Beatrice and Edith Clayton Pepper

Beatrice (1882 - 1969) and Edith Clayton Pepper (1885 - 1978) were sisters who played an active part in the militant suffrage campaign and the activities of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU). They lived at 2 Primrose Avenue, Urmston, for most of their lives. They were the youngest daughters of head teacher, Charles, and former governess, Elizabeth Pepper (neé Smith Clayton) who were parents to eleven children.

Both Beatrice and Edith were born in Chorlton-on-Medlock. They initially lived at Greenheys Lane in Chorlton-on-Medlock, with their parents and siblings, but by 1901, the family had moved to 77 Derby Street, Moss Side. Their father, Charles, was headmaster at St Michael’s Church of England School in Hulme from 1866 – 1907, this being the school that Beatrice and Edith attended, until they were old enough to join Ducie Avenue High Grade School, Moss Side. After leaving school, they took occasional part time clerical jobs and helped run the family home, which left them time to take an active part in the militant suffrage. Both their parents were liberal-minded, particularly their mother, Elizabeth, who had supported the cause of women's suffrage from its early days.

1908 Map showing Primrose Avenue.jpg

1908 Ordnance Survey map Lancashire sheet CX.3 showing the location of Primrose Avenue, Urmston. Trafford Local Studies collection, cat. ref. 96275995

Edith joined the Suffrage Movement in 1906 on a voluntary basis. Both she and Beatrice gave much of their time and energy to promoting the cause throughout Lancashire. They acted as stewards at the Free Trade Hall meetings which were held every Friday. They also helped with processions, selling newspapers such as Votes for Women and The Suffragette, and they gave out handbills and chalked slogans on pavements and walls. They also performed Morris dances in Manchester to raise funds for the WSPU.

In an interview with broadcaster, Jeremy Isaacs during the 1970s, Edith described how she was inspired to become a suffragist after she witnessed Christabel Pankhurst and Annie Kenney being thrown out of the Free Trade Hall in Manchester. Both women were subsequently arrested for arranging an illegal meeting and sentenced to a months’ imprisonment at Strangeways prison.

Between 1908 and 1911, Beatrice and Edith went on several deputations to London with the Manchester representatives of the WSPU. A number of arrests always took place, but Edith explained that this was the intention as it added publicity to the cause. Beatrice was arrested on 30 June 1909 on charges of obstructing the police.

On 18 November 1910, over 300 women marched to the Houses of Parliament as part of their campaign to secure voting rights for women and tried to enter the House of Commons. The day became known as 'Black Friday' due to the violence meted out by the police and crowds of hostile bystanders on the WSPU protesters, over a period of six hours. Many were injured in Parliament Square and although orders had been made not to make any arrests, Edith was one of a number of women arrested and bailed.

The Lancashire Evening Post dated 18 November 1910 published an article entitled ‘Suffragist Tactics, effort to present a memorial’ describing the scenes that day:

A mass meeting of suffragists was held at Caxton Hall, Westminster at noon today, for the purpose of adopting a memorial protesting against the Government’s action in refusing facilities for the Conciliation Bill. Several deputations were elected to present the memorial. The women persisted in their efforts to reach St Stephen’s entrance where their further progress was barred by a force of police. An attempt was made to move on the crowd, and some of the women being obstinate, were arrested and taken to the police station. At 4.10pm arrests numbered 82. Among them were Elsie Dahl (Nottingham), Edith Pepper (Manchester)……

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Photograph of 2 Primrose Avenue, Urmston, home of the Clayton Pepper Family, courtesy of P. Jones, August 2021. 

By 1911, their parents, Charles and Elizabeth, had moved to 2 Primrose Avenue in Urmston. There is no record of Edith and Beatrice living there, or anywhere else on the 1911 census. As part of the campaign for universal suffrage, Emmeline Pankhurst had called on women to boycott the census to protest against the government‘s reluctance to give women the vote. She had urged passive protest whereby women who were at home on census night should refuse to complete the census return (and risk a £5 fine or a months’ imprisonment), or they should avoid the census altogether by making sure they were out of the house.

In June 1911, Beatrice and Edith took part in another deputation in London and attended a large meeting in Caxton Hall. Scenes of protest followed and Beatrice and Edith were both arrested and charged with obstruction.

Beatrice and Edith attended another deputation in London in December 1911 and were amongst 220 women arrested and taken to Cannon Row Police Station. They appeared before the magistrate at Bow Street Police Court the following day and subsequently served seven days at Holloway prison. Beatrice and Edith’s names appeared in The Suffragette and in newspapers countrywide, together with The Scotsman, Belfast Telegraph and Irish Times.

