Mabel Jones

Last updated
Mabel Jones
Bornc. 1865
Died1923
NationalityBritish
Occupationphysician
Known forSuffragette and social reformer
Honours Queen Elisabeth Medal Belgium

Mabel Jones (c. 1865-1923) [1] was a British physician and a sympathizer to the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU). [2]

Contents

Medical career

Trained in London and from 1898, she worked in a practice with her fellow student, Dr Helen Boyle in Brighton after moving from Hull [3] and then moved on to Glasgow in 1908. Although Dr Jones initially handled the routine cases in Hove, Brighton, the clinic was focused in treating women and it was mostly female led. [4]

Jones was also noted for helping others who were sympathetic to the cause.

"Dr. Mabel Jones did very well in helping the boys to get over their little colds and fevers. ... illustrate how genuine a feminist Paschal had become between two ardent suffragists, his wife and mother, he too called on Dr. Mabel Jones' services" [5]

Queen Elisabeth Medal (Belgium)

It is reported that Jones either worked in Belgium or attended Belgian wounded in Scotland during World War I [6] and was awarded the Queen Elisabeth Medal [ citation needed ] and this was sent on her sudden death to her medical colleague Dr Helen Boyle of Brighton [7]

Frances Gordon's case

Jones evaluated the health state of suffragette Frances Gordon after she was released from Perth prison. A part of the report she produced was quoted in a letter to the Glasgow Evening Times: [8]

"I saw her (Miss Gordon) at Midnight in July 3. Her appearance was appalling, like a famine victim: the skin brown, her face bones standing out, her eyes half shut, her voice a whisper, her hands quite cold, her pulse a thread." [9]

This quote and the Press exposure of pictures of women on stretchers after release from prisons led to questions in the House of Commons, giving voice to the female suffrage cause. [10] In the book Martyrs in our Mydst, Leah Leneman openly questions the level of accuracy of Dr Jones report on Frances Gordon and also challenges the official version:

"Comparing the [prison] medical officer's daily reports with Frances Gordon's story as related by Mabel Jones, it is clear that the later did indeed contained a good deal of distortion, but a far greater distortion was the version of the events provided by the medical officer and Chairman of the Prison Commission to the Scottish Office" [11]

Supporting other suffragettes

It is uncertain if Jones went to London to meet the Pankhursts to protest that Janie Allan was removed from the West of Scotland branch of the WSPU. [12] The Women's Library Archive has a printed leaflet of a visit by Dr Jones to Mrs Pankhurst in a cell at the Central Police Station. [13] She did also co-examine the gynaecological damage done by the violent use of rectal feeding on Fanny Parker [2] and reported in the WSPU newsletters about other cases. [14]

Death and legacy

Jones died in 1923 after falling from a train in Northampton [7]

See also

Related Research Articles

Marion Wallace Dunlop British artist and suffragette (1864–1942)

Marion Wallace Dunlop was a Scottish artist and author. She was the first and one of the most well known British suffragettes 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 processions and banners for them.

Frances Parker

Frances Mary "Fanny" Parker was a New Zealand-born suffragette who became prominent in the militant wing of the Scottish women's suffrage movement and was repeatedly imprisoned for her actions.

Suffragette Member of the Womans Social and Political Union who advocated for womens right to vote

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. 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, from suffragist, 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.

Ethel Moorhead

Ethel Agnes Mary Moorhead was a British suffragette and painter and was the first suffragette in Scotland to be forcibly-fed.

Janie Allan

Jane "Janie" Allan was a leading source of funding and a Scottish activist for the militant suffragette movement of the early 20th century.

Mary Phillips (suffragette)

Mary Elizabeth Phillips was a suffragette, feminist and socialist. She was the longest prison serving suffragette. She worked for Christabel Pankhurst but was sacked; she then worked for Sylvia Pankhurst under name Mary Pederson. In later life she supported women's and children's organisations.

Helen Archdale Feminist and journalist (1876-1949)

Helen Alexander Archdale was a Scottish feminist, suffragette and journalist. Archdale was the Sheffield branch organiser for the Women's Social and Political Union and later its prisoners' secretary in London.

Arabella Scott Scottish suffragette

Arabella Scott was a Scottish suffragette and campaigner. She underwent hunger and thirst strikes when she was sent to jail and was released under the Cat and Mouse Act.

Frances Gordon

Frances Graves aka Frances Gordon was a British suffragette who became prominent in the militant wing of the Scottish women's suffrage movement prior to the First World War and was imprisoned and force-fed for her actions.

