Nellie Godfrey

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Nellie Godfrey was an English suffragette, who was awarded the Hunger Strike Medal.

Biography

Godfrey was a suffragette and was arrested on three occasions. [1] Her name appears on the WSPU Holloway Prisoners Banner. [2]

In 1909, Winston Churchill (then the Member of Parliament for Dundee, was President of the Board of Trade) was speaking in Bolton in the run-up to the January 1910 General Election. Godfrey broke through strong timber barricades erected by police to throw a lump of iron wrapped in paper at Churchill's car. [3] The paper bore the message "thrown by a woman of England as a protest against the Government’s treatment of political prisoners." [4]

Godfrey was arrested and stood trial at Bolton Magistrates Court, pleading guilty. She was fined 40 shillings and refused to pay so was sentenced to a week in prison. [5] She went on hunger strike during her incarceration and was awarded the Hunger Strike Medal. [6] She was discharged from prison on medical grounds. [7] At the time of her arrest, Godfrey had been working as a businesswoman. [8] [9]

Her date of birth and death are unknown.

References

  1. ↑ "Nellie Godfrey". Database - Women's Suffrage Resources. Retrieved 26 February 2025.
  2. ↑ Helland, Janice (2020). ""From Prison to Citizenship," 1910: The Making and Display of a Suffragist Banner". In Amos, Johanna; Binkley, Lisa (eds.). Stitching the Self: Identity and the Needle Arts. London: Bloomsbury. pp. 97–109. ISBN   978-1-3502-4241-8.
  3. ↑ Chaudhari, Saiqa (11 January 2021). "Medal given to Suffragette who threw a missile at Winston Churchill during visit to Bolton goes under the hammer". The Bolton News. Retrieved 26 February 2025.
  4. ↑ Watson, Norman (30 January 2021). "Rare Suffragette medal commemorates courageous Nellie Godfrey". The Courier. Retrieved 26 February 2025.
  5. ↑ "ANOTHER SUFFRAGETTE SENTENCED". Cheltenham Chronicle. 11 December 1909. p. 8. Retrieved 26 July 2025– via The British Newspaper Archive.
  6. ↑ "Suffragette Medal – Awarded to Nellie Godfrey December 1909". Antique Jewellery Online. Retrieved 26 February 2025.
  7. ↑ Catalogue description CRIMINAL: Nellie Godfrey - Suffragette - discharged from Manchester prison on medical... National Archives. 1909.
  8. ↑ Purvis, June (1 March 1995). "The prison experiences of the suffragettes in Edwardian Britain". Women's History Review. 4 (1): 103–133. doi:10.1080/09612029500200073. ISSN   0961-2025.
  9. ↑ Maynard, Mary; Purvis, June (11 October 2013). Researching Women's Lives From A Feminist Perspective. Routledge. ISBN   978-1-135-34041-4. Archived from the original on 7 March 2025. Retrieved 3 March 2025.
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