Lillian Dove-Willcox (1875–1963) was a British suffragette who was a member of

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 ...

's personal bodyguard.

Life

Dove-Willcox was born in

Bedminster, Bristol Bedminster is a district of Bristol, England, on the south side of the city. It is also the name of a Wards of the United Kingdom, council ward which includes the central part of the district. The eastern part of Bedminster is known as Windmill ...

in 1875. Her husband died in 1908. She was living in Bristol and attended the West of England branch of 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). The following year she was arrested at the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

after trying to lobby on behalf of the

on 29 June 1909. She was sentenced to a month in

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 ...

and was released early after she went on

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 and

Theresa Garnett Theresa Garnett (17 May 1888 – 24 May 1966) was a British suffragette. She was a serial protester who sometimes went by the name 'Annie O'Sullivan', was jailed and then still refused to cooperate. She assaulted Winston Churchill while carryin ...

were later convicted of assaulting a warder at Holloway. She again went on hunger strike to be released from a ten-day sentence. She returned to Bristol where she, the future policewoman

Mary Allen Mary Allen (born 22 August 1951) is a British writer, broadcaster, arts administrator and management consultant best known for her controversial and turbulent period as Chief Executive of the Royal Opera House. Early career She was educated at ...

and

Annie Kenney Ann "Annie" Kenney (13 September 1879 – 9 July 1953) was an English working-class suffragette and socialist feminist who became a leading figure in the Women's Social and Political Union. She co-founded its first branch in London with Minnie ...

were met at the station and a procession of supporters welcomed them. Dove-Willcox planting at tree at Eagle House Dove-Wilcox was invited to Eagle House at

Batheaston Batheaston is a village and civil parish east of the English city of Bath, on the north bank of the River Avon. The parish had a population of 2,735 in 2011. The northern area of the parish, on the road to St Catherine, is an area known as No ...

in Somerset in 1910. Eagle house was known as "Suffragette's Rest" because of its support for the movement. It was the home of fellow suffragettes

Mary Blathwayt Mary Blathwayt (1 February 1879 – 25 June 1961) was a British feminist, suffragette and social reformer. She lived at Eagle House in Somerset. This house became known as the "Suffragette's Rest" and contained a memorial to the protests o ...

and her mother Emily. Emily planted a tree to commemorate every woman who went to prison for the cause. These trees came to be known as "Annie's Arboretum" after

, a local organiser. Dove-Wilcox planted a ''

Picea Orientalis ''Picea orientalis'', commonly known as the Oriental spruce or Caucasian spruce, is a species of spruce native to the Caucasus and adjacent northeast Turkey. Description It is a large pinophyta, coniferous evergreen tree growing to 30–45 ...

'' and a lead plaque was installed to record the event on 9 May 1910. Mary's father was a photographer and he recorded the event.Taxus Baccata Elegantissima 1909
BathinTime.co.uk, Retrieved 30 October 2017 Like the Blathwayts, Dove-Wilcox offered lodging to suffragettes (including the extreme

Mary Richardson Mary Raleigh Richardson (1882/3 – 7 November 1961) was a Canadian suffragette active in the women's suffrage movement in the United Kingdom, an arsonist, a socialist parliamentary candidate and later head of the women's section of the B ...

) at her cottage in the Wye valley. Mary was devoted to Dove-Wilcox and wrote poetry about her love for her. Dove-Wilcox took over from Annie Kenney as the leader of the WSPU branch in the West of England in 1911, and expressed her loyalty to the Pankhursts by becoming a member of Emmeline Pankhurst's personal bodyguard. When Emmeline was arrested in Glasgow on 9 March 1913. She managed to travel back south on the same train as Emmeline and her guards. Two days later she was arrested at the Houses of Parliament and sentenced to another month in prison. Some members started to disagree with the WSPU. Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst demanded greater militancy and in 1913 the organisation and the Pankhurst family split over the issue of arson. Dove-Wilcox joined

Sylvia Pankhurst Estelle Sylvia Pankhurst (5 May 1882 – 27 September 1960) was a campaigning English feminist and socialist. Committed to organising working-class women in London's East End, and unwilling in 1914 to enter into a wartime political truce with ...

and others who had created the socialist

East London Federation of Suffragettes The Workers' Socialist Federation was a socialist political party in the United Kingdom, led by Sylvia Pankhurst. Under many different names, it gradually broadened its politics from a focus on women's suffrage to eventually become a left com ...

. Dove-Wilcox supported

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 later years, documenting the movement in the Suffragette Fellowship. Willcox died in

Ealing Ealing () is a district in West London, England, west of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Ealing. Ealing is the administrative centre of the borough and is identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Plan. Ealing was histor ...

in 1963.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dove-Willcox, Lillian 1875 births 1963 deaths Politicians from Bristol Eagle House suffragettes Women's Social and Political Union