Ada Susan Flatman (1876–1952) was a British
suffragette
A suffragette was a member of an activist women's organisation in the early 20th century who, under the banner "Votes for Women", fought for the right to vote in public elections in the United Kingdom. The term refers in particular to members ...
who worked in the United Kingdom and the United States.
Life
Ada Susan Flatman was born in
Suffolk
Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...
in 1876. She was of independent means and became interested in
women's rights
Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...
. She lived in the same Twentieth Century Club
Notting Hill
Notting Hill is a district of West London, England, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Notting Hill is known for being a cosmopolitan and multicultural neighbourhood, hosting the annual Notting Hill Carnival and Portobello Road M ...
rooms as fellow activist
Jessie Stephenson
Sara Jessie Stephenson (1873–1966) was a British suffragette and a member of the WSPU who organised census boycott in Manchester.
Early life
Sara Jessie Stephenson was born in Louth, Lincolnshire in 1873 the daughter of a farmer in Lincol ...
.
Flatman was sent to
Holloway Prison
HM Prison Holloway was a closed category prison for adult women and young offenders in Holloway, London, England, operated by His Majesty's Prison Service. It was the largest women's prison in western Europe, until its closure in 2016.
Hist ...
,
after she took part in the raid on the Houses of Parliament in 1908, led by
Marion Wallace Dunlop
Marion Wallace Dunlop (22 December 1864 – 12 September 1942) was a Scottish artist and author. She was the first and one of the most well known British suffragettes to go on hunger strike, on 5 July 1909, after being arrested in July 1909 fo ...
,
Ada Wright
Ada Cecile Granville Wright (c. 1862–1939) was an English suffragette. Her photo on the front page of the ''Daily Mirror'' on 19 November became an iconic image of the suffrage movement.
Biography
Ada Cecile Granville Wright was born in ...
, and
Katherine Douglas Smith
Katherine Douglas Smith (1878 – after 1947) was a militant British suffragette and from 1908 a paid organiser of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU). She was also a member of the International Suffrage Club.
Activism
Douglas Smith ...
, and a second wave by
Una Dugdale.
The following year she was employed by the
Women's Social and Political Union
The Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) was a women-only political movement and leading militant organisation campaigning for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom from 1903 to 1918. Known from 1906 as the suffragettes, its membership and ...
(WSPU) to organise their activities in Liverpool
taking over from
Mary Phillips.
Flatman arranged humble lodgings for
Constance Lytton
Lady Constance Georgina Bulwer-Lytton (12 February 1869 – 2 May 1923), usually known as Constance Lytton, was an influential British suffragette activist, writer, speaker and campaigner for prison reform, votes for women, and birth control. ...
when she came to Liverpool disguised as a working woman, aiming to get arrested for suffragette activism to created suitable publicity.
In May 1909, Flatman was in
Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
, and evaded detectives assigned to follow her – and many uniformed police officers – to distribute handbills about the suffragette cause. This took place in the Royal Hotel on the occasion of a speech to the Chamber of Commerce by the anti-suffrage politician
Augustine Birrell
Augustine Birrell King's Counsel, KC (19 January 185020 November 1933) was a British Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Party politician, who was Chief Secretary for Ireland from 1907 to 1916. In this post, he was praised for enabling tenant farmers t ...
. In December of the same year, she was one of those in the
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London. One of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings, it is held in trust for the nation and managed by a registered charity which receives no govern ...
to protest against
David Lloyd George
David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922. He was a Liberal Party politician from Wales, known for leading the United Kingdom during t ...
's position regarding women's suffrage. In a contemporary newspaper account in the
London Evening Standard
The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format.
In October 2009, after be ...
, suffrage campaigner Frances Ede described how stewards dragged Flatman from her seat and removed her "with quite needless violence".
![Votes for Women front cover Dreadnought](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8d/Votes_for_Women_front_cover_Dreadnought.jpg)
In July 1910, Flatman was a key speaker at one of the platforms in the 10,000 women's rally at Hyde Park.
She worked with
Alice Stewart Ker
Alice Stewart Ker or Alice Jane Shannan Ker MRCPI (2 December 1853 – 20 March 1943) was a Scottish physician, health educator, and suffragette. She was the 13th woman on the registry of the British Medical Association.
Early life and educat ...
, but it was Flatman who was trusted by
Emmeline Pethick
Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence, Baroness Pethick-Lawrence (; 21 October 1867 – 11 March 1954) was a British women's rights activist and suffragette.
Early life
Pethick-Lawrence was born in Bristol as Emmeline Pethick. Her father, Henry Pethick, ...
when Liverpool requested that they be allowed to open a WSPU shop. The shop was set up for her by
Patricia Woodlock
Patricia Woodlock (born Mary Winifred Woodlock; 25 October 1873 – after 1930) was a British artist and suffragette who was imprisoned seven times, including serving the longest suffragette prison sentence in 1908 (solitary confinement for thr ...
and became a success and it raised substantial funds for the cause.
[ Flatman organised the publicity surrounding the release of Woodlock who had completed a prison term in Holloway. A 1909 copy of '']Votes for Women
A vote is a formal method of choosing in an election.
Vote(s) or The Vote may also refer to:
Music
*''V.O.T.E.'', an album by Chris Stamey and Yo La Tengo, 2004
*"Vote", a song by the Submarines from ''Declare a New State!'', 2006
Television
* " ...
