Lillian Forrester
Lillian Forrester | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Lillian Williamson 1879 |
| Died | 1916 |
| Known for | Militant suffragette |
| Height | 5 ft 3.5 in (161 cm)[1] |
Lillian Forrester (née Williamson; 1879–1916) was a British suffragette who led an attack on paintings at Manchester Art Gallery.
Life
[edit]She was born Lillian Williamson in 1879, and was the second daughter of Arthur Williamson, a commercial clerk, and Elizabeth Hall. She attended Owen's College, which later became Victoria University of Manchester. She had a degree in History.[citation needed]
Forrester joined the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) and served as secretary of the Manchester branch.[2] In 1911 Forrester was invited to Eagle House near Bath by Linley Blathwayt and Emily Blathwayt.[3] The Blathwayts invited leading suffragettes to visit their house. They created over 40 memorial trees to celebrate these visits in what was known as "Annie's Arbour."[4]
Forrester led an attack on the Manchester Art Gallery on 3 April 1913 against the imprisonment and ill treatment of Emmeline Pankhurst. She, Evelyn Manesta and Annie Briggs waited until the gallery was closing and then proceeded to break the glass on many of the most valuable paintings in gallery 5. The three attacked the glass of thirteen paintings including two by John Everett Millais and two by George Frederick Watts. Staff were alerted by the sound of broken glass and the three were apprehended. Four of the paintings had been damaged by the broken glass. They were bailed to appear before magistrates the next day.[5]
When on trial, Briggs persuaded the court that she had been present but had not been involved and was acquitted.[6] Manesta was given a sentence of a month.[5] Forrester was married by the time of her arrest,[7] and told the jury that her husband approved of what she did.[8] As she had a previous conviction,[8] her sentence was three months in the second division cells at Strangeways Prison for malicious damage.[5][8]
While Forrester was imprisoned she and Manesta were secretly photographed hiding in a van as the women took exercise in the yard and pictures of them were circulated with pictures of other militant suffragettes to police and art gallery staff.[9][10] Manesta's photograph was modified to hide that she was being held around the neck whilst the photograph was taken.[citation needed]
After the Manchester branch of the WSPU was disbanded, Forrester joined the United Suffragists.[2]
Forrester died in 1916.[11]
Paintings involved in attack
[edit]- The Last Watch of Hero and Captive Andromache by Lord Frederic Leighton
- The Last of the Garrison by Briton Riviere
- Birnam Woods by John Everett Millais
- The Prayer and Portrait of The Hon J L Motley by George Frederick Watts
- A Flood by John Everett Millais
- When Apples were Golden by John Melhuish Strudwick
- The Shadow of Death by William Holman Hunt
- Astarte Syriaca by Dante Gabriel Rossetti
- Sybilla Delphica by Edward Burne-Jones
- Paola and Francesca by George Frederick Watts
- The Syrinx by Arthur Hacker
References
[edit]- ^ "Lillian Forrester".
- ^ a b Røstvik, Camilla Mørk; Sutherland, Louise (19 October 2015). Suffragette Legacy: How does the History of Feminism Inspire Current Thinking in Manchester. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 8. ISBN 978-1-4438-8500-3.
- ^ "Suffragette Lillian Williamson 1911, Blathwayt, Col Linley". Bath in Time, Images of Bath online. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
- ^ Hammond, Cynthia (5 July 2017). Architects, angels, activists and the city of Bath, 1765-1965 : engaging with women's spatial interventions in buildings and landscape. Routledge. pp. chapter 8. ISBN 978-1351576123. OCLC 1003859930.
- ^ a b c "Manchester Art Gallery Outrage". Manchester Art Gallery. 8 March 2016. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
- ^ Wiley, Christopher; Rose, Lucy Ella (13 July 2021). Women's Suffrage in Word, Image, Music, Stage and Screen: The Making of a Movement. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-000-40432-6.
- ^ Garrett, Miranda; Thomas, Zoë (1 January 2019). Suffrage and the Arts: Visual Culture, Politics and Enterprise. Bloomsbury Academic. p. 185. ISBN 978-1-350-01186-1.
- ^ a b c Atkinson, Diane (7 February 2019). Rise Up Women!: The Remarkable Lives of the Suffragettes. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. p. 390. ISBN 978-1-4088-4405-2.
- ^ "Suffragettes under surveillance: Unseen police mugshots of the militant women who won the vote". The Telegraph. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
- ^ Mooney, Jayne (6 December 2019). The Theoretical Foundations of Criminology: Place, Time and Context. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-000-75119-2.
- ^ Bridge, Adrian and Dawn L. (15 June 2023). Manchester Murders and Misdemeanours. Amberley Publishing Limited. ISBN 978-1-3981-1456-2.