Person    | Female  Born 31/5/1875  Died 29/7/1953

Rosa May Billinghurst

Suffragette. Born in Lewisham. As a child, she survived poliomyelitis and had to use crutches or a tricycle, modified as a wheelchair. She was active in the women's suffrage movement and founded the Greenwich branch of the Women's Social and Political Union. During the window-smashing campaign in March 1912, she apparently hid stones beneath the rug that covered her knees.

She was imprisoned twice and was force-fed when she went on hunger strike. In 1913 she chained herself to the gates of Buckingham Palace, and took part in the mass deputation of suffragettes to petition King George V in 1914. Though she was not arrested, it is said that two policemen deliberately tipped her out of her wheelchair. Worked for Christabel Pankhurst’s campaign in the 1918 election then later joined Women’s Freedom League and Suffragette Fellowship. Died in a hospital in Twickenham.

Credit for this entry to: Alan Patient of www.plaquesoflondon.co.uk

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Rosa May Billinghurst

Commemorated ati

Fawcett frieze - 37, Billinghurst

Rosa May Billinghurst, 1875 - 1953

Read More

Votes for Women campaign hommage

The mural was due to be completed in 2018, to mark the centenary of votes for...

Read More

Other Subjects

Dorothy Richardson

Dorothy Richardson

Author and journalist.  Born Abingdon and brought up in Putney. Her father was bankrupt and her mother had died by suicide by the time Dorothy was 22. Moved to Bloomsbury in 1896 and while working ...

Person, Gender Issues, Literature

1 memorial
Dr. Flora Murray

Dr. Flora Murray

Born near Dumfries, Scotland. The picture source explains that the bag was embroidered by a soldier patient c.1917 and that it depicts either Flora or her work and life partner Dr Louisa Garrett An...

Person, Gender Issues, Medicine, Scotland

1 memorial
Pamela Colman Smith

Pamela Colman Smith

A British-American occultist, artist, illustrator, writer and storyteller. Most famous for the Rider-Waite-Smith tarot, first published 1910, she created the standard classic deck of the English-sp...

Person, Art, Craft / Design, Gender Issues, Literature, Paranormal, Jamaica, USA

1 memorial
Ellen Wilkinson

Ellen Wilkinson

NUWSS in Manchester, Labour MP for Jarrow. As Jarrow MP she played a prominent role in the 1936 Jarrow March. Minister of Education from July 1945 until her death. Born Manchester. Had a close per...

Person, Gender Issues, Politics & Administration

1 memorial
Victims of sexual violence and their children

Victims of sexual violence and their children

Victims of sexual violence and their children in conflict around the world and their children, including the Lai Dai Han of Vietnam.

Group, Gender Issues, Tragedy

1 memorial