1. Gertrude Mary Ansell was a British suffragette, animal welfare activist and businesswoman.
11 Facts About Gertrude Ansell
1. 2.
Gertrude Ansell's father had, in 1856, been appointed to a clerkship in the Royal Mint with a brief to eliminate waste and mismanagement but was forced to give up his position in 1868.
3.
Gertrude Ansell died in 1880 leaving his family little; in 1881 Gertrude Ansell was working in a telephone office.
4.
Gertrude Ansell's thinking was dominated by the welfare of animals and the enfranchisement of women.
5.
Gertrude Ansell believed that the economic position of women would never be satisfactory without political freedom and in December 1906 she joined the Women's Social and Political Union.
6.
Gertrude Ansell took part in the 'Mud March' of 9 February 1907 to Hyde Park at a time when 4000 people, both suffragists in NUWSS and more militant suffragettes in WSPU listened to Millicent Fawcett and many were less sympathetic to Keir Hardie speak up for a 'fighting brigade' to achieve female suffrage.
7.
Gertrude Ansell worked for the Dogs Exemption Bill and the Plumage Bill, but when they were rejected by the House of Commons in 1913 she returned to WSPU actions.
8.
Gertrude Ansell went on hunger strike and was released under the "Cat and Mouse Act".
9.
Gertrude Ansell then followed a pattern of hunger strike, release, rearrest and imprisonment until she managed to evade the police.
10.
Gertrude Ansell was given a WSPU Hunger Strike Medal, the citation engraved on the bar is 'For Valour' and the inscription says.
11.
Gertrude Ansell died at the General Hospital in Saffron Walden on 7 March 1932 following an operation for gallstones.