None given

50

Married

Primrose Hill House, Coronation Road, Coventry

NUWSS

Complies

Harriet was born in 1860 in India to British parents. Her father Sir Frances Arnott, was surgeon-general and honorary surgeon to Queen Victoria. By 1911, she had been married to her husband, a medical practioner, for 17 years. The couple had four children and had settled in Coventry at the turn of the twentieth century. Harriet was active in the Coventry Women's Suffrage Society (CWSS) - a local branch of the large and law abiding National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) - from its earliest days and performed a variety of roles including as speaker and as chairman of its committee. Harriet's husband was fully supportive of her campaigning for female suffrage, a passion she also shared with her elder sister (see) Dr. Catherine Arnott. However, the two sisters disagreed over suffrage tactics. Harriet was a suffragist committed to law abiding methods of campaigning whereas her sister Catherine was a sufffragette joining the WSPU. Harriet was publicy critical of the suffragette tactics her sister supported stating that 'militants were doing a certain amount to turn people away' from the votes for women cause by 'annoying' them. Harriet argued it was imperative that the peaceful work of 'quiet women' should continue. However, the two sisters remained on good terms and hosted some suffrage 'at home' gatherings together. Harriet also took part in several mass meetings and rallies held in London and was often seen in Coventry selling suffrage literature in the Broadgate area of the city. In 1914, she joined a joint deputation made up of the CWSS and the Conservative and Unionist Women's Franchise Association (CUWFA) of which she may also have been a member. The aim of the deputation was to go and see the prospective Conservative and Unionist Party candidate for Coventry, Edward Manville, to press him to support the votes for women cause. In later years, Harriet was one of the founders of the Coventry Women's Club and - as a staunch Conservative - of the Coventry Conservative Children's League which was later appropriated by Conservative Central Office becoming the 'Young Britons'. Harriet also served as a Justice of the Peace in Coventry for several years. In 1930, she and her husband (who was a member of Coventry City Council) retired and moved to Scotland where Harriet died aged 77 in 1937. Researcher: Tara Morton. Coventry research funded by Warwick University.