1-192-451 - © London Museum/Heritage-Images

Mary Eleanor Gawthorpe, c1908. Organizer and member of the National Committee of the WSPU from 1907 to 1911. She is photographed wearing the Holloway Badge for her involvement in the campaign. Born in Leeds into a poor working-class family, Mary Eleanor Gawthorpe was a talented and popular speaker and organiser of militant campaigns and protests against Cabinet Ministers throughout the United Kingdom. Her membership of the Lord Mayor of Leeds Committee for the feeding of (Needy) School Children, and of the Independent Labour Party, and her own family's poverty all contributed to her politicisation in the women's suffrage movement. She was arrested and sent to prison four times; on one occasion, in February 1907, she was so 'badly knocked about' while demonstrating outside the House of Commons that she was unable to appear in court and the case was dismissed. In 1910 Mary became seriously ill and was an invalid for several years. However, this did not deter her from breaking a window at the Home Office in February 1912 in protest at the force-feeding of William Ball, a male supporter of the suffragettes who had been arrested and sent to prison. She was arrested immediately and sent to Holloway, her fourth and final spell in prison where she went on hunger and thirst strike. Because of her poor health she was released early, after which she continued to organise public petitions against the force-feeding of women throughout the country.