Mrs Frances Elizabeth Rowe

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: Married Louis Thompson Rowe, a solicitor, in 1883.

Additional Information: Frances joined the Central Society for Women's Suffrage (CSWS) and, afterwards, the largest and law-abiding suffrage society the NUWSS. She became secretary of the Hammersmith NUWSS branch in 1905 and took part in a deputation to the House of Commons led by Annie Kenney and Dora Montefiore. Frances became a vocal advocate for the WSPU and, in 1907, tried to turn her NUWSS branch into a WSPU one. This failed, so she broke away and formed a new local WSPU branch. Not long afterwards, she was arrested at a deputation and chose imprisonment rather than paying a fine, but was released when this was paid by her family, who disapproved of her action. She was also arrested for smashing windows at the National Bank in London, having dropped a bag of stones nearby. She was sentenced to two months in prison. Frances wanted to change attitudes to women because she said that 'Men regard us partly as stupid angels and partly as silly children.' Frances was also a member of the Women's Tax Resistance League (WTRL) and had her goods seized in lieu of her debt for refusing to pay taxes.