Our Own suffragette

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries women did not have the right to vote. It was a widely held belief that women should not be allowed. Indeed Queen Victoria called the fight for women’s rights a “mad, wicked folly”.

Source: Wikipedia

Why then is it so unknown that a local woman played such an important part in propelling fundamental change to women's rights? Dartford has it's very own suffragette! Her name was Doreen Allen. She was born in 1879 and was a member of member of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU). One of ten children, she married Meville Hodsoll Allen who worked at the Stock Exchange in London. As happened to the suffragettes, she was force fed during a hunger strike. Doreen was arrested twice for window smashing and spent four months in Holloway Prison for her troubles.

Here is an article about a handkerchief she signed while in prison with an an amusing title pun!

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