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Dorothy Evans

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For the trade union leader, see Dorothy Evans (trade unionist).
Dorothy Evans
Born(1888-05-06)6 May 1888
London, United Kingdom
Died28 August 1944(1944-08-28) (aged 56)
NationalityBritish
Alma materNorth London Collegiate School
Dartford College
OccupationSuffragette

Dorothy Evans (6 May 1888 – 28 August 1944) was a British feminist activist.

Life

Born in the Kentish Town area of London, Evans studied at the North London Collegiate School and the Dartford College of Physical Education, qualifying as a teacher. [1] She joined the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) in 1907, and began working for it full-time from 1909, serving as its Birmingham organiser from 1910 to 1912.[2] During this period, she was frequently arrested and imprisoned for acts linked to the suffragette campaign, including refusing to buy a dog license, and later, smashing a window.[1]

In 1913, Evans was appointed as the WSPU liaison between its London headquarters, and its leader, Christabel Pankhurst, in Paris. She travelled in disguise to avoid detection, and also travelled around the UK. In 1913, she was arrested in Ulster for being in possession of explosives with the intention of blowing up Lisburn Castle. She went on hunger strike and was force fed.[1]

Evans was released from prison in 1914 on the outbreak of World War I. She broke with the WSPU and the Pankhursts by opposing the war, joining the Suffragettes of the Women's Political and Social Union, and then becoming the provincial organiser of the Independent Women's Social and Political Union.[2] She also devoted much time to the Six Point Group. During the 1920s, she maintained her pacifist stance, and joined the National Union of Societies for Equal Citizenship. During World War II, she served as the secretary of Women for Westminster, a group campaigning to increase the number of female MPs.[1]

Evans maintained simultaneous long-term relationships with Sybil Morrison and Emil Davies, she and Davies having a child.[1]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Evans, Dorothy", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
  2. ^ a b Krista Cowman, Women of the right spirit, pp.190, 220
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