of the Labour Party and the Irish Nationalists.” 73 With this political change a ‘truce’ was declared so that the Government might reveal its position over the enfranchisement of women and so the WSPU could concentrate on mobilisation work for the mass demonstration in London on June 18th.

In this period Dorothy Pethick addressed a meeting at the St Peter’s Schoolroom in Mountsorrel. The Loughborough Herald reports it as a ‘well attended’ meeting presided over by Mrs Ernest Tyler of Quorn who confirmed the WSPU “...desired to bring about a more equal state of things between the sexes than at present existed, to give women the same political power as men.” 74 Miss Pethick again introduced an economic side to her argument. Having outlined the strength of the movement “... which boasted of a membership of over 100,000 ...” she then pointed out that without the vote women were “... powerless to effectively protest against the sweating of female labour and what was very discouraging ... the average wage, poor as it was, was steadily declining.” 75 She concluded “...that the ‘Votes for Women’ movement was now in the forefront, and this was undoubtedly due to the

69

‘Loughboro’s Verdict. The Women’s Suffrage Question’, Loughborough Herald, January 27, 1910, p8, col1 .

70

Ibid.

71

Ibid.

72

Mackenzie, Midge, Shoulder to Shoulder, Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, 1975, p156.

73

Pankhurst, Emmeline, My Own Story, Vintage Classics, London, 2015, p 149.

74

‘Votes for Women. Miss Dorothy Pethick at Mountsorrel’, Loughborough Herald, June 9, 1910, p5

75

Ibid.

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faith, self sacrifice, and heroism of women, who had led the way to freedom, even through prison gates.” 76 In Parliament a Conciliation Committee for Women’s Suffrage was established. Its aim was to press for a solution to the women’s suffrage question which all parties would accept as a ‘practicable minimum’. It reflected all parties and all its members, apart from the Chair and the Secretary, were MPs.77 The Conciliation Bill was introduced by D J Shackleton, MP on June 14th 1910 and passed its Second Reading with a majority of 109 votes. The Prime Minister refused to find time in the remainder of the Parliamentary session for the Bill to complete its passage. The WSPU organised for another major national demonstration in Hyde Park on July 23rd.

In Loughborough, the day before that demonstration, Dorothy Pethick presided over a meeting at which Adela Pankhurst spoke. Pethick was convinced that victory was near because the cause was ‘right and just’, women were ‘united on the question’ and because they were ‘determined’. Adela Pankhurst attacked Asquith’s position in preventing the Conciliation Bill becoming law and pointed out that since the Bill had had a majority of 109, women were now fighting for the House of Commons itself. 78 In September, in the Town Hall Lecture Room, Dorothy Pethick welcomed the start of a ‘strenuous Autumn campaign’ whilst Charlotte Marsh was sure that people in Loughborough would not ‘stand any nonsense’ from their MP over the Conciliation Bill – despite the fact that his attitude did not exhibit the ‘spirit of Free Liberalism’. 79 The next evening, again in the Town Hall, the Loughborough WSPU supported men speaking up for women’s votes. The Medical Officer for the Borough, Dr Corcoran, took the Chair with Henry Woodd Nevinson as the main speaker. Leicester born Nevinson was a radical journalist, a WSPU supporter and a founder of the militant Men’s Political Union. 80 Nevinson highlighted the contradiction between men who had challenged how their money was spent on politics and women who had no choice. Referring to the Osborne

76

Ibid.

77

The Secretary was H N Brailsford, the husband of an imprisoned Suffragette. Lord Lytton was the Chair, the brother of Lady Constance Lytton who under the pseudonym of Jane Warton had been imprisoned and undergone force feeding. For further information on the Conciliation Committee and its work see Pankhurst, Emmeline, My Own Story, Vintage Classics, London, 2015, p 153ff and Mackenzie, Midge, Shoulder to Shoulder, Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, 1975, p158ff.

