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 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 (WSPU).
The following year she was arrested at the
House of Commons after trying to lobby on behalf of the
Women's Social and Political Union on 29 June 1909.
She was sentenced to a month in
Holloway Prison and was released early after she went on
hunger strike. She and
Theresa Garnett 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 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 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 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 Annie Kenney, a local organiser. Dove-Wilcox planted a '' Picea Orientalis'' 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,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 ...
.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
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 ...
.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
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