1. References

The suffragettes in Great Britain captured national and international attention during their fight for the right to vote. The movement spurred similar suffrage movements in several different countries like the United States and France, all of which proved to be successful despite significant differences in when women actually gained the right to vote. Suffragettes in Great Britain became well known for their ability to collectively organize and their use of both peaceful and militant strategies during protests. While suffragettes from Wales and Scotland were instrumental to the success of the suffrage movement, their involvement is not nearly as emphasized as those of the English suffragettes. Kate Williams Evans is one of these previously unsung suffragettes as she was quite important to the suffrage movement, especially for Welsh women, and yet she is relatively unknown.  

           Kate Williams Evans was born in Llansantffraid, Montogomeryshire, Wales near the end of 1866. Her large family was composed of her mother, Mary Williams, and her father, William Dorsett Evans, as well as her brother and three sisters. Her family had a long history as landowners and were quite well known for their tradition of inheriting large amounts of farming land. During her early childhood years, her family moved to a new town in Llansantffraid-ym-Mechan called Bod Gwylim. In Bod Gwylim, her father’s estate continued to grow rapidly in size and her family became quite wealthy (Jones, 2018).

During her teenage years, Kate moved to Paris where she stayed until she reached her 30s. After moving to Paris, Kate became increasingly interested in the Women’s Social and Political Union and the suffrage movement more broadly. Her parents were very against her involvement in the suffrage movement and were not happy about her adoption of suffragist ideals and principles (Jones, 2018). Kate eventually moved back to Great Britain and became increasingly involved in the Women’s Social and Political Union. While Kate was not an incredibly high ranking member of the Women’s Social and Political Union, she did have contact with some very high ranking members such as Emily Wilding-Davison and the Pankhurst sisters. In addition to being a fairly active member of the Women’s Social and Political Union, Kate donated a large amount of money to the organization.

Early Activism           

Kate attended many meetings and gatherings hosted by the Women’s Social and Political Union, but she really started to take on an activist role starting in 1911. Along with many other suffragettes in 1911, Kate refused to take part in the census so she purposely moved in with a widow in London so as to avoid being counted (Jones, 2018). The census protest was popular amongst suffragettes as it was neither militant nor aggressive, and yet it clearly conveyed the suffragettes’ anger at the state’s refusal to treat women as citizens despite counting them as such in the census (Lambert, 2011). Her activist actions escalated after this first act of resistance and she was eventually arrested on March 4^th, 1912 for “malicious damage”. On March 4^th, Kate and other suffragettes broke the windows of the London government offices as a form of militant protest (Mosalski, 2018). As a punishment for the damage done to the government building, Kate was sentenced to two months of hard labor and she eventually served 54 days in Holloway Prison.

           During her time in Holloway Prison, Kate took part in a hunger strike and was eventually force fed by the prison guards. Kate also collaborated on an embroidered tapestry with the other suffragette inmates. While Kate’s name was not on the tapestry, she did write three different poems that are featured on the tapestry—two of the poems are titled “Who?” and one is titled “The Cleaners of Holloway” (Mosalski, 2018). These poems, along with the other poems embroidered on the tapestry, were eventually published by the Glasgow branch of the Women’s Social and Political Union in a collection called “Holloway Jingles” (Jones, 2018). Once her sentence was completed, Kate moved into the home of a fellow inmate Sarah Benett where she was nursed back to health by Sarah’s maid Jane. Kate continued to keep in contact with many of her fellow inmates, such as Sarah Benett and Dorothy Evans, and would even send them flowers in prison as a way of providing them with a sense of peace despite the horrors associated with daily force-feedings. In fact, Dorothy Evans wrote that “[her] flowers have been such a joy to me through a very strenuous time…now I am getting some mental and spiritual peace, though my body is suffering” (Mosalski, 2018). Kate gained the respect and affections of her fellow suffragettes during her time in prison as can be seen in a letter that Sarah Benett wrote to Kate’s sister in which she said that, “I feel that I must write to express to you my intense admiration at the courageous and self-sacrificing act of your sister” (Mosalski, 2018).  

