WSPU worker.

24

Single

30 Clarence Square, Cheltenham.

WSPU

Resists.

Miss Elvira Stirling and her mother Frances were supporters of the WSPU, apparently recruited when the WSPU organiser, Ada Flatman, arrived in Cheltenham in early 1911 to set up a local branch. Both were galvanised by activities in the spring of 1911 when a campaign for a by-election at the end of April coincided with the local and a national campaign for votes for women supporters to take part in the census boycott. Miss Elvira is reported to have 'dressed' the committee-room window (see image) in a prominent position in the High Street. Elvira and her mother's statement across the census form (see image) plus their details constitutes a form of resistance to the government census. Elvira's mother was a Canadian whose British husband was involved in various businesses in both countries before finally settling in Canada as a fruit farmer. Four of their five living children were born there and the whole family moved back there in 1913. Researched and contributed by Sue Jones author of 'Votes for Women: Cheltenham and the Cotswolds' (The History Press, 2018).