Dora Thewlis

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Thewlis' arrest in 1907

Dora Thewlis (* 1890 in Honley , West Yorkshire , † 1976 in Australia ) was a British textile worker and suffragette , who became known in the media as the baby suffragette .

Life

Thewlis was born as one of seven children to James and Eliza Thewlis near Huddersfield , where she grew up. Both parents worked in a local textile factory and since money was always tight, Dora, like her older sister Mary, had to help in the factory from the age of ten. Her schooling ended when she was twelve years old. Still, Thewlis was not uneducated. According to her mother, an active suffragette, she read the newspaper regularly from the age of seven and was able to express a political point of view independently.

Thewlis soon felt attracted to the Independent Labor Party and became an active member at a young age. In 1906 she heard the well-known suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst give a speech in Huddersfield. Thewlis was very impressed by this and in December of the same year she joined Pankhurst's organization, the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU).

On March 19, 1907, a group of Yorkshire women activists went to London to take part in a march on Parliament. There, however, over 500 police officers opposed the women's rights activists and 75 women were arrested, including Thewlis, who was just 16 years old. She had to spend a total of six days in Holloway Prison .

The day after her arrest, a picture appeared on the front page of the Daily Mirror showing Thewlis, with disheveled hair and slipped skirt, being led away by two police officers. The photo was later used as a motif for a postcard. In the press she received the nickname Baby Suffragette , which she refused because at almost 18 she would have reached a decent age for a lady.

Thewlis received no support from the WSPU during her week in prison. Following her action, she largely withdrew from the active fight for women's suffrage. In 1914 she emigrated to Australia, where she married in 1918 and subsequently worked as a weaver. She never returned to the UK until her death in 1976.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c The Baby Suffragette , article on mirror.co.uk from June 10, 2006, accessed on July 27, 2015.
  2. ↑ Working Class Heroines # 2: Dora Thewli's article on haveabitofclass.worldpress.com from January 18, 2015, accessed on July 27, 2015
  3. ↑ a b Dora Thewlis: teenage suffragette article on examiner.co.uk from April 23, 2011, accessed on July 27, 2015
  4. ↑ a b Dora Thewlis: The Lost Suffragette Article on independent.co.uk of May 8, 2006, accessed July 27, 2015
  5. ↑ a b Revolting Women: Dora Thewlis, Teenage Working Class Suffragette article on badreputations.org.uk from September 13, 2011, accessed on July 27, 2015 (Eng.)
personal data
SURNAME Thewlis, Dora
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Baby suffragette
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British textile worker and suffragette
DATE OF BIRTH 1890
PLACE OF BIRTH Honley , West Yorkshire
DATE OF DEATH 1976
Place of death Australia