78

Loughborough Herald, July 28, 1910, p5.

79

Report of the September meeting of the Loughborough WSPU, Loughborough Herald, September 22, 1910, p5.

80

For a brief sketch, see Marlow, Joyce, ‘Votes for Women : The Virago Book of Suffragettes’, Virago, London, 2000, p292 and Crawford, Elizabeth, ‘The Women’s Suffrage Movement : A Reference Guide 1866 -1928’, p445, accessed via Google.

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judgement 81 Nevinson pointed out that with current proposals for the payment of MPs women who paid taxes would soon be contributing to the Parliamentary earnings of MPs whom they could not vote for. 82 If Loughborough and the area had a ‘strenuous Autumn campaign’, there is sadly little evidence of it in the local press. For October and November 1910, the papers are silent – even though the WSPU may not have been.

The next reported meeting by the Loughborough WSPU was held at the Town Hall on December 6th with Miss D A Bowker presiding over a ‘large attendance’. The other speakers, Miss Joachim and Mrs Alice Pemberton Peake, 83 spoke on the anti Government policy being pursued. If the Conservatives got in and were no more in sympathy than the last Government, then the militant tactics would continue. They stated that newspaper coverage was often misleading about the WSPU, although its 100,000 members meant it was making ‘considerable progress’ in the country. 84 The Loughborough WSPU organisation had been started in early 1909. According to figures reported in September 1910, there would have been some ’40 or 50’ members by the end of the year when the second General Election was held in December. 85 There is little reportage of Suffragette campaigning in this second election – in which Levy’s majority was further reduced to 572.

1911 – 1914 Early in 1911, the Loughborough WSPU hosted a meeting at the Town Hall, with a precisely reported small attendance ‘of 23’, at which Mrs Pemberton Peake presided.

The Secretary of the Women’s Tax Resistance League, Margaret Parkes (Mrs Kineton Parkes), spoke advocating non payment of tax and was supported by Dorothy Pethick.

86 (It may well have been this meeting which influenced Dr Corcoran’s daughters, Kathleen and Nora, who refused to pay taxes on their property in 1913).

The next report of Suffragette activity in the local press was the following year when a prominent figure in the WSPU nationally, Mrs Drummond (often referred to as ‘The General’), spoke. She was clearly admired within the movement as well as by

81

In 1909 Osborne, a member of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants, obtained a judgement against Trade Union fund raising by compulsory levy to support the upkeep of (then unpaid) Labour MPs. For a brief summary see Pelling, Henry, ‘A Short History of the Labour Party’ (6th edn), Macmillan, London, 1978, pp 23 – 24.

82

‘Votes for Women Mr H W Nevinson at Loughborough’, Loughborough Herald, October 27, 1910, p3.

83

The local (Loughborough) papers tend to refer to ‘Peakes’. Alice was a census avoider in 1911, see http:// womanandhersphere.com/tag/leicester-suffragettes/ 84

Loughborough Herald, December 8, 1910, p8.

85

Report of the September meeting of the Loughborough WSPU, Loughborough Herald, September 22, 1910, p5.

86

Loughborough Herald, March 2, 1911, p8.

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Emmeline Pankhurst who referred to Flora as “... a woman of great public spirit; she is an admirable wife and mother; she has very great business ability, and she has maintained herself, although a married woman, for many years and has acquired for herself the admiration and respect of all the people with whom she has business relations.” 87 ‘The General’ made clear the economic argument about the empowerment of women – that whilst they had no (voting) power their work was used to undercut the pay of men. In her “...broad lovable Scottish accent ...” 88 she indicated that “... women wanted the vote so they might use it as a driving force to compel Parliament to legislate in the interests of women. If they had the vote Members of Parliament would pay more attention to questions affecting women.” 89 Visiting speakers were again prominent when the WSPU hosted a meeting in the Town Hall’s Lecture Room in March 1913 with what the Loughborough Echo reported as an ‘unruly crowd’ of about 200 outside. Local Suffragettes ‘held the fort’. The Chairman was Charles Grey (from London). He asserted that “The offence of women was that they had stood up for a measure of justice ... because they had the courage to do that there were people in that audience who called out that women should be allowed to die in prison. Women were fighting for about the only cause worth fighting for to-day”.

