Violet Mary Doudney

Violet Mary Doudney (5 March 1889 – 14 January 1952) was a teacher and militant suffragette[1] who went on hunger strike in Holloway Prison where she was force-fed. She was awarded the Hunger Strike Medal by the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU).

Violet Mary Doudney at St Hilda's College (c1921)

Early life

Violet Doudney was born in 1889 in Barkby in Leicestershire, the daughter of Laura Annie née Rice (1858–1939) and George Richard Doudney (1859–1913), a corn merchant.[2] She matriculated at St Hilda's College at the University of Oxford in 1908, from where she graduated in 1911 aged 21.[3]

Militancy

The following year in 1912 she moved to London with the intention of becoming a teacher. Here she joined the Women's Social and Political Union and took part in a window-smashing campaign of the homes of senior politicians to protest against the treatment of suffragette prisoners who were on hunger strike. On 28 June 1912 Doudney smashed the windows at the home of Home Secretary Reginald McKenna following which she was arrested and taken before magistrates the next morning.[4] In court she was asked if she regretted her actions; she replied that she did not and had taken the action in protest against the Home Secretary's policies. Sentenced to two months hard labour in Holloway Prison she went on hunger strike and despite her frailty was force-fed. On her release from prison she was awarded a Hunger Strike Medal by Emmeline Pankhurst.[5]

Doudney's influential Leicestershire businessman father and her mother wrote to the Home Secretary requesting her early release from prison due to her ill health, stating that if the request was granted they would ensure she would take no further part in suffragette campaigns. When she discovered why she had been released from prison after only three weeks the enraged Violet Doudney wrote at once to the Home Secretary pointing out that as a 23-year-old woman she was capable of making her own decisions, adding:[5]

"I understand that you ordered my release from H.M Prison Holloway on account of an undertaking given by my parents that I would do no more militant work. I wish you to understand that no pledge of any kind whatsoever has been even offered to me and that I have give no undertaking whatsoever. Moveover I am of age and I do not consider myself in any way bound by any pledge given without my knowledge or consent and I certainly intend to take, "militant" or otherwise which may appear necessary to me to be necessary and justifiable in advancing a cause which I have at heart... If upon receipt of this letter you think you have released me on false pretences and wish me to return to Holloway I am willing to do so."[5]

She did not receive a reply and undertook secretarial work for the suffragette cause for the next two years before becoming a teacher of English Literature and drama in 1914, a career she followed for 25 years.

Later years

She married architect Sidney Toy (1875-1967) in 1929[6] and with him had three sons, including John Toy (1930-). In 2018 John Toy recalled: "My father was a typical Victorian man and wasn’t in favour of women having the vote. He asked her not to talk about this episode and she didn’t tell us until the day the Second World War broke out. I’m very proud of what she did. She always taught us to be angry at any injustices.”[5] In 1939 she retired from teaching at which time she and her husband were living in the City of London near the Temple Church where they were both ARP Wardens, with Violet Toy also undertaking first-aid duties.[7]

Violet Mary Toy died in Epsom in Surrey in 1952.[8]

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References
  1. Violet Mary Doudney - Women's Suffrage: History and Citizenship Resources for Schools
  2. 1891 England Census for Violet M Doudney - Leicestershire, Bushby, District 7 - Ancestry.com (subscription required)
  3. Violet Mary Toy received a medal from Emmeline Pankhurst for joining the hunger strike in Holloway Prison - St Hilda's College, University of Oxford website
  4. England, Suffragettes Arrested, 1906-1914 for Violet Doudney - HO 45/24665: Suffragettes: Amnesty of August 1914: Index of Women Arrested, 1906-1914 - Ancestry.com (subscription required)
  5. Scarborough man tells mother's suffragette story; A Scarborough man has told the astonishing tale of how his mother joined the suffragettes and was sent to prison for smashing the home secretary's window - The Scarborough News - 6 February 2018
  6. England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916-2005 for Violet M Doudney - 1929, Q3-Jul-Aug-Sep - Ancestry.com (subscription required)
  7. 1939 England and Wales Register for Violet M Toy - London, City of London - Ancestry.com (subscription required)
  8. England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1995 for Violet Mary Toy (1952) - Ancestry.com (subscription required)
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