Physician

52

Single

Beech Brae, 71 Berry Street, Coventry

WSPU

Evades

Dr. Catherine Arnott was born in 1858, and was elder sister to Coventry suffragist (see) Harriet Collington. She was a physician and surgeon and spent a number of years living and studying in Ireland at the Royal University of Ireland. She seems to have moved back to England when offered a position as assistant medical officer at Lancaster County Asylum in 1894. In contrast to her law abiding suffragist sibling Harriet, Catherine became a member of the suffragette WSPU although when she joined is unclear. Catherine is absent from the 1911 census records so, she may already have been with the WSPU and taking part in the suffragette boycott of the census that year in protest at not having the vote. Some suffragettes 'evaded' the census which may explain her absence from the record. By 1913 Catherine had become Press and Honorary Secretary of the WSPU's Coventry branch and chaired regular public meetings often held in the city's Market Square. Public speaking for the vote was a brave undertaking as women were often jeered and sometimes physically assaulted by people in the crowd or passers-by. In one public speech, she made clear her reasons for campaigning stating that, 'Without the vote there could be no real improvement in the conditions of this country. Women did not want the vote for the pleasure and excitement of going to the polling booth once every five years; they wanted it to ameliorate the conditions of men, women and children' (Coventry Herald, Oct 10 and 11, 1913, p12). Several locations are given for Catherine during the campign years: 'Beech Brae' and 71 Berry Street where she is located on our map (this property may have been owned by her sister Harriet and husband) and in 1914, an office for suffrage 'at homes' located at no. 1 Holyhead Road. In later years, Catherine became an expert in the treatment of tuberculosis and ran the Eastby Sanatorium in Bradford, Leeds. Afterwards, she moved with her sister Harriet and brother in law to Kirkconnel Hall in Ecclefechan, Scotland. Catherine died in 1942 aged 84. Researcher: Tara Morton. Coventry research funded by Warwick University.