Miss Macaulay spoke “In defence of the militant methods ... not adopted from spiteful or vindictive motives ... but they had nothing else with which to fight against the fraud and trickery of politicians.” Subject to “…caterwauling and shrill shrieks, with remarks, many of which were decidedly offensive…” she defended the WSPU militancy.

“For forty years … women had carried on patient, gentle work, which was met by cheating, trickery and fraud. When they found this was of no use, they for five years exposed themselves to being knocked about and hurt, and even killed, and still no one cared … so they determined to touch people where they would feel it most – in property. They chose property that would not endanger life … Women were at war …

But when men went to war they damaged lives – women were satisfied with damaging property.” 90 At the end of the meeting “… a large crowd waited outside the Town Hall front entrance for the appearance of the speakers, but there is more than one exit from the building …” 91 and the Suffragettes were away.

87

Emmeline Pankhurst’s address to the Court, October 21, 1908, see Mackenzie, Midge, op cit, p89.

88

Mackenzie, Midge, op cit, p140.

89

Loughborough Herald, September 26, 1912, p5 and Loughborough Echo, September 27, 1912 p6.

90

Loughborough Monitor, March 13, 1913, p7; Loughborough Echo, March 14 , 1913, p7 and ‘The Women’s War’, ‘Lively Suffragette Meeting at Loughborough’, Leicester Chronicle & Leicestershire Mercury, March 15, 1913, p2.

91

‘The Women’s War’, ‘Lively Suffragette Meeting at Loughborough’, Leicester Chronicle & Leicestershire Mercury, March 15, 1913, p2.

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At a WSPU meeting in Loughborough Market Place on June 27th 1913 the speakers were Alice Hawkins and Miss Tyson. The latter was hit in the face by a tomato and the platform party had to be protected by the police. Her experience of Loughborough was much different from that in the recent Leicester by election where she had been vigorously involved and had been heard “... with great patience and sympathy.” 92 Miss Tyson noted that “The same arguments ... which made it right for men to have votes applied to the women’s case also. The working men found that until they had the vote the members of Parliament refused to deal with their grievances, and it was the same with women.”

Quoting the “... ill advised words...” delivered at Bristol early in 1912 by the Cabinet Minister Mr Hobhouse in which he attributed advances in the men’s franchise to the uprising of ‘popular sentiment’ epitomised by the burning of Nottingham Castle (1832) and the tearing down of the Hyde Park Railings (1867) she said they “... have been made the justification for the militancy adopted by the WSPU.” 93 At the end of the meeting as she and Mrs Hawkins headed for the Great Central Station the crowds followed and they “... had to take refuge in Miss Watson Wayne’s Nursing Home. By way of the back door they went to the station, where they were assailed by clods of turf and other things ...” 94 The next month another Market Place meeting was disrupted. Miss Snaith from Nottingham defended hunger - striking as “...a defiance of laws in the making of which women had had no voice ...”. The following more militant and eloquent speaker, Miss Charlotte Marsh 95 (according to the Loughborough Herald and Loughborough Monitor) or Miss Canning (according to the Loughborough Echo) pointed out that women “... had tried every constitutional method open to them ... to have the power to express their opinion at the ballot box.” As the various missiles flew, she made clear her intention to keep speaking for a further ten minutes, telling the crowd “They admired men ... who stood up for their rights, but they were down on women who did so. They praised men who protested and rebelled in self–defence, but denied to women the right to protest in their own way...”. Ignoring the bombardment, she completed her ten minutes, announcing “You see the time. I said ten minutes. Again, the Suffragettes have won.” With the crowd rushing towards her, the Suffragettes were escorted along Town Hall passage to the safety of a car waiting in Woodgate. 96 As they left Market – place, the scene “ ... re-echoed on all sides with cat-calls and

92

‘Suffragettes Mobbed at Loughborough’, Loughborough Echo, July 4, 1913, p4.

