1. Mary Eleanor Gawthorpe was an English suffragette, socialist, trade unionist and editor.
18 Facts About Mary Gawthorpe
1. 2.
Mary Gawthorpe was described by Rebecca West as "a merry militant saint".
3.
Mary Gawthorpe had four siblings; a baby and eldest sister died within a year of each other due to pneumonia when Mary was seven, and the other two, Annie Gatenby and James Arthur, survived to adulthood.
4.
Mary Gawthorpe joined the Independent Labour Party and in 1906, became secretary of the newly formed Women's Labour League.
5.
Mary Gawthorpe became involved in the women's suffrage movement and, in 1905, joined the Women's Social and Political Union.
6.
Mary Gawthorpe was an active member of Leeds Arts Club, having been introduced to the club by her journalist boyfriend.
7.
Mary Gawthorpe had a close friendship with Alfred Orage who was a fellow primary school teacher in Leeds.
8.
The Club encouraged women to participate in debates, described by Mary Gawthorpe as bringing 'a new art reality into consciousness'.
9.
Mary Gawthorpe later joined Christabel Pankhurst in Wales, where she drew upon her working-class background and involvement in the labour movement.
10.
The chairman at the meeting started the Welsh National Anthem, but Mary Gawthorpe turned this to her advantage by leading the singing in her rich voice which "won the hearts of the people still more".
11.
Mary Gawthorpe organised an open-air meeting in Uppingham and while standing on a wagon accompanied by several other women, a crowd of "noisy youths began to throw up peppermint 'bull's eyes' and other hard-boiled sweets".
12.
Mary Gawthorpe was carried away but returned the next day, like a "true Suffragette", undaunted.
13.
Mary Gawthorpe campaigned with Jessie Stephenson and Nellie Martel in the 1907 Jarrow by-election.
14.
Mary Gawthorpe spoke to different audiences, such as a group of over 200 farmers, on 17 April 1908, in Aberdeen's Exchange Street and at other events in that area, including being heckled at a temperance meeting at Stonehaven, for suffragists supporting barmaids but she declared she was a temperance reformer.
15.
Mary Gawthorpe spoke at national events, including a rally in Hyde Park in 1908 attended by over 200,000 people.
16.
Mary Gawthorpe demanded to be imprisoned, however the magistrate discharged her on medical grounds.
17.
Mary Gawthorpe was active in the American suffrage movement and later in the trade union movement, becoming an official of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America union.
18.
Mary Gawthorpe chronicled her early efforts in her autobiography, Up Hill to Holloway.