Caroline Phillips was a Scottish feminist, suffragette and journalist. She was honorary secretary of the Aberdeen branch of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), met and corresponded with many of the leaders of the movement and was also involved in the organisation of militant action in Aberdeen.

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".

Janet Barrowman

Janet Barrowman was a Scottish suffragette.

Edith Hudson British nurse and suffragette

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.

Elizabeth and Agnes Thomson were Scottish suffragettes and members of the Edinburgh branch of the Women's Social and Political Union. They were arrested for their involvement in WSPU protests in Scotland and London. The sisters were involved in the first arson attempt in Scotland as part of the WSPU arson campaign in 1913. Elizabeth was imprisoned for her role and went on hunger strike. She was later released under the Prisoners Act 1913, so-called Cat and Mouse Act. Elizabeth was awarded a Hunger Strike Medal 'for Valour' by the WSPU.

Catherine Corbett (1869–1950) was a British suffragette, one of those imprisoned and awarded the Hunger Strike Medal, for the cause of the Women's Social and Political Union.

Holloway brooch Award

The Holloway brooch was presented by the Women's Social and Political Union (WPSU) to women who had been imprisoned at Holloway Prison for militant suffragette activity. It is also referred to as the "Portcullis badge", the "Holloway Prison brooch" and the "Victoria Cross of the Union".

Hunger Strike Medal Medal awarded to British suffragettes

The Hunger Strike Medal was a silver medal awarded by the leadership of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) to suffragette prisoners who had gone on hunger strike for not being recognised as political prisoners while serving sentences in the prisons of the United Kingdom. Many women were force-fed.

Womens suffrage in Scotland

Women's suffrage was the seeking of the right of women to vote in elections. It was carried out by both men and women, it was a very elongated and gruelling campaign that went on for 86 years before the Representation of the People Act 1918 was introduced on 6 February 1918, which provided a few women with the right to vote.

Stornoway Womens Suffrage Society Womens suffrage campaigners in Scotland

The Stornoway Women's Suffrage Association was an organisation involved in campaigning for women's suffrage, based in Stornoway, Lewis in the Western Isles of Scotland, the Hebrides.

References

  1. ↑ The Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women. Edinburgh University Press. 2006. ISBN   0-7486-1713-2.
  2. 1 2 Atkinson, Diane (2018-02-08). Rise Up Women!: The Remarkable Lives of the Suffragettes. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN   9781408844069.
  3. ↑ Liddington, Jill (2006). Rebel Girls: How votes for women changed Edwardian lives. Virago.
  4. ↑ "International Women's Day: Brighton's pioneering female doctors - The Keep". The Keep. 2015-03-09. Retrieved 2018-03-08.
  5. ↑ Dart, Anna Coggins (1959). Shining Cycles of Love. University of California: Wayside Press. pp.  16.
  6. ↑ Leneman, L (1994). "Medical Women at War 1914-1918". Medical History. 38 (2): 160–177. doi:10.1017/s0025727300059081. PMC   1036842 . PMID   8007751.
  7. 1 2 "Helen Boyle - mastersport.co.uk". www.womenofbrighton.co.uk. Retrieved 2018-03-08.
  8. ↑ Sarah, Pedersen (2017-07-03). The Scottish suffragettes and the press. London, United Kingdom. ISBN   9781137538345. OCLC   992988822.
  9. ↑ Pedersen, Sarah (2017-07-03). The Scottish Suffragettes and the Press. Springer. ISBN   9781137538345.
  10. ↑ Parliamentary Debates (official report): House of Commons. Great Britain: H.M.Stationery Office. 1914. pp. cclvi.
  11. ↑ Leneman, Leah (1993). Martyrs in our mydst. Dundee, Perth and the forcible feeding of suffragettes. Dundee: The Abertay Historical Society. p. 30.
  12. ↑ Crawford, Elizabeth (2003-09-02). The Women's Suffrage Movement: A Reference Guide 1866-1928. ISBN   978-1135434021.
  13. ↑ "The Treatment of Mrs Pankhurst: Dr Mabel Jones's statement". Women's Library Archive; Katie Gliddon Papers . 11 Mar 1914. Retrieved 23 August 2018.
  14. ↑ Michaelsen, Kaaren Leigh (2003). Becoming 'medical women': British Female Physicians and the Politics of Professionalism. Berkeley: University of California. p. 217.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.