93

‘”Ragging” Suffragettes’, Loughborough Monitor, July 3, 1913, p8, col 4. Information on Hobhouse from Mackenzie, Midge, op cit, p186.

94

‘Local and District News Suffragist Meeting’, Loughborough Herald, July 3 1913, p5 and ‘”Ragging” Suffragettes’, Loughborough Monitor, July 3, 1913, p8, col 4. Mrs Hawkins is Alice Hawkins, see footnote 32 above.

95

If it was Charlotte March, she was one of the first Suffragettes to be force fed – for nearly 3 months from September 1909. (See Connelly, Katherine, Sylvia Pankhurst, Suffragette, Socialist and Scourge of Empire, Pluto Press, London 2013, p36.)

96

‘Suggragette Baiting at Loughborough’, Loughborough Herald, July 17, 1913, p6.

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derogatory remarks, which were more vulgar than witty.” 97 Overall, the Echo reportage seems to be at odds with its ‘Discreditable Scenes’ sub heading, assessing the crowd as “... not really angry and out for trouble, but seemed to have imbibed the idea that all such meetings were fair game for disturbance and they were not going to let Loughborough be out of the fashion.” 98 The Market Place was becoming more frequently used because finding a venue to hold indoor meetings in the centre of Loughborough had been made more difficult. In May 1913, “ The question of letting the rooms at the Town Hall for meetings in connection with the Suffrage Movement was again considered and it was resolved the Borough Accountant be instructed not to let the rooms for such meetings, five members of the Committee voting in favour of the motion and one against [Councillor Clemerson – a Liberal].” 99 The previous month the Council’s Estates Committee had approved the letting of rooms at the Town Hall “... providing a guarantee is given that any damage done will be made good.” 100 No evidence can be found of any particular incidents in Loughborough in the intervening month which might have caused this change of heart.

Indeed, towards the end of April, the local WSPU had arranged a women’s only meeting in the Lecture Room of the Town Hall on sex – or as the more formal title of the lecture put it ‘The Social Evil and how it will be affected by women’s franchise’.

The meeting was addressed by Mrs A J Webb from London, who stated that “... all laws dealing with the question of sex are always unfair to the woman, because they have been dealt with from the man’s point of view alone.” 101 From this meeting, there is no report of any upset, damage or nuisance being caused which could have made the Council reconsider its original decision on lettings for meetings or events connected with the suffrage cause. No doubt some of the Councillors taking part in the later debate had been influenced by the regular and detailed coverage, even in local papers such as the Loughborough Monitor, of the range of ‘Suffragette Outrages’ across the country.

At the full Council meeting Councillor Clemerson, who considered “... the Suffragettes in Loughborough had behaved themselves very well, and there was no reason to think that they contemplated violence ...” spoke against the ban since it was “... setting a very dangerous precedent, and he did not think they should go out of their way to ... annoy the parties mentioned and ... insult a class of people worthy of better treatment.”

His move to reject the ban was lost, other Councillors considering that rooms should

97

‘Suffragettes in the Market Place. Discreditable Scenes’, Loughborough Echo, July 18, 1913, p6.

98

Ibid.

99

Borough of Loughborough, Minutes of the Estates Committee, 6th May 1913 in the Local Studies Collection, Loughborough Library.

100

Borough of Loughborough, Minutes of the Estates Committee, 8th April 1913 in the Local Studies Collection, Loughborough Library.

101

Loughborough Echo, May 2, 1913, p5. See also Loughborough Monitor, May 8, 1913, p8, col 4 where Mrs Webb is referred to as Mrs Webbe.

