Maud Joachim (1869 – 1947) was born in 1869 and was educated at

Girton College Girton College is one of the Colleges of the University of Cambridge, 31 constituent colleges of the University of Cambridge. The college was established in 1869 by Emily Davies and Barbara Bodichon as the first women's college in Cambridge. In 1 ...

., she was one of the groups of suffragettes that fought to grant women the right to vote in the U.K., she was jailed several times for her protests.

Activism

She was militant and a member of the hard line

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 an ...

which was led by Emmeline Pankhurst. She enjoyed the camaraderie and reflected that she was now with people with the same purpose.

Imprisonments

* In February 1908 Joachim when groups of suffragettes were delivered to the front door of 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. T ...

transported in pantechnicon vans, this event was called the " Pantechnicon Raid", the group was arrested, and she was sentenced to six weeks imprisonment. * In June she was arrested again after an attempt to visit the Prime Minister, along with Mrs Pankhurst, Emmeline Pethick- Lawrence, Jessie Stephenson and Florence Haig. Maud Joachim was thwarted and a crowd rushed the police. Joachim was sentenced to three months 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. Histor ...

. * In 1909 she was in Scotland working in Aberdeen. That November she joined a protest that disturbed a talk by

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...

at his constituency in Dundee. She was arrested along with Helen Archdale, Catherine Corbett and

Adela Pankhurst Adela Constantia Mary Walsh ( Pankhurst; 19 June 1885 – 23 May 1961) was a British born suffragette who worked as a political organiser for the Women's Social and Political Union, WSPU in Scotland. In 1914 she moved to Australia where she con ...

and sentenced to ten days in prison. During her sentence she went on hunger strike and became the first woman in Scotland to take this form of protest. William Blathwayt and Maud Joachim

In an imaginative protest organised with

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 Smit ...

Joachim held up traffic in the West End by the two riding black bay horses up the

Strand Strand may refer to: Topography *The flat area of land bordering a body of water, a: ** Beach ** Shoreline * Strand swamp, a type of swamp habitat in Florida Places Africa * Strand, Western Cape, a seaside town in South Africa * Strand Street ...

, at the same time advertising a suffragette meeting at the Royal Albert Hall.

Residency at Eagle House

Joachim was invited to Eagle House in 1910. A plaque was made and her photograph was recorded by Colonel Linley Blathwayt. Eagle House near Bath in Somerset had become an important refuge for suffragettes who had been released from prison after hunger strikes.

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 of ...

's parents planted trees there between April 1909 and July 1911 to commemorate the achievements of suffragettes including Emmeline Pankhurst,

Christabel Pankhurst Dame Christabel Harriette Pankhurst, (; 22 September 1880 – 13 February 1958) was a British suffragette born in Manchester, England. A co-founder of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), she directed its militant actions from exil ...

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 ...

Charlotte Despard Charlotte Despard (née French; 15 June 1844 – 10 November 1939) was an Anglo-Irish suffragist, socialist, pacifist, Sinn Féin activist, and novelist. She was a founding member of the Women's Freedom League, Women's Peace Crusade, and the ...

Millicent Fawcett Dame Millicent Garrett Fawcett (née Garrett; 11 June 1847 – 5 August 1929) was an English politician, writer and feminist. She campaigned for Women's suffrage in the United Kingdom, women's suffrage by Law reform, legal change and in 1897– ...

and Lady Lytton. The trees were known as "Annie's Arboreatum" after Annie Kenney. There was also a "Pankhurst Pond" within the grounds.

Personal life

Joachim was a

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetariani ...

.Crawford, Elizabeth. (2003). ''The Women's Suffrage Movement: A Reference Guide 1866-1928''. Taylor & Francis. p. 311. She was given a

Hunger Strike Medal The Hunger Strike Medal was a silver medal awarded between August 1909 and 1914 to suffragette prisoners by the leadership of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU). During their imprisonment, they went on hunger strike while serving t ...

'for Valour' by WSPU.

Death

Maud Joachim died in

Steyning Steyning ( ) is a town and civil parish in the Horsham district of West Sussex, England. It is located at the north end of the River Adur gap in the South Downs, four miles (6.4 km) north of the coastal town of Shoreham-by-Sea. The smaller ...

in 1947. On her death Joachim left

a legacy in her will.Biography of Katherine Douglas Smith - Suffragette Stories
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References