Suffagette Loose Ends For the Letter A

The records of those granted amnesty is not a definitive list of those arrested and sentenced. Some not included appear on the Roll of Honour of Suffragette Prisoners 1905-1914 complied by the Suffragette Fellowship during the 1950s. Equally the reverse is true with the passage of time the Suffragette Fellowship understandably omitted people. This blog compares the two records.
Eleanor Adams is included in the Roll but not the amnesty record. A married woman she was arrested for window smashing at the local Government Board in November 1911. She was fined five shillings or five days in prison. Married to Sitgreaves Adams, an American, the couple lived at 13 Colville Houses, Talbot Road, London. Eleanor was a member of the Church League for Women’s Suffrage.
Searching among the official records for Eleanor also revealed Martha Eleanor Adams who is not included in the amnesty records or on the Roll of Honour. Martha was arrested in March 1912. She was found guilty of smashing a window valued at £15 at the premises of E G Reeve, tailors, in the Strand, London. Eleanor who lived in Brecknock Road, Camden was sentenced to four months in prison. A harsh sentence which, it was reported, was less than it might otherwise have been as she had no previous convictions.

The postcard above has on the reverse: Miss Adams and Miss Constance Bryer, after release from prison, at St Mark’s Vicarage, Tollington Park.

Edith Mary Andrews is included in the Roll but is omitted from the amnesty file other official records note Edith Mercy Andrews and Edith Andrews. These may be one and the same woman and without any detailed contrary information, the details are included one that basis. The first arrest was in November 1910. When the matter came to court, the charges were dismissed. Edith was arrested again in 1911 for obstruction she was fined five shillings or five days imprisonment.
Born in 1882 Edith was from Portslade in Sussex where her father was a newsagent. The 1901 census states that Edith was an art student. Like many suffragettes, she does not appear on the 1911 census. Edith died in 1935.

Laura Armstrong is on the Roll, but there are no official records. This may be a double count for Nora Armstrong who is included on both.
Janet Arthur is on the Roll but not on the amnesty record as this is an alias for Frances Parker. The Suffragette newspaper reported that she had been arrested for attempting to set fire to Burn’s Cottage. The newspapers reported that Janet and another suffragette were found at dawn with large bombs which they were placing against the walls of the cottage. While Janet was arrested, her accomplice evaded arrest. At the police station and at court Janet was reported to have been violent quoting lines from Scots Wha Hae. Another suffragette was sobbing in court having been alternatively fined or sentenced to imprisonment. Consoling her, Janet paid her fine. Janet Arthur was widely believed to have been an alias.

Janet was officially released from prison on 16 July 1914. She had been held on remand pending her trial at Ayr Prison. She went on hunger strike, and seriously ill Janet was moved a hundred miles to Perth Prison apparently with the intention of subjecting her to force-feeding. The fully story of Frances Parker will be included in a later blog.

Constance/Winifred Auld is on the Roll but is also known as Constance Bray, Winifred Auld or a combination of the two and is included in the official records as such.
Robert Atkinson is included in the Roll but not further records have been found.
That concludes all those with a surname beginning with the letter A.