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not be let “... to people who were breaking the law in their speeches ...” and were “... inciting to violence.” 102 There is no recorded vote in the Council minutes. It would appear that no ‘party line’ was taken – only two other Councillors supporting Clemerson’s position. 103 At this time there were no Labour members of the Council. 104 The ‘working man’s’ representative was seen to be the Liberal hosiery worker, William Cartwright, who opposed his fellow Liberal Councillor, believing “..that these people were inciting to violence, and the authorities were trying to put it down, and that, therefore, the Corporation ought not to let the rooms to propagate it.” 105 The nearest to a Loughborough ‘outrage’ was sometime between October 18th and 19th 1913. At the ‘Red House’ on Burton Walks, a property formerly lived in by local land surveyor Mr W E Woolley but vacant at that time, the caretaker discovered that an oak staircase “ ... appeared to have been deliberately fired ...[but] the flames had burnt out.” 106 The Loughborough Monitor reports that the likely reason for the flames not catching was “... that the persons involved were frightened by the smoke caused by the burning paraffin, and made themselves scarce without waiting to see if the stairway was alight.” 107 Fire raising materials were found nearby along with “... a copy of the “Suffragette”, and a number of pamphlets headed “In memoriam. Miss Emily Wilding Davison, B.A. Why did she stop the King’s horse? A petition to the King.” ”. 108 It appeared that entry had been gained through a scullery window.

Deakin claims that ‘outsiders’ were probably responsible given the “...essential womanliness of those [Suffragettes] encountered locally no less than... their intense earnestness.” 109 The Loughborough Echo reported that although the incident “ ...aroused a keen enmity of the locals against the [Suffragette] crusade ... there are very few even now who have any idea of blaming the local ladies...” 110 So local opinion appears to concur that the attack on the Red House was unlikely to have been an unexpected, locally organised firing. There are possibilities that it may have been part of a wider, Leicestershire initiative : “ ...an arson campaign was carried out around Leicestershire with three empty mansion houses being targeted: the Red

102

‘Loughborough Town Council Suffragette Meetings’, Loughborough Herald, June 5 1913, p6.

103

ibid

104

The first Labour members of the Town Council, railwaymen Frank Manning Dunkley and Arthur Thomas Wright were elected in June 1919 in by elections in the Hastings Ward of the town.

105

‘Loughborough Town Council Suffragette Meetings’, Loughborough Herald, June 5 1913, p6.

106

‘Suspected Suffragist Outrage’, Loughborough Echo, October 24, 1913, p5.

107

‘Local News. Suffragettes Suspect’, Loughborough Monitor, October 23, 1913, p8.

108

Ibid.

109

Deakin, W Arthur, The Story of Loughborough 1888 – 1914, Echo Press, Loughborough, 1979, p102.

110

‘Suspected Suffragist Outrage’, Loughborough Echo, October 24, 1913, p5.

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House in Burton Walk, Loughborough, on 19 October 1913, Stoughton Hall in May 1914 and Neville (sic) Holt Mansion near Market Harborough in May 1914..” 111 But Loughborough’s Suffragette activity was not just the prominently reported public meetings and attempted more militant activities. There were small, lower key events locally. Often, the local reportage of these events is very brief – possibly because there was little tomato or clod throwing and no need for Suffragette speakers to seek the protection of the local police.

The local WSPU held smaller, local events, presumably aimed at supporting and encouraging their local members as well as engaging new adherents. Typical was an ‘At Home’ event in the Unitarian Schoolroom, off Victoria Street, from 4 to 6pm on September 30th, 1912. 112 WSPU ‘At Homes’ were frequently used to provide a supportive atmosphere for women to develop their public speaking skills.113 In Loughborough the WSPU, through Miss Allkins and the Corcoran sisters, also organised a ‘Café Chantant’ at the same venue in early March 1913. 114 Church bodies also hosted debates. In November 1913 Mrs Swindall presided at a meeting of the Victoria Street Church Guild on the subject of Women’s Franchise. Miss Corcoran (unfortunately, the Loughborough Echo does not tell us which one) “... explained some of the vital questions which ... could only be settled if women had a more direct voice upon the legislation of the country.” Mr Oldham opposed the extension of the franchise to women which “... would inevitably lead to women seeking parliamentary honours, and which he feared would lower the whole tone of politics.”

