Alice Ann Wheeldon (27 January 1866 – 21 February 1919) was a British supporter of universal and
women's suffrage
Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...
and anti-war campaigner. She was convicted in 1917, along with her daughter, Winnie, and son-in-law, Alfred Mason, of conspiracy to murder the Prime Minister,
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 (United Kingdom), Liberal Party politician from Wales, known for lea ...
. Some of the evidence given in the case against them appears to have been fabricated on behalf of "a government eager to disgrace the anti-war movement".
Early life
Alice Ann Marshall was born in
Derby
Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby g ...
, England, the daughter of an engine driver who had worked as a house servant when young. In 1886 she married William Augustus Wheeldon, who was a widowed train driver and later a commercial traveller. They had three daughters, Nellie (born 1888),
Harriette Ann (Hettie) (born 1891) and Winnie (born 1893), and a son, William Marshall (Willie, born 1892). Willie's application for exemption from
military service
Military service is service by an individual or group in an army or other militia, air forces, and naval forces, whether as a chosen job ( volunteer) or as a result of an involuntary draft (conscription).
Some nations (e.g., Mexico) require ...
as a
conscientious objector
A conscientious objector (often shortened to conchie) is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, or religion. The term has also been extended to objec ...
was rejected in 1916.
Political activism
Wheeldon was a socialist. She was a friend of members of the
Socialist Labour Party, especially
John Smith Clarke although a source of membership is not known. On arrest, police reported finding copies of ''Socialist'' and ''The Tribunal'' in her house.
She and her children, who shared her feminist political views and were active campaigners until Britain joined in the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. Wheeldon disagreed with the Women's Social and Political Union's (WSPU) strong support for the War and
conscription. With her family, including her daughters Hettie and Winnie and son Willie, Wheeldon expressed her
opposition to the War, joining the
No-Conscription Fellowship
The No-Conscription Fellowship was a British pacifism, pacifist organization which was founded in London by Fenner Brockway, Baron Brockway, Fenner Brockway and Clifford Allen, 1st Baron Allen of Hurtwood, Clifford Allen on 27 November 1914, aft ...
.
The Wheeldon family supported young men opposing
conscription in Derby where Alice supported the family by selling secondhand clothes in her shop at 12 Pear Tree Road, where she and her family lived - incorrectly reported as number 29.
Arrest and trial
It was known that the Wheeldon family was sheltering young men "on the run" from conscription. In December 1916
'Alex Gordon', an undercover agent from
P.M.S.2, arrived at the Wheeldon home, claiming to be a conscientious objector on the run. Alice Wheeldon took him in for the night and confided in him. He invented the fiction that the work camps for conscientious objectors provided under the
Home Office Scheme were guarded by dogs. Gordon called his immediate superior, Herbert Booth, introducing him to Alice as an army deserter. A package containing two vials of
curare
Curare ( /kʊˈrɑːri/ or /kjʊˈrɑːri/; ''koo-rah-ree'' or ''kyoo-rah-ree'') is a common name for various alkaloid arrow poisons originating from plant extracts. Used as a paralyzing agent by indigenous peoples in Central and South ...
and two of
strychnine was sent to her. The package was intercepted and it was claimed that these chemicals were intended to kill
guard dog
A guard dog or watchdog (not to be confused with an attack dog) is a dog used to watch for and guard property against unwanted or unexpected human or animal intruders.
The dog is discerning so that it does not annoy or attack the resident hum ...
s at a work camp. This claim formed the basis of the case against the family when the family were arrested on 30 January 1917. Alice, Hettie, Winnie and Winnie's husband, Alfred Mason, were all charged with conspiracy to murder the
Liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
Prime Minister
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 (United Kingdom), Liberal Party politician from Wales, known for lea ...
and
Labour Party cabinet minister
Arthur Henderson
Arthur Henderson (13 September 1863 – 20 October 1935) was a British iron moulder and Labour politician. He was the first Labour cabinet minister, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1934 and, uniquely, served three separate terms as Leader of th ...
.
The
Attorney-General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general.
In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...
,
F. E. Smith
Frederick Edwin Smith, 1st Earl of Birkenhead, (12 July 1872 – 30 September 1930), known as F. E. Smith, was a British Conservative politician and barrister who attained high office in the early 20th century, in particular as Lord High Chan ...
, himself, led the prosecution held in
Derby Guildhall
Derby Guildhall is a municipal building in the Market Place, Derby, England. It is a Grade II listed building.
History
A moot hall was first established in the Market Place area in 1204. This was replaced by a timber and plaster guildhall in 15 ...
