27 Facts About Arabella Scott

Arabella Scott was a Scottish teacher, suffragette hunger striker and women's rights campaigner.

Arabella Scott subsequently adopted more militant tactics with the Women's Social and Political Union.

Arabella Scott was one of a group who attempted arson at Kelso racecourse in May 1913.

Arabella Scott was arrested many times and went on hunger strikes when she was sent to jail.

Arabella Scott was released under the controversial Cat and Mouse Act.

WSPU activism ceased when the First World War began and Scott became a field nurse, later she married emigrated to Australia.

Arabella Scott wrote about her experiences in her autobiography A Murky Past.

Arabella Charlotte Scott was born on 7 May 1886 in Dunoon, Scotland.

Arabella Scott's mother was a teacher and her father served as a captain in the British army for more than 25 years.

Arabella Scott joined the Women's Freedom League during or before 1908.

Arabella Scott joined the group of WFL members taking a petition on women's suffrage to the British Prime Minister in Downing Street in 1909, which was the first time she was arrested.

From 1909 to 1912, Arabella Scott continued to speak at open-air WFL meetings across Scotland.

Arabella Scott then decided that the WFL was not going to achieve universal women's suffrage and joined the more militant Women's Social and Political Union both in Scotland and in the south of England, and was convicted of arson and other charges associated with militant action, and when in prison, Arabella Scott went on hunger strikes, and was awarded the Hunger Strike Medal.

Arabella Scott was arrested and released several times over the following years, under the Prisoners Act 1913, known by suffragettes as the Cat and Mouse Act.

Arabella Scott was caught on 12 June 1913 at the house of sympathiser Miss de Pass and rearrested, when she returned to Calton Gaol she went on hunger strike again.

The licence expired on 10 September 1913, but Arabella Scott was not found until May 1914, again resisting arrest.

Arabella Scott continued to work as an organiser for the Women's Social and Political Union in the Brighton branch under the name, 'Catherine Reid'.

Arabella Scott was given a Hunger Strike Medal 'for Valour' by WSPU.

Arabella Scott was taken to Perth Prison on 20 June and released on 26 July 1914.

Arabella Scott was not allowed visitors or letters during her imprisonment, and her mother was not informed of her whereabouts.

Arabella Scott was denied access to a lawyer or permission to write to the Secretary of State for Scotland, nor given access to a copy of the prison rules.

Arabella Scott was once more released under licence under the Cat and Mouse Act.

Arabella Scott was released on 26 June 1914, two days before Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated and the First World War began, with the UK joining by declaring war on Germany on 4 August.

Arabella Scott went on to serve as a field hospital nurse during the war.

Arabella Scott later married and as Arabella Colville-Reeves, emigrated to Sydney, Australia.

Arabella Scott became a member of the Australian branch of the Suffragette Fellowship and was proud of her past, encouraging girls she taught to stand up for their rights.

The details were based on Watson's reports held in the National Archives of Scotland and from the select transcripts of taped interviews with Arabella Scott, provided by Frances Wheelhouse.