After an ‘animated discussion’, “... the feeling of the meeting was somewhat in favour of the franchise being extended to women on the same terms as the ... male franchise.”

115

Amongst other activities which gained publicity locally was the Corcoran sisters’ adoption of the ‘No Vote : No Tax’ motto. (Their interest may have been sparked by the visit of Miss Parkes of the Women’s Tax Resistance League in 1911.). Kathleen, who by 1913 was acting as Secretary for the Loughborough WSPU, and Nora refused to pay their house duty. It was “... the first instance of its kind as far as Loughborough is concerned.” 116 In November Kathleen and Nora Corcoran “ … declined to pay their house duty, which amounted to 12s. 6d., the refusal being based on motives principle in connection with the suffrage agitation.”

111

http://liberalengland.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/leicester-suffragettes-urban-warfare.html Accessed November 24, 2015. On Nevill Holt, see ‘Further Leicestershire Fires’, Loughborough Herald, June 4, 1914, p5, col 8.

112

Loughborough Echo, September 27, 1912, p8.

113

This was brought to my attention in a conversation with Dr Ray Sutton, January 9, 2016.

114

Loughborough Echo, February 28, 1913, p5. See also Loughborough Monitor, March 13, 1913, p8 which gives a list of participants and records it as “...one fo the most successful events...”

115

‘Debate on Women’s Franchise’, Loughborough Echo, October 31, 1913, p8.

116

Loughborough Monitor, April 17, 1913, p8.

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“In default of payment … a large silver-mounted scent bottle and a silver-mounted mirror … were this afternoon sold by auction by Mr. A. Foxall, income tax collector. The bidding commenced 5s (25p) and increased gradually till [sic] 15s. 6d.

(78p) was offered. At this price Mrs. Grey purchased the articles.”

“Following the sale, which was conducted in the street, short speeches were delivered.

Miss Kathleen Corcoran said her sister and herself resisted the tax because they believed in the great Liberal principle that taxation, and representation must go together.” This, said Miss Corcoran, was the favourite text of Mr. Asquith. She hoped that next year the tax protest would not be confined to two women, but that more would come forward to show that they were not content with their voteless condition.” 117 Miss Marsh also addressed the crowd gathered in the street. 118 Months before the outbreak of war, there is some evidence that there was a WSPU Loughborough office opened in Baxter Gate. However, the evidence is from a local ‘gossip’ column in one local paper, uncorroborated by any of the other papers. 119 At the outbreak of war “… the militants proclaimed a truce … later, no doubt influenced by representations made to the Government by men and women of every political faith – many of them never having been supporters of revolutionary tactics – Mr McKenna [Home Secretary] announced ... that it was the intention of the Government ... to release unconditionally, all suffrage prisoners... the struggle for the full enfranchisement of women has not been abandoned; it has simply, for the moment, been placed in abeyance.” 120

The Corcoran Family Prominent in the WSPU movement in Loughborough were the Corcoran family.

Rose Edith Corcoran (b Feb 3, 1868; d Jan 31, 1908), was married to Irishman Dr Thomas Francis Corcoran (1853 – 1911). He came to Loughborough in 1883 as a senior medical officer to the Loughborough Medical Aid Association, a friendly society based in what is now the Labour Party Office in Unity House, Fennel Street, Loughborough. Elected as a ‘non political’ to the Town Council on its incorporation in 1888, he took the post of Medical Officer for the Borough the following year and had to relinquish his council seat. Dr Corcoran also served as Medical Officer of Health for the Loughborough and Leake Rural districts.

