Grace Burbridge | |
|---|---|
| Born | 15 July 1887 [1] |
| Occupation(s) | typist and suffragette |
| Known for | suffragette activism; set fire to pillarbox and was injured |
Grace Edith Burbridge (born 15 July 1887) was a British suffragette, burned whilst setting fire to a postbox.
Burbridge was born in 1887 in Holloway, Middlesex, to William and Harriet Burbridge. [2]
Burbridge became a shorthand typist. [3] By the age of 25, her salary supported her father and sister [3] living in Hartham Road, Holloway.
Burbridge became involved in the militancy for women's suffrage. She was arrested [4] in 1913 after setting fire to a postbox at the junction of Camden Road and Sandhall Road, London, with liquid phosphorus and badly burning her own arm in the process. [3] The postman had collected the letters before noticing they were on fire and attempted to save the mail, a nearby postman noticed a woman with her arm in "blue flames" screaming, and contacted the police. A policeman followed Burbridge to a nearby doctor and overheard her confess to the doctor as to how she became burned, and where she left the chemical, which was collected in evidence. [5]
Burbridge's case at the Marylebone Police Court, was defended by Arthur Marshall, husband of Kitty Marshall, [6] who in leading her defence, emphasised Burbridge's role as the main earner for her father and sister, as a typist, and her suffering and pain. The magistrate noted the "peculiar circumstances" and she was bound over to keep the peace rather than imprisoned. [3] The news of her action and injury spread as far as Australia, under the headline "The Biter Bitten" [7] and in another report the magistrate was quoted as calling her "a poor deluded dupe." [8]