'' depicted "Patricia" as a dreadnought
The dreadnought (alternatively spelled dreadnaught) was the predominant type of battleship in the early 20th century. The first of the kind, the Royal Navy's , had such an impact when launched in 1906 that similar battleships built after her ...
. When she suddenly stepped down as branch co-ordinator in 1910, over a difference in approach to campaigning, Alice Morrissey
Alice Morrissey (''died in'' 1912) was a British Catholic, socialist leader and suffragette activist from Liverpool, who was imprisoned in the campaign for women's right to vote.
Life
Born with a brother who became a Catholic priest. Morrissey ...
took over as volunteer branch organiser from Flatman, until another staff member was appointed to lead them.
In the following year, Flatman became the honorary secretary for the WSPU in Cheltenham
Cheltenham (), also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a spa town and borough on the edge of the Cotswolds in the county of Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort, following the discovery of mineral s ...
. Emmeline Pankhurst
Emmeline Pankhurst ('' née'' Goulden; 15 July 1858 – 14 June 1928) was an English political activist who organised the UK suffragette movement and helped women win the right to vote. In 1999, ''Time'' named her as one of the 100 Most Impo ...
visited Cheltenham shortly after her appointment and she had also started organising local "at homes". When the Liberal Government Minister Charles Hobhouse
Sir Charles Edward Henry Hobhouse, 4th Baronet, TD, PC, JP (30 June 1862 – 26 June 1941) was a British Liberal politician and officer in the Territorial Force. He was a member of the Liberal cabinet of H. H. Asquith between 1911 and 1915 ...
spoke in Gloucester
Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...
's Shire Hall, Flatmen vainly tried to ask him questions about women's suffrage; she was ejected.
When the First World War started in 1914, the leading suffrage organisations agreed to suspend their protest until the war was over. Many activists disagreed; Flatman, living in Bristol, was one, joining the Women's Emergency Corps
The Women's Emergency Corps was a service organisation founded in 1914 by Evelina Haverfield, Decima Moore, and the Women's Social and Political Union to contribute to the war effort of the United Kingdom in World War I. The corps was intended t ...
, founded by Evelina Haverfield
Evelina Haverfield ( Scarlett; 9 August 1867 – 21 March 1920) was a British suffragette and aid worker.
In the early 20th century, she was involved in Emmeline Pankhurst's militant women's suffrage organisation the Women's Social and Pol ...
. She decided to carry on her work in the United States, emigrating to work for Alice Paul
Alice Stokes Paul (January 11, 1885 – July 9, 1977) was an American Quaker, suffragist, feminist, and women's rights activist, and one of the main leaders and strategists of the campaign for the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ...
's newspaper ''The Suffragist
''The Suffragist'' was a weekly newspaper published by the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage in 1913 to advance the cause of women's suffrage. The publication was first envisioned as a small pamphlet by the Congressional Union (CU), a new ...
'' in 1915, becoming its business and advertising manager.
Flatman was in Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
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, coordinates =
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in 1916, working as an outdoor organiser for the Women's Party Convention taking place there. The ''New York Herald
The ''New York Herald'' was a large-distribution newspaper based in New York City that existed between 1835 and 1924. At that point it was acquired by its smaller rival the ''New-York Tribune'' to form the '' New York Herald Tribune''.
His ...
'' stated that she inaugurated the campaign of erecting billboards singlehandedly; noting that she did so dressed wholly in the suffrage colour of purple. The report further noted that Flatman was directing anti-Wilson
Wilson may refer to:
People
* Wilson (name)
** List of people with given name Wilson
** List of people with surname Wilson
* Wilson (footballer, 1927–1998), Brazilian manager and defender
* Wilson (footballer, born 1984), full name Wilson Ro ...
billboard squads throughout the suffrage states with a view to them pasting a total of one million.
After the war, Flatman was keen to continue her suffrage work, but organisations in America and South Africa did not accept her offers of assistance. Full women's suffrage was achieved in the U.S. in 1920 and in the UK in 1928. Flatman returned to England in the 1930s, and was a peace campaigner, and supported the work of Edith How-Martyn
Edith How-Martyn (''née'' How; 17 June 1875 – 2 February 1954) was a British suffragette and a member of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU). She was arrested in 1906 for attempting to make a speech in the House of Commons. This was ...
in documenting the movement in the Suffragette Fellowship
A suffragette was a member of an activist women's organisation in the early 20th century who, under the banner "Votes for Women", fought for women's suffrage, the right to vote in public elections in the United Kingdom. The term refers in part ...
. Flatman left £25 in her will
Will may refer to:
Common meanings
* Will and testament, instructions for the disposition of one's property after death
* Will (philosophy), or willpower
* Will (sociology)
* Will, volition (psychology)
* Will, a modal verb - see Shall and will
...
(out of an estate of £250) to the fellowship.
Flatman died in Eastbourne
Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. Eastbourne is immediately east of Beachy Head, the highest chalk sea cliff in Great Britain and part of the la ...
, Sussex, in 1952.
Legacy
Flatman's reminiscences were recorded by the BBC.[ She had also kept a scrapbook of her suffrage adventures, now held by the ]Museum of London
The Museum of London is a museum in London, covering the history of the UK's capital city from prehistoric to modern times. It was formed in 1976 by amalgamating collections previously held by the City Corporation at the Guildhall, London, Gui ...
.[
]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Flatman, Ada
1876 births
1952 deaths
Politicians from Suffolk
English suffragists