CJ De Barra takes a look back at one of the queer love stories from the suffragette movement
IMAGE VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
When we talk about the suffragettes, we often refer to the movement, the women and their tireless campaigning for women’s right to vote. Their romantic relationships are seldom ever mentioned, especially those who were queer. History has been slow to accept that some of these women had sapphic relationships. Some historians are now documenting the queerness that was present in the movement. It’s through this that we know about the relationship between Vera “Jack” Holme and Evelina Haverfield. These two women were said to have carved their initials into the wooden bed they shared. They were most definitely not the only sapphic suffragettes.
Lettice Annie Floyd
Lettice was born in Berkswell, near Coventry, in 1865. She lived a privileged life with governesses and servants thanks to her family’s wealth. Lettice and her sister, Mary, joined the Birmingham Women’s Suffrage Society (WSS) in 1907. They began to lose patience with the WSS, preferring action. They opted to join the more militant Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU). The WSPU was notably founded by Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst.
Lettice, by now, had become a nurse in Nottingham. She left her position and went on to become a full-time campaigner for the cause. She was a passionate suffragette who was arrested several times. She was first imprisoned in October 1908. This was due to her wilfully obstructing the police in the execution of their duty at Bridge Street. This was during the “rush” of the House of Commons.
After her arrest, Floyd moved between Bristol and Coventry, campaigning for WSPU. In Bristol, she met another suffragette, Annie Williams.
Annie Williams
Annie, a teacher from Cornwall, joined the WSPU while on a break from her job in 1907. Two years later, she quit her job to become a full-time WSPU organiser. The two women met in Bristol and began a relationship together. Lettice moved from the Midlands to be with Annie.
In March 1912, Lettice and Annie were part of a 200-strong window-smashing protest. This was due to parliament considering (and then rejecting) the Conciliation Bill. This bill would have given some women the vote.
Both Lettice and Annie were arrested and sent to Holloway Prison. Lettice was given a two-month sentence, with Annie receiving one month. During their time in prison, Lettice took part in a hunger protest where she was one of the suffragettes who were force-fed by prison guards. This practice left a few of the women with long-term damage to their internal organs and teeth. Annie wrote to Lettice in prison, but the governor determined she was “not entitled” to receive it.
On release, the women walked out of the prison to loud cheers from suffragettes and a large crowd that had gathered.
After Holloway, the two women were understandably tired. They moved to Newcastle, then to Cardiff, where they began making open-air speeches together. They were still in Cardiff living together when World War I broke out. Suffragette leaders called for a halt to protests to aid the war effort, which meant there was little campaigning to do. However, at the same time, Mary, Lettice’s sister, began to become seriously unwell. Lettice left Annie and moved back to Berkswell to take care of Mary. Eventually, Annie moved to the Midlands and together the two women opened a branch of the Women’s Institute in 1920.
In January 1918, the House of Lords gave approval for women over the age of 30 to have the right to vote. However, it would be another decade before women over the age of 21 were given the right to vote in 1928.
Life together
Annie was president of the Women’s Institute in Berkswell from 1926 to 1930 and again from 1933 to 1934. She used her platform to give speeches on a variety of different topics, including music and early Victorian Ballads in the 1920s and 1930s. Her second run as president was likely cut short when Lettice became unwell.
Lettice passed away after an operation in 1934 with Annie by her bedside. In her will, she left property known as the Starley Fields to Mayor Alderman and the citizens of Coventry, which was enough to build a park in her name. She left Annie £3000 and a £300 annuity.
At her funeral, the Coventry Herald Newspaper noted: “A pathetic feature of the proceedings was the presence of a tiny bunch of flowers among the wealth of floral tributes. The flowers were from Miss Annie Williams, and they were lowered into the grave in Berskwell cemetery. They were a symbol of love and gratitude for 25 years of unbroken friendship. Miss Floyd and Williams had resided together for many years. ‘In remembrance of Lettice and Annie- 1909 to 1934,’ were the words which were written on a card attached to the flowers.”
Annie remained in Berkswell but died in 1943.
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