Theresa Garnett

Theresa Garnett (17 May 1888 – 24 May 1966) was a British suffragette. She was a serial protester who sometimes went by the name 'Annie O'Sullivan',[1] was jailed and then still refused to cooperate. She assaulted Winston Churchill while carrying a whip. She retired from her militancy after the suffragette movement decided to commit arson as part of its protests. She was honorary editor of a women's right's magazine in 1960.

Theresa Garnett
Garnett in 1909
Born(1888-05-17)17 May 1888
Leeds, England
Died24 May 1966(1966-05-24) (aged 78)
Whittington Hospital, London, England
NationalityBritish
Known forMilitancy and assaulting Winston Churchill

Biography

Theresa Garnett was born in Leeds in 1888,[2] daughter to Joshua Garnett and Frances Theresa Garnett[3] who died when baby Theresa was 21 days old of 'puerperal mania' in the West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum near Wakefield.[1] Garnett was brought up by her paternal grandparents, educated at a convent school,[4] and later worked for some time as a pupil-teacher.

In 1907, she joined the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) after being inspired by a speech given by Adela Pankhurst.[5] In April 1909, she sparked some interest by running about with a whistle before chaining herself, along with four other activists, to a statue in the Central Lobby of the Houses of Parliament to protest against a law forbidding precisely this kind of thing - disorderly conduct within the Palace of Westminster when the Parliament was in session.[1] They were not charged.

In June 1909, Garnett and Lillian Dove Willcox were arrested during another attempt to 'rush' the House of Commons and convicted of assaulting a warder whilst in Holloway Prison and were given another 10 day sentence.[6]

Suffragettes Annie Kenney and Theresa Garnett on 7 November 1909[7]

On 7 November 1909 she was invited to Eagle House at Batheaston in Somerset. Eagle house was known as "Suffragette's Rest" because of its support for the movement. It was the home of fellow suffragette's Mary Blathwayt and Emily, her mother. Emily had decided to plant a tree to commemorate every woman who went to prison for the cause. These trees came to be known as "Annie's Arboretum" after Annie Kenney who was the local organiser. Garnett planted a Taxus Baccata Elegantissima and a lead plaque was installed to record the event. Emily's husband was a keen photographer and recorded the event.[7]

The following week, on 14 November 1909,[3] Garnett assaulted Winston Churchill at the Bristol Temple Meads railway station with a dogwhip, cutting his face.[8] Arrested, she was sentenced to a month in prison at the HM Prison Bristol for disturbing the peace (Churchill did not press charges for the assault itself). She went on a hunger strike, was force-fed, tried to put her cell on fire, and finished her time in hospital.[9] She received for her actions, from the WSPU, a brooch for her imprisonment, and a medal of honor the Hunger Strike Medal for 'Valour' in the hunger strike.[10] In 1910, she became organizer for the WSPU in Camberwell, but left the Union after some disagreement about the WPSU's arson campaign.

During World War I she worked as a sister at the Royal London Hospital and in served on the Western Front with the Civil Hospital Reserve and was commended for her 'gallant and distinguished service in the field'[1] in France.[9] She stayed favorable to the feminist movement,[9] joined the Six Point Group[1] and becoming honorary editor for the Women's Freedom League bulletin in 1960.[4] She enjoyed connecting with the Suffragette Fellowship[1].

Garnett died in 1966,[2] leaving very little in her estate.[4]

Bibliography
  • Elizabeth Crawford, The Women's Suffrage Movement: A Reference Guide, 1866–1928, Routledge, 2001, p. 237 ISBN 978-0-415-23926-4
gollark: ĦEŁŁØ, <@!298732821495939072>.
gollark: But schools really do like the whole "memorizing random stuff" thing.
gollark: You would HOPE so.
gollark: My school (not university, I think the equivalent is high school or something elsewhere) is handling it *somewhat* okay, but possibly partly because it would mostly be revision for the (now cancelled) GCSEs anyway at this point.
gollark: Surely at least part of the point of the grades you get from school/whatever is to show that you're actually qualified to do whatever subject it is.

References
  1. Atkinson, Diane (2018). Rise up, women! : the remarkable lives of the suffragettes. London: Bloomsbury. pp. 143, 538. ISBN 978-1-4088-4404-5. OCLC 1016848621.
  2. Elizabeth Crawford, ‘Garnett, (Frances) Theresa (1888–1966)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 30 Oct 2017
  3. Women of the right spirit: paid organisers of the women's social and political union (WSPU) 1904-18, by Krista Cowman
  4. Women's Suffrage Movement: A Reference Guide 1866-1928, by Elizabeth Crawford
  5. 13 novembre 1909. Jeune ministre, Winston Churchill est agressé par la suffragette Theresa Garnett, on lepoint.fr
  6. Elizabeth Crawford (2001). The Women's Suffrage Movement: A Reference Guide, 1866-1928. Psychology Press. pp. 709–. ISBN 978-0-415-23926-4.
  7. Taxus Baccata Elegantissima 1909, BathinTime.co.uk, Retrieved 30 October 2017
  8. "Suffragist outrage: Winston Churchill struck with a dog whip - archive, 15, November 1909". The Guardian. 15 November 2019. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
  9. Theresa Garnett, biography on Spartacus Educational.
  10. Description of her photography by Col. Linley Blathwayt
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