Miss Violet Ann Bland
Gender: Female
Marital Status: Single
Born: 1863
Died: 1940
Place of birth: Bayston Hill, Shropshire, England
Occupation: Kitchen maid; later head of the Ladies College of Domestic Science, Bristol; proprieter of guest house, London
Main Suffrage Society: WSPU
Arrest Record: Yes
Recorded Entries: 3
Other sources: http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C4769024
https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/dudmaston/features/kitchen-maid-to-suffragette-violets-story-emerges
https://goo.gl/wTWRNp
Elizabeth Crawford, The Women's Suffrage Movement: A Reference Guide 1866?1928 (1999)
Database linked sources: https://www.suffrageresources.org.uk/activity/3214/how-effective-was-the-votes-for-women-campaign-in-bristol
Additional Information: Violet became an active member of the Bristol branch of the WSPU. By 1909, she was advertising her Ladies College at 'Henley Grove' as potential accommodation for paying guests in the WSPU's newspaper Votes for Women. She provided hospitality for WSPU gatherings on numerous occasions, offering '15 acres' with croquet and Swedish gymnastics. Her garden was described as lavishly decorated for the reception of suffragettes Lillian Dove-Wilcox and others on their release from prison. Clearly a canny businesswoman, Violet charged for her suffragette hospitality, including for cups of tea. She moved to London in 1910, where she ran a guest house in the West End until 1935. There she was arrested during 'Black Friday' but, like many others, was discharged. In 1912, she was arrested for breaking windows in frustration at having paid 'rates and taxes to the tune of nearly £1 a week for twenty years' and still without a vote. She was sentenced to four months in prison, served in Aylesbury Prison, Buckinghamshire, where she went on hunger strike and was forcibly fed. She gave a description of this experience to the Votes for Women newspaper on 5 July 1912.
Other Suffrage Activities: In 1915, Violet adopted four young children while running her guest house in London. A Fund for Providing Comforts for Serbian Soldiers and Prisoners in 1917, as a result of the war, was based at the same address as Violet's guest house, and it is likely that she was directly involved with the fund.