Not Known

45

Single

Beechwood House, Berkswell, CV7 7DA

WSPU

Evades

Lettice was born in Berkswell, near Coventry in 1865, the daughter of William Floyd, a farmer and landowner and her mother, Alison Clapperton. Lettice is well known for her suffragette antics but also her open lesbian relationship with life partner Annie Williams. In March 1891, Lettice enrolled for a nurse training course at the Nottingham Children’s Hospital. She qualified two years later and worked for several years as a children’s nurse gaining promotions for her good work. In 1898, Lettice took on the role of under matron at Bedales school, Hampshire, leaving in 1901 to return to life in Berkswell. Lettice lived with her sister Mary Floyd and the two decided to form a Berkswell branch of the Birmingham Women’s Suffrage Society in 1907 with some seventy members. Mary was secretary, Lettice, the treasurer. However, soon attracted to more militant methods, the sisters joined the WSPU in 1908, and Lettice travelled extensively during the campaign as an organiser. That year, she met her future life partner, Annie Williams a primary school teacher. The same-sex relationship between Lettice and Annie was open and lasted from 1908 to the latter's death in 1934. Lettice was not home on census night 1911, probably evading under the boycott. It seems as though her sister Mary may have harboured some women who wished to resist the census, staying away from their own homes for the survey. Names and partial names appear on the Floyd sisters home census but with lots of 'nk's showing an unwillingness to provide the requisite information. Lettice was also imprisoned with other suffragettes during the rush on the House of Commons, and for window smashing in 1912 for which she was imprisoned, went on hunger strike, and was subjected to the brutal practice of forcible feeding. She was rewarded with a WSPU hunger strike medal for ‘valour’. The suffragette newspaper Vote for Women wrote of Lettice: ‘She feels strongly that women should have a voice’. When the WSPU suspended its activity at the outbreak of war in 1914, Lettice returned home to Berkswell where she lived with Annie and they started a branch of the Women's Institute. In 1918, when some women were given the right to vote, Lettice joined the National Council of Women and the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, believing that women's rights and peace were the most important issues. Lettice died in 1934, after an operation with Annie beside her. She bequeathed money to
create a nursing home and left what is now called Floyd's Field (Tile Hill Village) to the city of Coventry, now a sports facility and children’s play area. Sources: Elizabeth Crawford, The Women's Suffrage Movement: A Reference Guide, 1866-1928 (London: Routledge, 2001); Warwickshire Records Office. Researcher. Tara Morton.