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of Wood or the assumed name Oldham (presumably because of its similarity to her real surname 'Aldham') when she was arrested. She was among 223 women arrested in
November 1911 for window breaking and was the first defendant to appear at the subsequent trial which was attended by
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in 1858 as Mary Ann
Mitchell Wood, the daughter of Mary Ann and Alfred Robert Wood, a Captain; her mother died less than two months after her birth. On 10 October 1883, Mary Ann Wood married Arthur Robert Aldham (1853–1905), a commercial clerk with the
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stating "I have tried to destroy a valuable picture because I wish to show the public that they have no security for their property nor for their art treasures until women are given the political freedom". The portrait was valued at £700 and
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reported that "About half-past one, when the attendance was thinning for lunch, the crash of glass was heard, and an elderly white-haired woman was seen to be hacking at the
Sargent portrait with a butcher's cleaver." A writer for
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in about 1908 Aldham was arrested at least seven times: on 14 October 1908 and 19 November 1908 (as Mary Ann
Mitchell Oldham); 22 November 1911; 7 March 1912; 19 March 1912; 17 November 1913 and 4 May 1914. Aldham often used her
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while on remand awaiting trial. On being charged with breaking glass in a screen in the Court Aldham said "I did it." For this action she sentenced to a month in prison with hard labour. Aldham was to be released under the
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calculated that the portrait's value had been reduced by between £100 and £300 as a result of the attack. To this Aldham responded, "I quite understand; if a woman had painted it, it would not have been worth so much."
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recorded that a visitor "pressed through the crowd, and aimed a blow at her. A man who put his arm in front of her to protect her was mobbed, and his glasses were knocked off and smashed". This man, according to
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and sent for treatment in a nursing home. She was released to the care of her now married daughter, Mary Aldham. Her militant actions on behalf of the WSPU ended with the start of
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England, Suffragettes
Arrested, 1906-1914 for Mary Ann Mitchell Oldham: HO 45/24665: Suffragettes: Amnesty of August 1914: Index of Women Arrested, 1906-1914 - Ancestry,com
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and other items from her time as a suffragette were sold by her family at auction in 2015 realising £23,450. The memorabilia was bought by a private collector in the UK.
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England, Suffragettes
Arrested, 1906-1914 for Mary Ann Aldham: HO 45/24665: Suffragettes: Amnesty of August 1914: Index of Women Arrested, 1906-1914 - Ancestry,com
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Surrey, England, Church of
England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1937 for Mary Ann Mitchell Wood: Thornton Heath, St Paul, 1872-1893 - Ancestry.com
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Suffragette Medal with original named fitted case awarded to Mary Aldham - Lockdales Coins & Collectables
Auction (2015)
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added that "the Woman with the
Butcher's Chopper had startled a fashionable Royal Academy crowd out of its decorum."
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prisoners until they had regained their health and could be imprisoned again to serve out the rest of their sentence.
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and with him had two daughters: Mary Aldham (1885–1955) and
Gertrude Aldham (1887–1909). Arthur Aldham died in 1905.
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by breaking the glass and slashing the canvas three times with a meat cleaver while crying "Votes for Women".
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In November 1913 the 55 year-old Aldham was among a group of four suffragettes who protested at the
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reminisced about the early days of the WSPU. On 10 June 1912 the three imprisoned grandmothers -
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To keep up morale in prison the women were forced to make their own entertainment. Some such as
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1901 England Census for Mary A M Aldham: London, Greenwich, Greenwich West - Ancestry.com
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and Aldham sang together. On another occasion some of the women performed a scene from
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on 4 May 1914, Aldham attended among the great crowds and attacked the portrait of
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The Suffragette Handkerchief at the Priest House, West Hoathly - Sussex Past
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134:. Following her two arrests in March 1912 she was sentenced to six months in
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Voices and Votes: A Literary Anthology of the Women's Suffrage Campaign
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556:'The violence of representation: James, Sargent and the suffragette'
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512:'The prison experiences of the suffragettes in Edwardian Britain'
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604:"Suffragette memorabilia – separating the fact from the fiction"
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A newspaper cutting from 1914 concerning Aldham's attack at the
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44:; 28 September 1858 – 1940) was an English militant
539:'Deeds not words': Suffragettes and the Summer Exhibition
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Prisoners (Temporary Discharge for Ill Health) Act 1913
373:, suffragesources.org.uk. Accessed 15 November 2022.
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awaiting trial, Aldham was again released under the
501:, Manchester University Press (1995) - Google Books
383:Roll of Honour of Suffragette Prisoners 1905-1914
52:(WSPU) who was imprisoned at least seven times.
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437:Votes for Women - Uncover Your Ancestors website
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63:for which she received the WSPU's
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371:Mrs Mary Ann Mitchell Aldham
185:The Suffragette Handkerchief
102:the Suffragette Handkerchief
16:English militant suffragette
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576:National Portrait Gallery
151:Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence
138:during which she went on
29:surveillance photograph (
340:Mary Ann Aldham died in
59:in prison where she was
484:(subscription required)
470:(subscription required)
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348:in 1940. Her three-bar
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25:Mary Ann Aldham in a
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636:People from Deptford
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299:Aldham wrote to the
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153:told stories; later
554:Miranda El-Rayess,
350:Hunger Strike Medal
326:'Cat and Mouse Act'
276:The Daily Telegraph
262:The Daily Telegraph
257:John Singer Sargent
237:John Singer Sargent
213:'Cat and Mouse Act'
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608:Antique Collecting
560:Critical Quarterly
318:Emmeline Pankhurst
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159:Gertrude Wilkinson
155:Emmeline Pankhurst
112:After joining the
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626:1858 births
336:Later years
330:World War I
253:Henry James
233:Henry James
119:maiden name
46:suffragette
27:Home Office
620:Categories
356:References
200:Jane Short
196:Old Bailey
163:Janet Boyd
124:Christabel
71:Early life
346:Middlesex
204:force-fed
144:force-fed
61:force-fed
592:ITV News
578:website.
342:Uxbridge
106:Holloway
92:Activism
77:Deptford
177:Shylock
40:(born
171:with
108:1912.
33:1914)
126:and
81:Kent
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344:in
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31:c.
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