Bertha Bacon | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1866 Abbess Roding, Essex, England |
| Died | 19 April 1922 (aged 55–56) Hornchurch, Essex, England |
| Organization(s) | Women's Social and Political Union, Women's Tax Resistance League |
Bertha Bacon (née Thurgood, 1866–19 April 1922)[1] was a British suffragette and member of the Women's Tax Resistance League.
Life
[edit]Bacon was born in 1866 in Abbess Roding, Essex.[2] She was one of eight children.[3]
Bacon was a suffragette and member of the Wimbledon branch of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU).[4] She was arrested on 24 November 1911, for smashing three windows of the dining room at the Westminster Palace Hotel,[1][5] valued at £5.[3] The Bishop of Gloucester had been sitting next to a window that was smashed.[3] She explained that she had broken the windows because "It was my duty. There is a wave of feminine indignation sweeping over the country and we cannot help it."[4] She was fined £5 or twenty one days imprisonment and £4 damages.[1]
After her release from prison, she also became a member of the Women's Tax Resistance League, which used tax resistance to protest against the disenfranchisement of women. In April 1913, in Romford, Essex, a gold ring set with a coral and two pearls was auctioned off to pay her tax bill.[3]
She died in 1922 at Hornchurch, Essex.[5]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c "THE LIVES AND ACTIONS OF SUFFRAGETTES AND SUFFRAGISTS: Bacon and Baines". Uncover Your Ancestors. 12 April 2015. Retrieved 6 November 2024.
- ^ "Mrs Bertha Bacon / Database - Women's Suffrage Resources". www.suffrageresources.org.uk. Retrieved 18 February 2025.
- ^ a b c d "Bertha Bacon, Jennie, George and George Wilfred Baines". RESEARCHING SUFFRAGETTES AND SUFFRAGISTS. Retrieved 6 November 2024.
- ^ a b "Wimbledon Suffragettes in Court". Wimbledon News. 2 December 1911. p. 2. Retrieved 18 February 2025.
- ^ a b Suffragettes: Amnesty of August 1914: Index of Women Arrested 1906-1914. HO 45/24665. The National Archives of the UK, Kew, Surrey, England.