15 Facts About Louie Cullen

Louie Cullen was imprisoned for her activist work, and was awarded a Holloway brooch.

Louie Cullen left school at 14 and worked for some time before and, in 1900, she married a working-class man, Joshua William Cullen, who was sympathetic to the call for women to have the right to vote.

Louie Cullen became a radical suffragette who joined the Women's Social and Political Union near its start when there were no formal branches.

Louie Cullen was arrested following the 1908 attempt by suffragettes to rush into the House of Commons hidden in a pantechnicon to get their voices heard on women's suffrage.

Louie Cullen was jailed in Holloway prison and went on a hunger strike for the cause of women's suffrage.

Louie Cullen was awarded a Holloway brooch by the WSPU and spoke on a main platform No 3 at the Women's Sunday march in Hyde Park on 21 June 1908.

Louie Cullen was encouraged to go for a few days to 'rouse' people to have a crowd ready to greet Winston Churchill, on his speech-giving in Norwich, in a 17 July 1909 letter from Christabel Pankhurst.

Louie Cullen's health suffered from her imprisonment, and she and her husband moved in December 1911, initially for a two-year period, to Melbourne, Australia.

In 1914, Louie Cullen was undertaking speaking engagements on women's rights at the Women's Political Association, Melbourne, convened by Vida Goldstein, saying "women do the scullery work of the world, unorganised and unpaid".

Louie Cullen gave practical assistance to young women alone in the city, setting up the Wayfarers social club to create a welcoming community.

Louie Cullen was widely reported for publicly objecting to the use of 'obey' in the marriage ceremony of the then Princess Elizabeth to Prince Philip, as 'positively antediluvian'.

In 1953, Louie Cullen donated items to the national collection, to commemorate 50 years of women's right to vote in Australia, including the Holloway Medal, a portcullis brooch with the WPSU ribbon colours of green, white and purple, designed and presented to her by Christabel Pankhurst.

Louie Cullen was interviewed for the People and Women's Day.

Louie Cullen had her portrait photograph taken with the WSPU illustrated certificate, wearing her Votes for Women sash in 1958, in the National Library of Australia collection.

Louie Cullen's death was reported internationally, including in the Singapore Free Press and the London Daily Telegraph.