Mrs Marion Holmes

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

Database linked sources: https://www.suffrageresources.org.uk/resource/3229/the-womens-freedom-league

Family information: Married in 1888 and had two children.

Additional Information: In 1907, Marion was the president of the Croydon branch of the WSPU. In February 1907, she took part in a deputation to the House of Commons, led by Women's Freedom League (WFL) leader Charlotte Despard. She was arrested and sentenced to two weeks' imprisonment as a first class political prisoner. By the end of that year, the entire Croydon branch had transferred allegience to the WFL, who had formed as a breakaway society from the WSPU. Marion became a national executive member of the WFL, and in 1909 was also co-editor of its newly launched newspaper The Vote. Despite family commitments, like many suffrage campaigners, Marion travelled around the country giving speeches and helping to support candidates for election that promised to support women's suffrage in Parliament. She was arrested again in 1908 for having been present at a demonstration at the House of Commons, where Muriel Matters and Helen Fox had chained themselves to the grille in the Ladies Gallery. She was sentenced, but her fine was paid and so she was released. She spent much of the rest of the campaign touring and speaking, including about the industrial issues relating to the women's movement and the vote. She also wrote a few biographies for the WFL newspaper about notable women such as Florence Nightingale and Frances Buss (who signed the 1866 petition in favour of women's suffrage). She also wrote theatre performances put on by the Actresses Franchise League (AFL) and the Women Writers Suffrage League (WWSL). She kept a suffrage scrapbook, which is now at the Museum of London.

Other Suffrage Activities: In about 1895, Marion was living in Margate, Kent, and co-founded the Margate Pioneer Society, which sought to better the 'education of women in laws pertaining to their sex, to instil a feeling of comradeship among women and to endeavour to ameliorate class distinction'. All issues related to women were discussed and the society survived until 1997.