Lolita Roy (born in 1865), [1] also known as Mrs. P. L. Roy, was an Indian social reformer and suffragist [1] who played an active role in the social life of Indians in London, as well as in campaigns for women's suffrage in Britain and India. [1] She was described in The Vote in 1911 as 'one of the most emancipated of Indian women'. [2]
Lolita Roy was born in Calcutta, India in 1865. [1] She married Piera Lal Roy, a barrister and director of public prosecutions [3] in Calcutta, in about 1886, and the couple went on to have six children: Leilavati, Miravati, Paresh Lal, Hiravati, Indra Lal, and Lolit Kumar. [1] By 1900, Roy and her children were living in West London. [1]
In London, Roy was active in multiple social and activist associations for Indians, [1] including as president of the London Indian Union Society [4] and a member of the committee of the National Indian Association (founded by Mary Carpenter in 1870). [1] The London Union Society helped to support Indian university students in London (of which there were then around 700). [1] In 1909, she helped to found the Indian Women's Education Association, which sought to raise funds to bring Indian women to Britain to train as teachers. [1]
On 17 June 1911, the Women's Social and Political Union [5] organised a Women's Coronation Procession, using the coronation of King George V to demand the vote. [6] Jane Cobden and Roy gathered a small Indian contingent in advance of the procession, [4] forming 'part of the 'Imperial contingent' and intended to show the strength of support for women's suffrage throughout the Empire'. [5] A photograph from the procession includes Roy, Mrs. Bhagwati Bhola Nauth, and Mrs. Leilavati Mukerjea (Roy's daughter). [3] Writing of their presence on the march many years later, Indian politician Sushama Sen recalled:
At this time the Women’s Suffragette movement who were fighting for their votes, was at its height. In those days there were few Indian women in London. Hearing of me they sent me an invitation to join their demonstration at Piccadilly Circus, and to march with them led by Mrs Pankhurst to the Parliament House... It was a great experience for me, at the same time it was a novel sight for a single Indian woman amidst the procession, and I was the subject of public gaze. [6]
Activist and theosophist Annie Besant also marched with the Indian suffragists. [5]
In 1912 and 1913, Roy assisted in the production of several Indian plays staged in London and Cambridge, offering advice and helping performers with traditional clothing such as turbans and saris. [1]
During World War I, two of Roy's sons saw active duty. [1] Her eldest, Paresh Lal Roy served in the Honourable Artillery Company for the duration of the war. [1] On his return to India in the 1920s, he played a key role in popularising the sport of boxing. [1] Her middle son, Indra Lal Roy (1898–1918), joined the Royal Flying Corps, and was killed in action. [1] Lolita Roy served as honorary secretary of the Eastern League, which had been established to fundraise for the Indian Soldiers' Fund, providing clothing, food, and other items to Indian soldiers. [1] In 1916, along with other suffragists, Roy helped to organise a 'Ladies Day', where items were sold at Haymarket, London to raise money for the cause. [1]
As well as her work for suffrage in Britain, Roy worked actively for women's right to vote in India. This included petitioning the British government, taking part in a deputation to the secretary of state for India, attending a meeting at the House of Commons, and public speaking in support of the Indian women's suffrage. Throughout the 1920s she continued to work for suffrage in India, including through the All-India Women's Conference [1]
Lolita Roy's death date is unknown. [1]
Journalist and media entrepreneur Prannoy Roy is her great grandson.
In recent years, British historians and activists have sought to give greater recognition to the contributions of people of foreign origin within the British suffrage movement, including Lolita Roy. [7] Dr. Sumita Mukherjee, a historian of the British Empire and the Indian Subcontinent, [8] has sought to challenge 'pre-existing ideas surrounding the suffrage movement particularly in relation to the public commemoration in 2018 of the Centenary of the Representation of the People Act which, in 1918, gave some women the right to vote in the UK'. She argues that 'Western popular beliefs have largely ignored the roles of women of colour in bringing about this change'. [7] Mukherjee's research has focused on the role of Indian suffrage campaigners, 'revealing that there was a thriving suffrage movement in the Indian subcontinent and that these women forged global networks with other suffrage campaigners transnationally'. [7]
In April 2018, a plinth was erected underneath the Millicent Fawcett statue in Parliament Square, which featured the images of two women of Indian origin: the Norfolk-born goddaughter of Queen Victoria, [4] Sophia Duleep Singh, and Lolita Roy. [7] In the same year, an exhibition was staged at Hammersmith Town Hall featuring an artwork celebrating Roy's work in the suffrage movement. [9] [10]
The Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) was a women-only political movement and leading militant organisation campaigning for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom from 1903 to 1918. Known from 1906 as the suffragettes, its membership and policies were tightly controlled by Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughters Christabel and Sylvia. Sylvia was eventually expelled.
