WOMEN'S SOCIAL AND POLITICAL UNION.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Suffragette badge. Original badge, bearing an inscription on the paper backing in a childish hand: "N. Prout, 1910". This probably stands for "Nell (Eleanor) Prout", the elder daughter of Victor and Isabel Prout, who were active in the Palmers Green suffragette movement. Nell was just 12 years old in 1910.Victor and Isabel may have been inspired to engage with women's suffrage groups by Victor's work as an illustrator for The Sphere newspaper, where he covered social issues including the plight of overworked and underpaid female workers. Beginning in 1909, Victor wrote to the Votes for Women newspaper in support of the movement, whilst Isabel visited suffragettes in Holloway Prison. They hosted meetings of the WSPU in the family home at 6 Stonard Road, Palmers Green, and Victor became secretary for the Men's Federation for Women's Suffrage from 1912. The family also participated in the 1911 census evasion. On the form, Victor wrote: "I refuse to fill this census form because women are claiming that until they are given the rights of Citizenship they should not be counted and I leave out the men as an act of sympathy with that claim". Nell, who was born in 1897, may have participated in her parent's activism.A more faded section of the inscription appears to read "Stonards" and "Palmers", which would tally with the Prout's address. Another suffragette, Laura Gargett, lived at Number 4 with her father. She was sentenced to two months' imprisonment in Holloway prison for window

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.