Katrina Howse (born 1958) is an artist and anti-nuclear activist who was a long-time resident at the

Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp was a series of protest camps established to protest against nuclear weapons being placed at RAF Greenham Common in Berkshire, England. The camp began on 5 September 1981 after a Welsh group, Women for Life ...

in England in the 1980s and 1990s.

Early life and education

Howse was born on 24 November 1958. After graduating from the

University of Sheffield The University of Sheffield (informally Sheffield University or TUOS) is a public university, public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. Its history traces back to the foundation of Sheffield Medical School in 1828, Fir ...

, she worked as a community mural artist while also organising women's peace activities, including helping to set up a women's peace camp outside

RAF Waddington Royal Air Force Waddington , commonly known as RAF Waddington, and informally known by its nickname 'Waddo' is a Royal Air Force station located beside the village of Waddington, south of Lincoln, Lincolnshire, in England. The station is th ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

, to protest against the

Falklands War The Falklands War () was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British Overseas Territories, British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and Falkland Islands Dependenci ...

Activism

Howse began living and working full-time at the Greenham peace camp near

Newbury, Berkshire Newbury is a market town in West Berkshire, England, in the valley of the River Kennet. It is south of Oxford, north of Winchester, southeast of Swindon and west of Reading, Berkshire, Reading. It is also where West Berkshire Council is hea ...

in August 1982 and was among the last women to leave the camp on its closure in 2000. She is considered to have been the camp's longest continual resident. During the 18 years she took part in regular nonviolent

direct actions Direct action is a term for economic and political behavior in which participants use agency—for example economic or physical power—to achieve their goals. The aim of direct action is to either obstruct a certain practice (such as a governm ...

and served nineteen prison terms, in Drake Hall,

Bullwood Hall HM Prison Bullwood Hall is a former Category C women's prison and Young Offenders Institution, located in Hockley, Essex, England. The prison was operated by His Majesty's Prison Service. History Bullwood Hall was built in the 1960s originally ...

and Holloway prisons. She and other women cut through fences, and crawled under

barbed wire Roll of modern agricultural barbed wire Barbed wire, also known as barb wire or bob wire (in the Southern and Southwestern United States), is a type of steel fencing wire constructed with sharp edges or points arranged at intervals along the ...

and

razor wire Barbed tape or razor wire is a mesh of metal strips with sharp edges whose purpose is to prevent trespassing by humans or to secure facilities such as prisons where there is a risk of escape. The term "razor wire", through long usage, has gener ...

to try to reach the missile silos. If they reached the missiles they would sing peace songs, dance and spray paint messages on the walls, usually ending up being arrested. The last cruise missiles left Greenham in 5 May 1991 but Howse and others remained, turning their attention to the nearby

Atomic Weapons Establishment } The Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) is a United Kingdom Ministry of Defence research facility responsible for the design, manufacture and support of warheads for the UK's nuclear weapons. It is the successor to the Atomic Weapons Researc ...

s at

Aldermaston Aldermaston ( ) is a village and civil parish in Berkshire, England. In the 2011 census, the parish had a population of 1,015. The village is in the Kennet Valley and bounds Hampshire to the south. It is approximately from Newbury, Basin ...

and at

Burghfield Burghfield is a village and large civil parish in West Berkshire, England, with a boundary with Reading. Burghfield can trace its history back to before the Domesday Book, and was once home to three manors: Burghfield Regis, Burghfield Abbas, ...

, where warheads for the

Trident A trident (), () is a three- pronged spear. It is used for spear fishing and historically as a polearm. As compared to an ordinary spear, the three tines increase the chance that a fish will be struck and decrease the chance that a fish will b ...

weapon system were made. On the day the missiles left, Howse told ''The Guardian'', "We can't celebrate this when there is still so much weaponry and so much killing. Nothing less than the dismantling of the whole military machine will satisfy us". There were by then only a few women living on site at any one time, but others could be called on at short notice to take over or to occupy the camp while others were in court or prison. Howse successfully brought libel charges against

News Group Newspapers News Corp UK & Ireland Limited (trading as News UK, formerly News International and NI Group) is a British newspaper publisher, and a wholly owned subsidiary of the American mass media conglomerate News Corp. It is the current publisher of ...

for printing defamatory articles about her in The Sun and The Daily Star, headlined "Scram Scrounger". She won the case in the

High Court of Justice The High Court of Justice in London, known properly as His Majesty's High Court of Justice in England, together with the Court of Appeal (England and Wales), Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, are the Courts of England and Wales, Senior Cour ...

on 23rd November 1992. She was less successful in a court case in 1996 in which she and others argued that a new fence erected by the

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

was illegal and in 1998 when she attempted to obtain an injunction against West Berkshire Council to stop their plans to build an "enterprise centre" on Greenham Common.

Art

During her time at the camp, Howse continued to create her artworks, mainly in the form of large painted banners or textile murals. She exhibited and sold her work nationally and internationally. She also contributed art for the newsletters published by members of the Yellow Gate camp (the protestors divided into several separate camps named after colours) and created flyers and posters publicising the camp's activities. Her work is included in the publication ''Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp: A History of Non-Violent Resistance 1984-1995'', edited by

Beth Junor Elizabeth (Beth) Junor is a Scottish language therapist, poet, art gallery owner and activist. She was a member of the Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp in the 1980s, which protested against American nuclear-armed cruise missiles being sited in ...

Politics

At the

1997 United Kingdom general election The 1997 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 1 May 1997. The governing Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party led by Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Prime Minister John Major was defeated in a Landslide victory, la ...

, Howse stood as the Socialist Labour Party candidate for Newbury where she received 174 votes.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Howse, Katrina Living people 1958 births British anti-war activists British anti-nuclear activists British women artists Alumni of the University of Sheffield