Dorothy Hartopp Radcliffe (16 September 1887 – 1959) was a British suffragette, member of the WSPU, and later a Carmelite nun.

Life

Radcliffe was born on 16 September 1887 in

Hersham Hersham is a suburban village in Surrey, within the M25 and the Greater London Built-up Area. It has a mixture of low and high rise housing and has four technology/trading estates. Hersham is contiguous with Walton-on-Thames, its post town, t ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, one of six children of Francis and Helen Radcliffe. Radcliffe was christened at St Michael and All Angels Anglican Church, Paddington, on 16 November 1887, with her full name being recorded as Dorothy Hartopp Yonge Radcliffe. Radcliffe is found contributing small amounts of money to the £20,000 fund in the 6 February 1908 issue of ''Votes for Women'', again in the 22 October 1908 issue and the £250,000 fund in the 2 January 1914 issue of '' The Suffragette''. These contributions do not reflect her active membership of the

WSPU The Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) was a women-only political movement and leading militant organisation campaigning for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom founded in 1903. Known from 1906 as the suffragettes, its membership and p ...

. Radcliffe appears in several photographs held by the

Museum of London London Museum (known from 1976 to 2024 as the Museum of London) is a museum in London, covering the history of the city from prehistoric to modern times, with a particular focus on social history. The Museum of London was formed in 1976 by ama ...

. She was the flag bearer at the

Women's Sunday Women's Sunday was a suffragette march and rally held in London on 21 June 1908. Organised by Emmeline Pankhurst's Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) to persuade the Liberal government, 1905–1915, Liberal government to support Women's s ...

March on 21 June 1908, leading the procession which formed up on Victoria Embankment to march to Hyde Park. A Miss Radcliffe was secretary of the procession committee based at 400 King's Road, Chelsea, working with Chief Marshall

Florence Haig Florence Eliza Haig (1856–1952) was a Scottish artist and suffragette who was decorated for imprisonments and hunger strikes. Biography Haig was born in 1856. Her father was a Berwickshire barrister and she had two sisters, Cecilia and Evelyn. ...

. left, Radcliffe at left Another picture from a week later shows Radcliffe at the front of a line of women with Dora Beedham,

Hilda Dallas Hilda Mary Dallas (1878–1958) was a British artist and a suffragette who designed suffrage posters and cards and took a leadership role for the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU). A pacifist, she raised funds from a cross-section of so ...

and

Charlotte Marsh Charlotte Augusta Leopoldine Marsh (3 March 1887 – 21 April 1961), known as Charlie Marsh, was a militant British suffragette. She was a paid organiser of the Women's Social and Political Union and is one of the first women to be force fed d ...

promoting the Women's Parliament on 30 June 1908. The final photograph shows her with

and

Elsa Gye Elsa Gye (1881–1943) was a music student at Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Guildhall who became a suffragette and involved in disruptive events in London and Scotland and was imprisoned for the cause of women's suffrage. She married th ...

, preparing to welcome the release of

Emmeline ''Emmeline, The Orphan of the Castle'' is the first novel written by English writer Charlotte Smith; it was published in 1788. A Cinderella story in which the heroine stands outside the traditional economic structures of English society and ...

and

Christabel Pankhurst Dame Christabel Harriette Pankhurst (; 22 September 1880 – 13 February 1958) was a British suffragette born in Manchester, England. A co-founder of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), she directed Suffragette bombing and arson ca ...

from jail in December 1908. She was Banner Marshal for the university graduates in the Women's March to the

Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London, England. It has a seating capacity of 5,272. Since the hall's opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from many performance genre ...

which took place on 18 June 1910. Radcliffe was Banner and Colour Captain leading the Empire Pageant for the

Women's Coronation Procession The Women's Coronation Procession was a suffragette march through London, England, on 17 June 1911, just before the Coronation of George V and Mary, demanding women's suffrage in the coronation year. The march was organised by the Women's Socia ...

on 17 June 1911. She cannot be found in the

1911 Census The United Kingdom Census 1911 of 2 April 1911 was the 12th nationwide census conducted in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The total population of the United Kingdom was approximately 45,221,000, with 36,070,000 recorded in England ...

when suffragettes refused to be counted. Radcliffe was imprisoned during her suffrage campaigning. Her name appears on the Suffragette Roll of Honour, with her surname mis-spelt as Radclyffe. She used a false name in 1913, calling herself 'Heather Mitchell' in the list of fictitious names used by the suffragettes in 1913. She does not appear on the original arrest records as Dorothy Radcliffe, but a 'Hester Mitchell' is recorded and could be a misspelling. At some point Radcliffe converted to

Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

and became a nun. She is recorded in the 1939 Census as being an enclosed nun at the

Carmelite The Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel (; abbreviated OCarm), known as the Carmelites or sometimes by synecdoche known simply as Carmel, is a mendicant order in the Catholic Church for both men and women. Histo ...

Monastery, Rushmere, near Ipswich in Suffolk. The Carmelites moved from there to their present convent at

Quidenham Quidenham is a small rural village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It covers an area of and had a population of 576 in 183 households at the 2001 census,

, Norfolk, in 1948. Radcliffe died there in early 1959 at the age of 71.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Radcliffe, Dorothy Hartopp 1887 births 1959 deaths Carmelite nuns Converts to Roman Catholicism English suffragists People from Hersham People from Quidenham