1-192-440 - © London Museum/Heritage-Images

Frederick Pethick-Lawrence, co-editor of the newspaper Votes for Women, business manager of the Women's Social and Political Union and founder of their publishing imprint The Woman's Press, c1909. Pethick-Lawrence was a barrister who had been involved in social reform and had been the editor of the London evening newspaper the Star. Like many other couples of the day with feminist principles, he and his wife Emmeline took each other's surname (he Lawrence, she Pethick). His professional expertise was invaluable to the WSPU in their legal battles with the Government, the police and the prison authorities. In May 1912 Pethick-Lawrence and his wife (and Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst) were charged with conspiracy to incite violence and he was sentenced to nine months in Holloway Gaol. He went on hunger strike, was force-fed and was released early when prison doctors decided that he was too weak to complete his sentence without endangering his life. In the autumn of 1912 the couple were expelled from the WSPU for daring to criticize the escalating campaign of militancy. This did not deter them from continuing to fight for the vote.