Mary Raleigh Richardson (1882/3 – 7 November 1961) was a Canadian

suffragette A suffragette was a member of an activist women's organisation in the early 20th century who, under the banner "Votes for Women", fought for the right to vote in public elections in the United Kingdom. The term refers in particular to members ...

active in the women's suffrage movement in the United Kingdom, an

arsonist Arson is the act of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, waterc ...

, a socialist parliamentary candidate and later head of the women's section of the British Union of Fascists (BUF) led by Sir Oswald Mosley.

Life

She grew up in Belleville, Ontario, Canada. In 1898, she travelled to Paris and Italy. She lived in

Bloomsbury Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London, part of the London Borough of Camden in England. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural institution, cultural, intellectual, and educational ...

, London, England, and witnessed Black Friday in London in 1910. Richardson published a novel, ''Matilda and Marcus'' (1915), and three volumes of poetry, ''Symbol Songs'' (1916), ''Wilderness Love Songs'' (1917), and ''Cornish Headlands'' (1920).

Militant actions

At the beginning of the 20th century, the British

movement, frustrated by a failure to achieve equal voting rights for women, began adopting increasingly militant tactics. In particular, the

Women's Social and Political Union 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 ...

(WSPU), led by

Emmeline Pankhurst Emmeline Pankhurst (; Goulden; 15 July 1858 – 14 June 1928) was a British political activist who organised the British suffragette movement and helped women to win in 1918 the women's suffrage, right to vote in United Kingdom of Great Brita ...

, frequently endorsed the use of property destruction to bring attention to the issue of women's suffrage. Richardson was a devoted supporter of Pankhurst and a member of the WSPU. Richardson joined Helen Craggs at the Women's Press shop and told her of the abuse from men (obscene remarks) and customers tearing up materials. Richardson claimed to be at the Epsom races on Derby Day, 4 June 1913, when Emily Davison jumped in front of the King's horse. Emily Davison died in Epsom Cottage Hospital; Mary Richardson was reportedly chased and beaten by an angry mob but was given refuge in Epsom Downs station by a railway porter. She committed a number of acts of arson, smashed windows at the

Home Office The Home Office (HO), also known (especially in official papers and when referred to in Parliament) as the Home Department, is the United Kingdom's interior ministry. It is responsible for public safety and policing, border security, immigr ...

and

bomb A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-transmitted mechan ...

ed a railway station. She was arrested nine times, receiving prison terms totalling more than three years. She was one of the first two women force-fed for hunger-striking, then released to recover and be re-arrested under the 1913 Cat and Mouse Act, Prisoners (Temporary Discharge for Ill Health) Act 1913, serving her sentences in HM Prison Holloway. Richardson was given the Hunger Strike Medal 'for Valour' by WSPU, and was proud of being awarded more bars for strikes than anyone else. After one of her hunger strikes Richardson recovered at the cottage of Lillian Dove-Willcox in the Wye valley. She was devoted to Dove-Willcox and wrote the poem ''The Translation of the Love I Bear Lillian Dove''.

Damaging the ''Rokeby Venus''

On 10 March 1914 Richardson entered the

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of more than 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current di ...

in London to attack a painting by Velázquez, the '' Rokeby Venus'', using a chopper she smuggled into the gallery. She wrote a brief statement explaining her actions to the WSPU which was published by the press:

Member of British Union of Fascists

In 1932, after forming the belief that fascism was the "only path to a 'Greater Britain,'" Richardson joined the British Union of Fascists (BUF), led by Sir Oswald Mosley. She claimed that "I was first attracted to the Blackshirts because I saw in them the courage, the action, the loyalty, the gift of service and the ability to serve which I had known in the suffragette movement". Richardson rose quickly through the BUF ranks and by 1934 was Chief Organiser for the Women's Section of the party. She left within two years after becoming disillusioned with the sincerity of its policy on women. Two other prominent suffragette leaders to attain high office in the BUF were Norah Elam and Commandant Mary Sophia Allen.

Later life

In 1930, she adopted a young baby boy, named Roger Robert, to whom she gave her surname. Richardson published her autobiography, '' Laugh a Defiance'', in 1953. She died at her flat in

Hastings Hastings ( ) is a seaside town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to th ...

Life

Militant actions

Damaging the ''Rokeby Venus''

Member of British Union of Fascists

Later life

See also

References

Citations

Sources

Further reading