           The Women’s Social and Political Union awarded Kate with a hunger strike medal to celebrate her commitment to the suffrage movement and to acknowledge the treatment that she received for participating in the hunger strike for almost two whole months. The medal that she was awarded is very rare as only a hundred hunger strike medals were produced and awarded to members of the Women’s Social and Political Union who participated in the hunger strikes. In addition, she is thought to have been the only Welsh suffragette who was awarded a hunger strike medal. Despite becoming an important, and decorated, member of the Women’s Social and Political Union, Kate started to become increasingly involved with the Women’s Freedom League in her hometown of Llansantffraid, Montgomeryshire, Wales. In August of 1913, Kate presided over a meeting of the Women’s Freedom League in Llansantffraid, Montgomeryshire and during this meeting, she discussed the differences between the Women’s Social and Political Union and the Women’s Freedom League (Jones, 2018). While there is no recorded reason given for Kate’s move to the Women’s Freedom League, it’s thought that she preferred the less militant nature of the Women’s Freedom League especially after her horrific experience in prison.

           After three decades’ involvement in the suffrage movement, Kate and her sister Margaret moved back to their family estate in Bod Gwylim. Kate lived in Bod Gwylim until her death on February 2^nd, 1961. Despite having led a very exciting life, Kate’s family knew very little about her involvement with the suffrage movement until some of her personal belongings went up for auction. Her belongings, which include her hunger strike medal, photos, letters, a book of autographs from suffragette leaders, and her arrest warrant, were auctioned off in July of 2018. Kate’s family expected the collection to sell for £8,000 to £10,000 because previous auctions for similar collections tended to sell for around that range (Mosalski, 2018). While there have not been many suffragette medals sent to auction, Helen Macrae’s medal was sold for £12,300 in 2015 and Mary Richardson’s medal was sold in 2003 for £19,000 (BBC News, 2018)

Cerys Furlong, a woman from Chwarae Teg, raised awareness of the sale after seeing an article about the collection in the news. Cerys contacted the National Museum of Wales about purchasing the collection as she feels “very strongly that [the collection] should be kept in Wales to tell future generations about the important role Welsh women played in securing the right to vote for women" (Mosalski, 2018). The collection of Kate’s belongings was purchased for £48,640 by the National Museum of Wales. Catherine Southon, the auctioneer, said that she was “absolutely staggered [by] how many people were competing to buy this fascinating collection” and that some of the interest in the collection was likely due the timing of the auction (Mosalski, 2018). The auction took place a hundred years after women over the age of thirty were granted the right to vote in the United Kingdom which likely attributed to some of the extraordinary attention that the collection received (Mosalski, 2018). Sioned Hughes, keeper of history and archaeology at the National Museum of Wales stated that they were very interested in obtaining the collection as they had many materials from law-abiding suffragettes but they did not have any articles from more militant suffragettes (BBC News, 2018). In addition, a majority of the suffragist collection housed at the museum was about the suffrage movement broadly and not about the Welsh suffragettes themselves (BBC News, 2018). Hughes noted that the collection is “a valuable asset to Wales’ political and national history collection” due to its rarity and potential for education about Welsh suffragettes.

References

• Alistair Finnegan
• Alistair Fraser
• Alistair Greig
• Alistair Gunn
• Alistair Hamilton
• Alistair Hardy
• Alistair Hargreaves
• Alistair Harrison
• Alistair Harrison (governor)
• Alistair Hepburn
• Alistair Hignell
• Alistair (Hollyoaks)
• Alistair Ian Campbell
• Alistair Ian Cragg
• Alistair Irwin
• Alistair Jackson
• Alistair John Rowan
• Alistair Longford
• Alistair MacFarlane
• Alistair MacKay
• Alistair MacKenzie
• Alistair MacNeil
• Alistair Macrae
• Alistair Magowan
• Alistair Mann