. The trial was moved to the
Old Bailey, London, where he prosecuted the case in person. The trial began on 6 March 1917; Smith refused to call Gordon as a witness or divulge his name or whereabouts, thus preventing his being cross-examined.
[
Alice was sentenced to ten years' penal servitude, Alfred Mason (aged 24) was sentenced to seven years and Winnie (aged 23) to five years, even though the jury recommended mercy on account of their youth.] Hettie was acquitted. Alice was sent to Aylesbury Prison, where she went on intermittent hunger strike
A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke a feeling of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most ...
; she was later moved to Holloway.
Three days after the conviction, the Amalgamated Society of Engineers
The Amalgamated Society of Engineers (ASE) was a major British trade union, representing factory workers and mechanics.
History
The history of the union can be traced back to the formation of the Journeymen Steam Engine, Machine Makers' and M ...
published an open letter to the Home Secretary that included the following: "We demand that the Police Spies, on whose evidence the Wheeldon family is being tried, be put in the Witness Box, believing that in the event of this being done fresh evidence will be forthcoming which will put a different complexion on the case."
Death
Wheeldon was released from prison on licence on 31 December 1917 at the request of Lloyd George. Her health permanently weakened, she died of influenza during the pandemic a little over a year later in 1919. At her funeral, Willie (possibly William Land, her nephew also a CO) placed a red flag over his mother's coffin and her friend John Smith Clarke, still evading police as a conscientious objector on the run, was the only speaker. Her daughters, Winnie and Hettie, were too ill to attend the funeral. Wheeldon's grave was not marked as there was concern it would be defaced.
Hettie died in 1920; in that year she had married Arthur MacManus, first chairman of the Communist Party of Great Britain.
In 1921 Willie Wheeldon joined a Friends Emergency Victims of War Relief mission going to Buzuluk, Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
. He married in Russia, took Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
citizenship and became a translator for the Comintern. During the Stalinist purges
The Great Purge or the Great Terror (russian: Большой террор), also known as the Year of '37 (russian: 37-й год, translit=Tridtsat sedmoi god, label=none) and the Yezhovshchina ('period of Yezhov'), was Soviet General Secreta ...
, he was arrested on 5 October 1937 and shot on Christmas Day of that year.
Memorial
In 2013 Derby City Council
Derby City Council is the local government unitary authority for Derby, a city in the East Midlands region of England. It comprises 51 councillors, three for each of the 17 electoral wards of Derby. Currently there is no overall control of the co ...
and Derby Civic Society erected a Blue Plaque as a memorial at 12 Pear Tree Road, Normanton, Derby
Normanton is an inner city suburb and ward of the city of Derby in Derbyshire, England, situated approximately south of the city centre. Neighbouring suburbs include Littleover, Pear Tree, Rose Hill and Sunny Hill. The original village of Norman ...
.
Legacy
In January 2012 the BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
reported on a campaign to clear Wheeldon's name, quoting Dr Nicholas Hiley of the
, who said the case against her was "shaky". Hiley said that during the First World War MI5 had become "very fixated on political opposition to the war" and that the Wheeldons' unusual combination of beliefs (Marxists, atheists, vegetarians, supporters of the
and conscientious objectors), had drawn MI5's attention. Hiley described Alex Gordon (in reality William Rickard) as an "unbalanced fantasist" who was "spectacularly unreliable"; a convicted blackmailer, he had twice been declared criminally insane and was released from the high-security psychiatric
only two years before being employed by MI5. Hiley went on to suggest that Rickard's department of MI5 was facing closure at the time of Wheeldon's arrest and the case against her and her family was fabricated to justify the department being kept open.
On 15 June 2022, the BBC reported that an application for review to clear the name of the three people convicted of conspiring to kill the prime minister had failed. However, the
stated that while the arguments of the submission had merit, the case was too old to justify the expense. The Commission also said that "The submissions identified in the application may raise a real possibility that these convictions would be overturned."
Campaigners are satisfied with the outcome.
''
* Jackson, John (2007) "Losing the plot", ''History Today'', May 2007
* Rippon, Nicola, (2009) ''The Plot to Kill Lloyd George: The Story of Alice Wheeldon and the Peartree Conspiracy'',
* Rowbotham,Sheila, Friends of Alice Wheeldon (Pluto Press, 1986)
*
, Friends of Alice Wheeldon - 2nd Edition, The Anti-War Activist Accused of Plotting to Kill Lloyd George (Pluto Press, 2015)
* Wood, Val and Whitehead, Bill (2013) "Alice Wheeldon" Derby, UCU
Website of Deirdre and Chloë Mason, great-granddaughters of Alice Wheeldon.