Lilian Lenton – Rebel Suffragette
Inspired by the Women’s Suffrage campaigns Lilian Lenton was a militant Suffragette.
Lilian Lenton was born in Leicester in 1891. She was inspired by the Women’s Suffrage campaigns and by 1913 was an active militant Suffragette, gaining a reputation as a skilful fugitive of the police.
In 1913 she began a series of arson attacks in London. Her court appearances were well documented by the press at the time, and Lilian was sent to Holloway Prison for her crime where she went on hunger strike. She would become one of the first Suffragettes to be forcibly fed.
In Leicester, Bowling Green Street was a significant location for the Suffragette movement. The Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) had a shop at number 14 which served as a hub for selling merchandise and spreading their message of "Votes for Women".
ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Leicester’s Ben Jackson heard more of Lilian’s story from secretary of the Leicester Civic Society Martin Ward.
Produced by Pete Wardman.
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Image: Daily Mirror / The Lesley Mees Collection.
ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Archive interview with Lilian Lenton - originally broadcast 1 January 1960.
