Free Zoom Event: Deeds Not Words: the Nurse Suffragettes Arrested 1906-1914

Between 1906 and 1914 over 1000 women were arrested for acts in support of the campaign for female suffrage in the United Kingdom (UK).iWe know nurses were involved in supporting the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) campaign for Votes for Women for example: by their presence in uniform in the demonstration processions organised by the WSPU; by Sister Townsend’s testimony for nurses as part of the WSPU Working Women’s Suffrage Deputation to prime minister Lloyd George in 1913; and by Nurse Catherine Pine’s provision of a convalescence home to temporarily released hunger-striking WSPU suffragettes and also her frequent presence beside Mrs Pankhurst, who referred to her as her ‘devoted Nurse Pine.’ But were there also nurses who took up the challenge of the motto of the WSPU – ‘Deeds, not Words’ – and undertook militant acts that led to their arrest? Vari M Drennan MBE will discuss her research.

This presentation reports on research that explored this question, providing both an overview of these nurses and some detailed descriptions of their lives and nursing careers.