The United Procession of Women, or Mud March as it became known, was a peaceful demonstration in London on 9 February 1907 organised by the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) in which more than 3,000 women marched from Hyde Park Corner to the Strand in support of women's suffrage. Women from all classes participated in what was the largest public demonstration supporting women's suffrage seen until then. It acquired the name "Mud March" from the day's weather since incessant heavy rain left the marchers drenched and mud-spattered.
Marion Wallace Dunlop was a Scottish artist, author, and Suffragette. She was the first and one of the most well known British suffrage activists to go on hunger strike on 5 July 1909, after being arrested in July 1909 for militancy. She said she would not take any food unless she was treated as a political prisoner instead of as a common criminal. Wallace Dunlop's mode of protest influenced suffragettes after her and other leaders like M. K. Gandhi and James Connolly, who also used fasting to protest British rule. She was at the centre of the Women's Social and Political Union and designed some of the most influential processions of the UK suffrage campaign, as well as designing banners for them.
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A suffragette was a member of an activist women's organisation in the early 20th century who, under the banner "Votes for Women", fought for the right to vote in public elections in the United Kingdom. The term refers in particular to members of the British Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), a women-only movement founded in 1903 by Emmeline Pankhurst, which engaged in direct action and civil disobedience. In 1906, a reporter writing in the Daily Mail coined the term suffragette for the WSPU, derived from suffragist, in order to belittle the women advocating women's suffrage. The militants embraced the new name, even adopting it for use as the title of the newspaper published by the WSPU.
Suffrage drama is a form of dramatic literature that emerged during the British women's suffrage movement in the early twentieth century. Suffrage performances lasted approximately from 1907-1914. Many suffrage plays called for a predominant or all female cast. Suffrage plays served to reveal issues behind the suffrage movement. These plays also revealed many of the double standards that women faced on a daily basis. Suffrage theatre was a form of realist theatre, which was influenced by the plays of Henrik Ibsen. Suffrage theatre combined familiar everyday situations with relatable characters on the stage in the style of realist theatre.
Una Harriet Ella Stratford Duval was a British suffragette and marriage reformer. Her refusal to say "and obey" in her marriage vows made national news. She bought the painting of Christabel Pankhurst by the suffragist Ethel Wright which was later donated to the National Portrait Gallery.
Daisy Dorothea Solomon (1882–1978) was posted as a human letter in the British suffragette campaign using a quirk in the postal system to approach the Prime Minister who would not receive a delegation of women demanding the right to vote. Solomon was secretary to suffragette groups and imprisoned for protest, and went on hunger strike.
Women's Sunday was a suffragette march and rally held in London on 21 June 1908. Organised by Emmeline Pankhurst's Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) to persuade the Liberal government to support votes for women, it is thought to have been the largest demonstration to be held until then in the country.
The Women's Coronation Procession was a suffragette march through London, England, on 17 June 1911, just before King George V's coronation, demanding women's suffrage in the coronation year. The march was organised by the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU). It was "the largest women’s suffrage march ever held in Britain and one of the few to draw together the full range of suffrage organisations".
Jessie Cunningham Methven was a Scottish campaigner for women's suffrage. She was honorary secretary of the Edinburgh National Society for Women's Suffrage from the mid 1890s until 1906. She subsequently joined the more militant Women's Social and Political Union and described herself as an "independent socialist".
Edith Hudson was a British nurse and suffragette. She was an active member of the Edinburgh branch of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) and was arrested several times for her part in their protests in Scotland and London. She engaged in hunger strikes while in prison and was forcibly fed. She was released after the last of these strikes under the so-called Cat and Mouse Act. Hudson was awarded a Hunger Strike Medal 'for Valour' by the WSPU.
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Mary Anne Baikie (1861–1950) a Scottish suffragist who established the Orcadian Women's Suffrage Society (OWSS) and grew the membership and public interest in the debate, in the Orkney Isles, during the campaigns for Votes for Women.
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