Who is she?

I’ve been trying to find out about our Suffragette and found interesting information in an article to be found at http://www.johndclare.net/Women1_cjbooks.htm

about Suffragettes who were imprisoned for breaking windows which was our Suffragette’s crime.

Six of the women named in the Diary by our Suffragette are mentioned,  (Ada Wright, Kathleen Brown, Theresa Garnett, Mary Allen, Mrs Mabel Tuke, and Mary Leigh – it’s pleasing to learn some first names too) and so is another Suffragette, Gladys Roberts of Leeds.

By a process of elimination, this could be her. I’ve looked in the Census of 1891 and discovered that a 5-year-old Gladys Roberts lived at 7 Craven Road, Leeds.  If this is she, she would have been only 18 years old in 1909.

I also discovered that the personal effects of Gladys Robert, ‘ex suffragette’, were auctioned off at Christies in 1981. These included her Holloway brooch, which was awarded to her after her Hunger Strike.   ( ‘The Women’s Suffrage Movement’ Elizabeth Crawford)

In the Roll of Honour of Suffragette Prisoners 1905-1914, held in The Women’s Library, I found all but two of the names and learned some more first names: Lilian DoveWilcox, Sarah Carwin, Florence Cooke and Alice May.

To my delight I also found my Great Grandmother, Mrs. Wiseman. She, too, was awarded a Holloway brooch, which is proudly held in another branch of the family.

If our Suffragette is Gladys Roberts, perhaps the original Diary was included in the sale and is now in the hands of the buyer, who may, you never know, read this and get in touch. Perhaps a relative of Gladys Roberts will read this and get in touch.

I, and so many of the readers of this blog, really want to know more about her and the rest of her life. I shall keep on researching and will post if any more info turns up.

Thank you to my readers for your comments and your loyalty in following the Diary of our Suffragette.

Tags: NaBloPoMo09