Helen MacRae
Helen MacRae | |
|---|---|
| Years active | 1909–1914 |
| Known for | Suffragette activism |
| Movement | Women's Social and Political Union |
| Relatives | Sisters: Georgiana (Georgie), Betty |
| Honours | Hunger Strike Medal for Valour |
Helen MacRae (fl. 1909–1914) was a British suffragette who won a Hunger Strike Medal from the Women's Social and Political Union, and was one of those who embroidered the Suffragette's Handkerchief whilst in prison.
Life
Macrae and her sister Georgiana supported women's suffrage. In 1909, they both adopted a 2-year-old girl from South Wales, Hilda Maud.[1] Their third sister was Betty.[1] The sisters lived together as adults and opened their home to recovering suffragettes.[1]
Activism
MacRae was a member of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) but soon joined the militant Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU),[1] and in 1911, she joined with Muriel Sackville (Countess de la War) and her daughter, Marie Corbett and daughters Margery and Cicely, Lilla Durham,[2] and others to establish the East Grinstead Suffrage Society (EGSS).[1] In an EGSS parade through the town on their way to join the Women's Grand March in London, they were jeered by local people and had rotten tomatoes, eggs and turf thrown at them.[2]
MacRae left NUWSS to join WPSU and got to know Edith Downing and Emily Davison.[1] Her first four-month prison sentence in 1910, was for breaking windows in Whitehall.[3]
In 1912, MacRae broke the windows of London toyshop, Hamleys in Regent Street, damage valued as £200. On 6 March she appeared at Bow Street Court and was bailed by Mrs Cecil Chapman (whose husband was magistrate at Tower Bridge Court sympathetic to the women's cause).[1]
MacRae was sentenced to two months in Holloway Prison, went on hunger strike and was force-fed.[1]
MacRae's signature was one of those along with 67 others who embroidered their signature in prison on a rough cloth[4] known as The Suffragette Handkerchief',[5][6] smuggled out by Mary Ann Hilliard, this is now held in the Priest House, West Hoathly.[2]
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MacRae was awarded WSPU Hunger Strike Medal 'for Valour.'[1] An image of her medal is on East Grinstead Museum website.[2]
By 1914, sisters Georgie (Georgiana) and Helen MacRae had a house, Comforts Cottage in Edenbridge, Kent in which they allowed fellow suffragettes to recover and recuperate 'to be restored by quiet and country air'.[1] One of those who benefitted was Gladys Schütze ( also known as 'Henrietta Leslie') who had been hurt at Buckingham Palace protest after she was kicked by a police horse.[1][7] Leslie/Schütze described MacRae as 'gentle and sweet' and whose interests were "darning, embroidering, cooking, bottling, jam-making' whilst Georgie was more of an outdoorsman and Betty interested in local children and country-dancing.[1]
Legacy
MacRae's medal, described as 'incredibly rare' was auctioned by Lockdales Auctioneers in 2015,[8] and sold to academic collector[9] for £12,300.[3] Auction manager, James Sadler said 'These are among the most historically important items we have ever dealt with.' [9]
A collection of MacRae's postcards including image of suffragettes on horse-drawn carriage outside their Clements Inn HQ, and one of Emily Davison, who died under the King's horse at Epsom,[3] and another of Godstone sent by Olive Walton,[10] were also sold.[3]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Atkinson, Diane (2018). Rise up, women! : the remarkable lives of the suffragettes. London: Bloomsbury. pp. 298, 463–4. ISBN 9781408844045. OCLC 1016848621.
- ^ a b c d "THE EAST GRINSTEAD SUFFRAGISTS | EAST GRINSTEAD MUSEUM". Retrieved 27 October 2019.
- ^ a b c d "Suffragette gallantry medal sold". 21 March 2015. Retrieved 27 October 2019.
- ^ "The Suffragette Embroidery of 1912". Homespun Stitchworks. Retrieved 27 October 2019.
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 May 2021. Retrieved 27 October 2019.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "The Suffragette Handkerchief" (PDF). Preist House,West Hoathly. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 May 2021. Retrieved 27 October 2019.
- ^ Matthew, H. C. G.; Harrison, B., eds. (23 September 2004). "The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. ref:odnb/71774. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/71774. Retrieved 18 March 2023. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ the-saleroom.com. "Suffragette Medal in original personally inscribed case. Named to Helen MacRae, medal (silver hal". www.the-saleroom.com. Retrieved 27 October 2019.
- ^ a b "Suffragette memorabilia - separating the fact from the fiction". Antique Collecting. 8 October 2015. Retrieved 27 October 2019.
- ^ the-saleroom.com. "Godstone view postcard sent to Helen Macrae from Olive Walton, both suffragettes". www.the-saleroom.com. Retrieved 27 October 2019.