1. Eleanor Grace Watney Roe was an English suffragette who was Head of Suffragette operations for the Women's Social and Political Union.
19 Facts About Grace Roe
1. 2.
Grace Roe was released from prison after the outbreak of World War I due to an amnesty for suffragettes negotiated with the government by the WSPU.
3.
The daughter of Thomas Henry Roe and Eleanor Jane Watney Roe, Eleanor Grace Watney Roe was born on 1 August 1885 in Norwood, Surrey.
4.
Grace Roe was educated at Bedales, a progressive mixed-sex boarding school, before attending art college.
5.
Grace Roe said that she met her first suffragette who was chalking "Votes for Women" on the pavement together with the details of a meeting when she was out shopping in London.
6.
Grace Roe was impressed by Lucy Burns coming from America to fight for this cause, courting imprisonment.
7.
Grace Roe was told that the suffragettes were "unwomanly" so she resisted joining the Women's Social and Political Union despite being impressed by the majestic figure of Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughter, Christabel, when she heard them speak in 1908.
8.
Grace Roe was succeeded in 1910 as organiser of the Brixton branch of WSPU by Helen Craggs.
9.
Grace Roe was sent to Ipswich and in about 40 days she had transformed the town, which had had only one WSPU member.
10.
Grace Roe was based at 19 Silent Street and she invited other leading suffragettes like Marie Brackenbury and Mildred Mansel down to help.
11.
Grace Roe lost to his Conservative opponent, who campaigned on the slogan "No Petticoat Government".
12.
Grace Roe was chosen as the deputy to Annie Kenney so that she could take over if necessary and eventually Kenney was arrested and Grace Roe took over her role.
13.
When war broke out in 1914, Grace Roe was in Holloway prison where she was force fed.
14.
Grace Roe was released as part of the deal struck by the WSPU with the government.
15.
In 1915, Grace Roe accompanied Emmeline Pankhurst, Flora Drummond, Norah Dacre Fox and Annie Kenney to South Wales, the Midlands and Clydeside on a recruiting and lecture tour to encourage trade unions to support war work.
16.
Grace Roe stayed in close contact with Christabel Pankhurst and was with her when the latter died at her home in Santa Monica, California on 13 February 1958 from a heart attack.
17.
Grace Roe was appointed Pankhurst's literary executor and was responsible for the publication of Christabel's memoirs, Unshackled: the Story of how we Won the Vote.
18.
Grace Roe was interviewed twice for the BBC concerning her role in the suffrage struggle.
19.
Grace Roe was seen wearing her Holloway brooch in a reunion with Leonora Cohen, on the cover of Radio Times.