Miss Edith Elizabeth Downing

Other sources: http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C4769024
Elizabeth Crawford, The Women's Suffrage Movement: A Reference Guide 1866?1928 (1999)

Family information: Sister to Caroline Downing, a WSPU member.

Additional Information: Edith was a subscriber to the Central Society for Women's Suffrage (CSWS) in 1903 and its successor, the London Society for Women's Suffrage (LSWS), between 1906 and 1907. She joined the WSPU Chelsea branch, along with her sister Caroline, in 1908, writing later that this was a result of the 'futility of quiet work'. An artist and sculptor, Edith sold some statuettes in 1907, donating funds from their sale to the WSPU. The idea then followed to make statuettes of the WSPU's leading figures, such as Christabel Pankhurst and Annie Kenney. She sold some of these for 5 and 2 guineas a piece at the WSPU Prince's Skating Rink Exhibition in 1909. Edith worked with other artists to design numerous WSPU processions, which were all carefully choreographed, and she was also prepared to take militant action in support of the cause. She was arrested in November 1910 while taking part in the 'Black Friday' demonstration, although she was released without charge. Later that month she was arrested for throwing a stone through a window of a government building and was given seven days in prison. She broke a window again in 1912 as part of the WSPU window-smashing campaign. She chose the windows of a fine art dealership in London's Regent Street ? could this also have been personal? She was imprisoned in Holloway, went on hunger strike and, like many other women, was forcibly fed.