Miss Mary Dawes Thompson
Gender: Female
Marital Status: Single
Born: 1866
Died: 1960
Place of birth: Berwick on Tweed, Northumberland, England
Education: Berwick Corporations Academy; Royal Holloway College
Occupation: Teacher
Main Suffrage Society: WSPU
Other Societies: NUWSS; US
Arrest Record: Yes
Recorded Entries: 1
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 Margaret Thompson, suffragette.
Additional Information: Mary joined the NUWSS in 1904 following a meeting where Emily Davies was speaker. Like her sister, Margaret Thompson, she later joined the WSPU and was arrested for playing a barrel-organ in London's Oxford Street to raise funds for the society. She was given a fine, which she refused to pay, and so she was due to have her goods seized instead. However, the chairman of the Girl's Public Day School Trust (for whom she taught in South Hampstead) sent her a cheque to cover the fine. Touched by the gesture, Mary felt unable to refuse and the fine was paid. She later joined the United Suffragists (US) who, unlike the WSPU, continued to work towards women's suffrage during the First World War.