117

Nottingham Evening Post, April 18, 1913. I am grateful to Dave Neville for this reference.

118

Loughborough Echo, April 18, 1913, p5.

119

‘Robin Roundabout hears’, Loughborough Echo, June 19, 1914, p5.

120

Pankhurst, Emmeline, My Own Story, Vintage Classics, London, 2015, pp xii, xiii.

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The Corcorans had 3 children : Kathleen (b 1886); Nora (b 1889) and Martin (b 1903) They lived at 25 Victoria Street, Loughborough until 1912. The Victoria Street property was demolished fairly recently to make way for new residential properties (Sovereign Court.). In about 1912, the family moved to Castledine Street : to a property named ‘The Shanty’ (possibly reflecting their Irish heritage), now 72 Castledine Street.

Dr Corcoran was a prominent supporter of ‘Votes for Women’ and took the chair at one of the early meetings in January 1909 which helped to establish what became the Suffragette movement in Loughborough. In the Autumn of 1910 he spoke strongly against “... forcible feeding ... an abominable proceeding... ” and “... advised women to squeal loud enough, to knock more policemen’s hats off and to break more glass in Downing Street.” 121 In 1911, Dr Corcoran took a holiday to the Middle East intending it to help him recover from a period of ill health. It is probable that his daughter Nora was travelling with him when he died on the holiday in March 1911. 122 He left £13,000 in his will to Kathleen and Nora along with a bequest to his solicitor.

Kathleen and Nora Corcoran Before moving to Castledine Street, Kathleen had been arrested as a result of her Suffragette activities. On November 18, 1910 (‘Black Friday’) with a second 1910 General Election imminent, the Government was blocking another attempt (the Conciliation Bill) to extend the vote to women. “...the WSPU sent a delegation of about 300 women to march on Parliament. They were met by a cordon of police; Emmeline Pankhurst and Elizabeth Garrett Anderson were allowed through but the rest were forcibly driven back.” 123 Kathleen was arrested . Her statement read “On the deputation of November 18th I was taken to Canon Row almost before I was in the crowd at all…..I saw a woman being disgracefully pulled by two policemen, one had her legs, the other had her shoulders. When I attempted to help her I was pulled away from behind and in struggling to get away a second policeman caught me. One of them bent my elbow over his arm, which hurt very much. At the time I was struggling to get away. At Canon Row they reported that I had kicked and scratched, which was absolutely false. I was wearing thick winter gloves.” 124

121

‘Votes for Women Mr H W Nevinson at Loughborough’ Loughborough Herald, October 27, 1910, p3.

122

Possibly, the sisters would have tried to avoid that year’s Census – a common WSPU tactic. Dr Corcoran’s absence probably explains why Nora was not on the 1911 census whilst Kathleen was, along with her 8 year old younger brother, Martin. There were also two ‘ Domestics’ as well as a Locum Doctor and Private Teacher recorded at Victoria Street.

123

Housego, M and Storey, N R, ‘The Women’s Suffrage Movement’, Shire Publications, Oxford, 2012, p33.

124

Public Records Office, Ref MEP03/203. Thanks to Dave Neville for locating the statement.

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With the election pending, the Home Secretary (Churchill) did not consider it ‘in the public interest’ to pursue prosecutions against the 119 Suffragettes detained.

By 1913 Kathleen, the elder sister, was Secretary of the Loughborough WSPU. Possibly linked to a meeting held in Loughborough by the Women’s Tax Resistance League, the sisters refused to pay duty on their Castledine Street home in April 1913.