Following London’s Black Friday, the militant Women’s Social and Political Union, led by Emmeline Pankhurst abandoned peaceful protest and began a campaign of bombing and arson. The Pankhursts passionately believed that deeds, not words, would be the only thing to convince the government to give them the vote. In her biographical notes on the Clayton Pepper Family, Valerie Warrior, great niece of Edith and Beatrice, writes:

After their imprisonment in December 1911, there is no record of Beatrice or Edith's participation in the London militancy of the WSPU. In early 1912, the militancy of the WSPU became more violent with the smashing of windows, more arrests, imprisonment, hunger strikes and forced feeding. It is likely that the Pepper family, and even Beatrice and Edith themselves, had mixed feelings about the actions that had resulted in their imprisonment. In this context, it is important to note that as unmarried women living in their parents' home, Beatrice and Edith were dependent for their livelihood on the will of their father, as head of the household and their mother. Beatrice and Edith were not women of independent means, as were several of the more famous suffragettes.

In another 1970s interview, Edith maintained that her parents were very supportive of their daughters’ activism, but Valerie Warrior recalls that this was not always the case:

In the 1950s, my mother told me that their father had been so ashamed that he did not leave the house during his daughters' absence in London. She also noted that my grandfather Charles (Edith and Beatrice’s brother), still deplored the militancy of the WSPU and his sisters' actions. She consequently advised me not to mention the struggle for women's suffrage when visiting my grandparents.

 

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The Clayton Pepper Family on the occasion of Charles and Elizabeth’s (centre) Golden Wedding Anniversary in 1915 courtesy of Susan Leach. Beatrice is standing at the back on the left; Edith is standing at the back on the far right. 

Beatrice and Edith continued to attend regular meetings of the Manchester WSPU and often sneaked out of the house at night, aided and abetted by their mother. The outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, resulted in the campaign for women’s suffrage being paused, in order to aid the nation's war effort. 

In 1918 and the end of the war, Edith and Beatrice received WSPU certificates signed by Emmeline Pankhurst and Emmeline Pethich Lawrence, together with the prison brooch or badge, both items designed by Sylvia Pankhurst. 

Edith and Beatrice’s five older sisters were staunch supporters of the Suffrage Movement. However, they were prevented from participating in WSPU activities, due to the risk of jeopardising their careers (and income). Margaret (1877-1945) graduated from Owen’s College, University of Manchester in 1900 and had a successful career teaching domestic science, which took her to different parts of the country. Mary and Elizabeth trained as teachers, and Ada and Marion held full-time jobs. Their niece, Kathleen Pepper, was well acquainted with Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst, (having been employed as Christabel’s private secretary during the 1920s, according to Sibyl Goulden Bach, Mrs Pankhurst’s niece) and regularly kept in touch with Beatrice and Edith.

On 6 February 1918, the Representation of the People Act granted the vote to (some) women aged 30 and over, as long as they were either owners of property or married to owners of property. All men aged 21 and over, whether or not they owned property, were enfranchised. It wasn’t until 1928 when the Representation of the People (Equal Franchise Act) came into force, that all women over 21 years old, regardless of property ownership finally gained electoral equality with men.

After the First World War, Beatrice and Edith remained in contact with members of the WSPU and other suffragists, often travelling to London for reunions until the early 1960s. Their father Charles, died in 1924, and bequeathed 2 Primrose Avenue to his four unmarried daughters, Beatrice, Edith, Margaret and Elizabeth.

In 1928, Beatrice took a position with the Board of Guardians, retiring in 1942 at the age of 60. Before the onset of the Second World War, Beatrice and Edith travelled to Germany and Switzerland, and in August 1952, they travelled to America on the ship Parthia. The address given against their names on the passenger list, was Wheaton Avenue, Kalamazoo, Michigan. It was here that their sister Mary and her husband William Race lived with their family. Beatrice and Edith returned to England in November that same year. Both sisters had connections with 'Unity', a group that held meetings at the Cross Street Chapel, a Unitarian Church in Manchester. Their other interests included theosophy and music and they regularly attended concerts in the city.

Beatrice died at the family home in Primrose Avenue on 14 June 1969 at the age of 87. She is buried in the family grave at Southern Cemetery, Chorlton-cum-Hardy.

In 1970, Edith was one of a number of surviving suffragettes, who attended the unveiling of the Suffragette Memorial in London. The outdoor sculpture commemorates those who fought for women’s suffrage in the United Kingdom and was commissioned by the Suffragette Fellowship.

Edith was living at Primrose Avenue when she died on 19 March 1978. She is buried at Southern Cemetery.

 

Sources

Valerie Warrior’s recollections and comments following talks with Edith Pepper and Kathleen Pepper.

Phyllis Pepper's brief biographies, recordings of Edith Pepper's interviews with Jeremy Isaacs (1973) and Linda Walker (Ph.D. student, 1976), information from Shirley Aucott, nee Pepper, documents and newspaper clippings collected by Beatrice and Edith, retrieved by Mark and Dorothy Warrior.

Susan Leach

British Newspaper Archive

Stretford Messenger dated 8 April 1988

Girton College Archives, Cambridge

 

Beatrice and Edith Clayton Pepper