1. Edith Elizabeth Downing was a British artist, sculptor and suffragette.
19 Facts About Edith Downing
1. 2.
Edith Elizabeth Downing was born in Cardiff, Wales in January 1857.
3.
Edith Downing was one of four children of the coal merchant and shipping agent Edward Downing, having two sisters and a brother, Edward.
4.
Edith Downing first trained at the South Kensington School of Art before attending the Slade School of Art between 1892 and 1893.
5.
Edith Downing worked with bronze and marble to create complex statues.
6.
Edith Downing exhibited her artwork at many acclaimed places such as the Royal Academy, the Royal Glasgow Institute, the Paris Salon, and the Society of Women Artists.
7.
Edith Downing was a member of the South Wales Art Society between 1896 and 1900.
8.
Edith Downing used her artistic talents to support her activities as a suffragette, both by working with her fellow artist Marion Wallace-Dunlop to organise a series of dramatic processions and by selling her work to raise funds for the movement.
9.
Edith Downing joined the Central Society for Women's Suffrage in 1903 and the London Society for Women's Suffrage in 1906.
10.
In November 1911, Edith Downing participated in several protests including one in Parliament Square and another at Somerset House.
11.
At Somerset House, Edith Downing was arrested for breaking a window with a rock.
12.
On March 1,1912, Downing was arrested a second time for participating in another window-breaking WPSU protest held by a group of about 200 organised activists, including Edith's sister Caroline, in the West End of London.
13.
Edith Downing participated in the hunger strikes and was force fed during her time spent in Holloway Prison.
14.
Edith Downing was one of the activists who spoke about the police brutality and stated that some women were prepared to die for the right to vote.
15.
Edith Downing was one of the 68 women who embroidered their signatures or initials on The Suffragette Handkerchief under the noses of the prison staff.
16.
Edith Downing was given a Hunger Strike Medal 'for Valour' by WSPU for her time spent in prison.
17.
Edith Downing sold her bronze sculpture titled Boy with Cherry for this exact purpose.
18.
Edith Downing's arm is outstretched as if she is begging for more money.
19.
Boy with Cherry, Avarice, Music, Sulks, Lyric Music, and other artworks by Edith Downing were all gifted to the National Museum of Wales in 1930, one year before her death.