SUFFRAGETTE SISTERS

Sisters Kate and Louise Lilley joined the suffragettes to get the vote and other rights for women. In 1910, with 300 other campaigners, they stormed the House of Commons and clashed with police for six hours. They were shoved, battered and groped. Floored or fainted suffragettes were “tossed into the crowd of onlookers” to be abused and assaulted.

The sisters, from the suffragette stronghold of North Essex, were among the 119 demonstrators who were arrested. But they were not prosecuted, on the orders of the Home Secretary, Winston Churchill. Two years later, they were detained at another protest in London. Police grabbed the sisters after they each smashed windows at the War Office using large flint rocks.

In court, counsel for the defence stated that his clients were the daughters of a well-known gentleman from Essex. They felt they had a deep grievance against the government, as it had broken its promise on votes for women.

Sent to prison

The sisters were sentenced to two months’ hard labour at Holloway Prison. They endured “Long stretches of solitary confinement” in their adjacent cells. No letters or visitors were allowed. With other suffragette prisoners, the Lilley sisters staged hunger strikes. Prison staff were ordered to force-feed them, leading to public outrage and more support from the British public.

Their story is detailed in a new book, Walton Women: A Community Celebration, by Steven Walker. “It celebrates the lives of women who have achieved something special and contributed to society at large.”  They are from Walton on Naze and other coastal towns in North Essex, as detailed in the following extract from the book:

“According to official data, women make up only 0.5% of recorded history. Historically, despite being denied the right to vote, own property, make decisions about their bodies and contraception, receive equal pay for equal work carried out by men, denied access to education, banned from playing football, facing gender discrimination in the workplace and being victims of domestic abuse, women continue to add to our local and national life as artists, sportspeople, writers, business leaders, politicians, trades union organisers and faith leaders.”

Family support

Kate and Louise Lilley were committed members of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), the liberation organisation led by Emmeline Pankhurst. Their campaign for women’s suffrage was actively supported by their mother, Mary Ann Lilley, and sisters Mary Hetty, Helen Doris, and Ada Elizabeth.

Their father, Thomas, was a local magistrate and a partner in shoe-makers, Lilley & Skinner, the firm that operated the world’s largest shoe store on Oxford Street, London. The family moved to Clacton-on-Sea, North Essex, in 1908. There, the five daughters and their parents campaigned for women’s rights from the local office of the WSPU. 

Thomas Lilley was at the town’s railway station on 4 May 1912 to collect his daughters after they were freed from prison. There was a crowd of onlookers who cheered the sisters, who were welcomed as heroines and not criminals. They were presented with bouquets before their father drove them to the family home nearby.

Hunger strike horror

Kate spoke about her imprisonment: “For any woman who is yet doubting whether our cause is really worth the sacrifice of committing an offence and imprisonment, which, naturally, must be very repulsive to her, the risk of losing her friends and social position and, in many cases, means of earning a livelihood, beside family sacrifice she has to make, let her go to Holloway Prison. The horrors of our hunger strike are still too fresh in my memory to dwell on any of the details.”

On their release, the sisters were presented with a Holloway brooch and a hunger strike medal from the WSPU. Their campaigning for equal voting and other rights continued in public meetings. Speeches they made aligned with the prevailing consensus of the time that a woman’s place was in the home. “But, in reality, every morning, five million women have to go out of their homes to keep it.

“There can be no true democracy unless every class is represented, and that applies quite as much to sex as class. It is not fair to have one law for men and another for women. We ask for fair play and no favour. As long as women have no political status, we will always be bottom dog in the labour market.”

Story continues after the IMAGE GALLERY

Nurse’s Royal Charter

Florence Craven was another social reformer and pioneering woman from Walton on the Naze. She was a protege and close friend of the Lady of the Lamp, Florence Nightingale. Her story in the book, Walton Women by Steven Walker, details how, under her guidance and advice, Mrs Craven took up nursing as a profession and followed in the famous footsteps of her namesake.

Mrs Craven went to Germany with the Princess Royal and took charge of the Empress Frederick Hospital in Hamburg during the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871). “She worked there as a military nurse superintendent during the great siege of Metz. Her great skill and devotion to patients were greatly appreciated.” She was awarded several decorations, including the Iron Cross for wartime service

In England, she established the Queen Victoria Institute for Nurses. Her work and achievements “earned her a formidable reputation, and she received a letter from Queen Victoria thanking her for her work.” In September 1889, the organisation was awarded a Royal Charter.

In the same year, Florence Craven’s Guide to District Nurses and Home Nursing met with Florence Nightingale’s overwhelming approval and, for many years, was the bible for district nurses. She was awarded the Jubilee Medal and the Cross of St John of Jerusalem. Until her retirement in 1918, she and her husband maintained their connection with district nursing. Florence Craven died at her home in Walton on the Naze, North Essex, on 19 October 1922.  

Walton Women: A Community Celebration by Steven Walker available at Nose Bookshop, Walton on Naze, Caxton Books, Frinton on Sea, Frinton & Walton Heritage Trust

UPDATE

In Holloway Prison, the Lilley sisters were placed next to each other in cells 4 and 5 of DX Wing. Up to 200 suffragettes were imprisoned in Holloway in March 1912. Prison reports revealed that the two women gained comfort and support from the companionship of their fellow suffragettes, particularly their friend Kitty Marshall.

Emmeline Pankhurst, the leader of the WSPU, had personal ties to North Essex. She took her children to Clacton on Sea for their seaside holidays. A branch of the Lilley family operates a local bakery with outlets in Frinton on Sea and Walton on the Naze.

“Sister Suffragette” is a pro-suffrage protest song written and composed by brothers Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman. Actress Glynis Johns sang it in the role of Mrs Winifred Banks in the 1964 Disney film Mary Poppins. The lyrics mention Emmeline Pankhurst, who, with her daughters Christabel and Sylvia, founded the Women’s Social and Political Union in Manchester, England. Lyrics include “Our daughters’ daughters will adore us, and they’ll sing in grateful chorus, well done, Sister Suffragette!. SOURCE: Wikipedia.

Kate Lilley: Born in 1874, died in 1925. Louise Lilley: Born in 1883, died in 1981. Emmeline Pankhurst died on 14 June 1928. This was only a few weeks before the Representation of the People Act (1928) extended the vote to all women over.

Suffragette – Lilian Hicks from Great Holland

The Representation of the People Act in 1918 allowed all men and some women over the age of 30 to vote in Parliamentary elections for the first time. It paved the way for universal suffrage a decade later.

Mother and daughter, Lilian and Amy Hicks, who lived at Great Holland Hall, joined the suffragette movement. They were arrested on November 18, 1910, at the violent Black Friday protest, which saw campaigners struggle with police in Parliament Square.

Amy Hicks also took part in the suffragette window-smashing campaign in March 1912, and was arrested and sentenced to four months’ hard labour. She spent time in Holloway and Aylesbury prisons, including solitary confinement. She was one of the suffragette prisoners who went on hunger strike and was brutally force-fed.

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