As the local WSPU Secretary, Kathleen was probably responsible for organising meetings of visiting Suffragette speakers to Loughborough and the area – as well as the more ‘routine’ meetings and events of the local group. This group probably held more events than those which reached the local press. 125 With the Suffragette ‘truce’ on the outbreak of World War 1, local Suffragette activity ceased. Kathleen served as a Sister and Nora as a Nurse in the French legion of the British Red Cross the during the War. Kathleen served from March 1915 until November 1918 : Nora from March 1916 until November 1918. They were awarded the British war Medal and Victory Medal for service to the British Committee of the French Red Cross. 126 The local Wills’ (and other) Street Directories for the period continue to show the ‘Misses Corcoran’ living on Castledine Street until 1925. They are no longer present in the 1927 edition. Where and why they moved is currently a mystery.

Kathleen Corcoran of 59 South Terrace, Littlehampton, Sussex, died on October 4th 1951 at the Nightingale Nursing Home, Littlehampton. Probate was granted at Leicester on March 3rd to Nora Corcoran and Thomas Martin Corcoran, Lt. Col. H.M. Army. Kathleen’s effects were £4588 5s. (£4588.25).

Nora Corcoran, spinster, living at 32 Russell Hill, Purley, Surrey died on June 13th 1959 at the War Memorial Hospital, Brighton Road, Purley. Probate was granted in Leicester on October 12 to Thomas Martin Corcoran, Lt. Col. H.M. Army. Nora’s effects were £8659 7s 4d. (£8659.36). 127 Kathleen and Nora, along with their father, had been prominent supporters of a woman’s right to vote. They had sided with the more militant wing of the movement in a (relatively) small Leicestershire town. In 2018, the centenary of women first getting the vote on the same terms as men, a public poll supported the erection of a Leicestershire County Council plaque to commemorate the sisters’ activism. 128

125 Crawford (op cit) records Kathleen as Secretary in 1913 – but there is no record in the local press as to when she was elected or appointed.

126 See British War Medal and Victory Medal > British Committee, French Red Cross > Piece 2323. Thanks to Lynne Dyer for this information.

127 For the details on both sisters, thanks to Lynne Dyer.

128 See https://www.leicestershire.gov.uk/leisure-and-community/history-and-heritage/green-plaque-awardsscheme > accessed October 8, 2018.

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In Conclusion Nineteenth century Loughborough was an industrialising town, expanding beyond its traditional dependence on hosiery. It was connecting to major centres (Leicester, Derby, Nottingham, Sheffield, Manchester and London) through the railway network.

It had a radical and sometimes turbulent political history – including Chartist gatherings and Luddite activity.

Key features in the development of Suffragette activity locally included the early (from 1875) meetings with national speakers held in the town in support of women’s suffrage.

Within three years of the foundation of the WSPU nationally the local Independent Labour Party (ILP) was promoting ‘Votes for Women’ and had invited a prominent, working class Suffragette (Annie Kenney) to speak in the town. It is probable that the link with a strong ILP presence in Leicester (through the Leicestershire ILP Federation) also drew key speakers such as Alice Hawkins and Nellie Kenney to Loughborough.

Locally, there were clearly activists. Miss Hardy, Miss Chilton, Miss Judges, Miss Allkins and Nora and Kathleen Corcoran were prominent. (The role of Dr Thomas Corcoran should not be forgotten.). By early 1909, a local WSPU organisation had been established : one of 79 in the UK outside London. 129 In a usually Liberal Parliamentary Division, the attitude of the MP (Maurice Levy) to women’s suffrage made him a potential target of the WSPU in the January 1910 election. Prominent speakers, including Emmeline Pankhurst, bolstered local initiatives. Whilst there was a lower profile in the December 1910 election, WSPU activity continued through to the outbreak of World War One : a mixture of local activities and nationally known speakers visiting the town.

Hopefully, this booklet highlights a previously hidden period of women’s history in Loughborough. It has been based on the reportage and commentary of the local newspapers and will hopefully encourage further research into WSPU activity in a smaller county town.

129

Atkinson, D, ‘Rise Up, Women! The Remarkable Lives of the Suffragettes’, Bloomsbury, London, 2018, map facing p xiv.

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