Why Women Teachers Break Windows: The Teacher who Hid Her Identity to Become a Militant

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Permalink Reply by Roy aka Smiffy yesterday

Toffee hammers (used to break up the hard brittle toffee of the period) were sometimes carried by militant suffragettes to break windows. The little metal hammers, given away with toffee bars were small and could be concealed in a handbag they could not considered an offensive weapon.

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Permalink Reply by Hugh yesterday

Wonderful snippet. Thanks, Roy.

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Permalink Reply by John Leo Waters 13 hours ago

At from a few years ago on 'Archway Revisited' face book page which may be of interest -

THE 'WINDOW SMASHING BRIGADE'

PLEASANCE PENDRED

Kate Pleasance Jackson (1864 - 1948) was born in Lutterworth, Leicestershire in 1864, the daughter of a grocer. She was educated at a boarding school in Oxford before becoming a teacher. As a young woman she moved to London with her father who had become a widower. They set up home in a small terraced house at 46, Langdon Park Road where they were boarders.

She soon became an active member of the suffragette movement and for several years she was the Literature Secretary for the Hornsey Branch of the Womens Social and Political Union (changed to North Islington Branch in 1910).

She adopted the name of Pleasance Pendred (her mother's maiden name was Pendred) throughout her political activities, presumably because her employers would not be very pleased to find out she was an activist.

As Pleasance Pendred she campaigned actively for the cause of equality for women. She collected money and donations as well as speaking at meetings. She eventually resigned her teaching post and took up a more militant stance with the suffragettes. Although there is no record of which school she taught the probability is that at some time she was a teacher at St Mark's in Sussex Way.

On 18th November 1910 the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), the main militant suffragette organisation, had called a ‘Women’s Parliament’ to challenge the legitimacy of the Westminster Parliament which excluded all women.

They had recently discovered that the Prime Minister, Herbert Asquith, who was deeply hostile to women’s suffrage, had announced that no more time would be given to a Bill (Conciliation Bill) which would give the vote to some women.

In 1910 the WSPU sent a deputation of 300 women to the House of Commons to protest against the Prime Minister Herbert Asquith's refusal to allow time to debate a Bill giving women equal rights.

They were met by a heavy police presence and for six hours there was a stand off during which the police used excessive force against many of the protestors. Many women were punched, batoned and even sexually abused in full view of the Parliament building. Two women later died from injuries received. When the Daily Mirror published a picture of Ada Wright, a protestor, lying on the ground the government attempted to stop the paper being published and ordered the negative to be destroyed.

The incident came to be known as Black Friday and the suffragettes were even more incensed when the Home Secretary, Winston Churchill refused to instigate a Government inquiry into the incident.

The suffragettes decided to embark on a campaign of window smashing in the West End as a new tactic. The idea being that by smashing windows and being arrested it would highlight their cause without risking police violence.

In January 1913 Pleasance and three other women were arrested for smashing the windows of various shops in Victoria Street and at Government offices in Westminster. She was sentenced to four months hard labour in Holloway Prison. Addressing the jury (all men) she said ;-

"Gentlemen, I want you to see that I am not the kind of woman to break the civil laws without a strong conscientious motive. You will, therefore, pardon my telling you that I have led a blameless life. For more than 25 years I have been a class mistress in one of the large London schools. In January, when I resigned, I received proofs of the deepest appreciation from my colleagues, superiors and employers. It is with the deepest repugnance that I realize no constitutional method will bring women's suffrage. We women believe that the vote used as we mean to use it will be a mighty aid in preventing moral evils."

Pleasance Pendred went on to complain about the treatment received by herself and the other suffragettes arrested with her at Rochester Row Police Station. She claimed that their cells had a plank bed, the sanitary arrangements were disgusting and that five times during the night a male warder had come into her cell.

Her imprisonment caused the Rev. F.M. Green, vicar of St Marks', Tollington Way to write to the press protesting at her imprisonment stating that Pleasance Pendred had an exemplary and admirable character and that she had served for years as a school mistress at a school where he was once manager.

In Holloway Prison she went on hunger strike for two months as a consequence of which she was force-fed, causing her to become ill.

Women on hunger strike were regularly force-fed, their mouths held open by steel gags whilst a rubber tube was forced down their nose or throat. This was a harrowing procedure that, at best induced vomiting and at worst could be life threatening.

In April 1913 The Suffragette newspaper reported : "On her partial recovery, Miss Pendred who is still confined to her bed, continued the hunger strike, and is now being fed by cup." when she was released from prison the WSPU held a welcome picnic in her honour and later she was awarded 'The Hunger Strike Medal' for outstanding bravery.

Pleasance Pendred continued to support the cause and held talks in support of her local WSPU. In 1913 she published an article 'Why Women Teachers Break Windows' which was published in initially in Woman's Press and then in The Daily Herald.

Very little is known of what happened to Pleasance Pendred in later life. presumably she reverted to her 'proper' name - Kate Pleasance Jackson. She never married and died in Lewes in 1948

CONSTANCE ELIZABETH BRYER

Constance Elizabeth Bryer (July 1870 – 12 July 1952) was born in Islington in 1870. She was the eldest of seven children born to Thomas and Elizabeth Bryer. The family home was at 49 Tufnell Park Road. Constance became a well known classical violinist but became better known as a campaigner for women's rights

Bryer joined the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) and the Church League for Women's Suffrage (CLWS), abandoning her career as a musician to campaign for women's rights.

She became the Secretary for North Islington branch of the WSPU and as such would certainly have known Pleasance Pendred. She was involved in 'Black Friday' in 1910, arrested for obstruction but later discharged. She illegally 'evaded' the 1911 census survey by not being away from her family home at 49, Tufnell Park Road in London when officials called to record information. She was arrested again in 1911 and sentenced to five days imprisonment for protesting at the Government's refusal to support the Conciliation Bill which would have given the vote to many women.

In 1912 the North Islington Branch moved into a permanent office in St Thomas Road, Finsbury Park. Up until that time Constance had overseen the running of the Union from her home.

In May Constance Bryer joined the window smashing campaign and she was arrested and sentenced to four months in HM Prison Birmingham for breaking windows on Regent Street . In prison she went on hunger strike.

Constance wrote a verse whilst in prison:

Suffragettes we sit and sew

Sew and sit and sit and sew

Twenty-five are we:

Making shirts and socks for men

Cannot get away from them

Even here you see

She was later awarded 'The Hunger Strike Medal' for outstanding bravery.

During World War II she was bombed out of her home and was forced to take rooms with her sister in St Johns Wood.

Constance Bryer died aged 82 in July 1952 at the Whittington Hospital

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