Alice Hawkins

Alice was born in 1863 into a poor working class family, one of nine children. Leaving school at 13 to work in the shoe factories of the day, Alice met Alfred Hawkins of Leicester at an early socialist meeting and moved to the city upon marrying. Seeing first hand women being paid far less than men for the same skilled work Alice campaigned throughout her life for equal pay. Her first term of imprisonment came in 1907 after being dramatically arrested outside Parliament, protesting at the lack of a bill to give women the right to vote.

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Forming the Leicester branch of the WSPU with the help and support of the Pankhurst family, Alice went on to be imprisoned a further four occasions before the outbreak of the First World War brought the suffragette campaign to an abrupt halt.

Much of Alice’s memorabilia is still with the family to this day and is considered to be of national heritage standard. The collection includes her sash, hunger strike medal, prison notes, letters from Emily Pankhurst, postcards and press cuttings of the day. An extensive and very complete collection. 

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See more on alicehawkinssuffragette.co.uk