None given

48

Single

9 Bedford Gardens, Kensington, London

WSPU

Evades

Florence Canning was the eldest daughter of the vicar of Tupsley in Hereford, born in 1863. She moved to London and took part in several deputations. Florence was arrested and imprisoned at Holloway Gaol in June 1908 and arrested at Buckingham Palace then released after a night in the cells in May 1914. Florence planted a tree at Annie's Arboretum in Bath in April 1909. Injured at the Black Friday protests in November 1910, she never fully recovered her health. However, she became a prominent member of the Church League for Women’s Suffrage (CLWS) and chaired the organisation between 1912 and 1913. Florence was strongly in favour of the ordination of women and supported the campaign in 1913 by Ursula Roberts to gain admission to the priesthood for women. She gave public speaking lessons with Gertrude Eaton on behalf of the Conservative and Unionist Women's Franchise Association (CUWFA). Florence campaigned far and wide, speaking at meetings and demonstrations, travelling as far as the Isle of Skye and Dublin. She participated in protests by the Women's Tax Resistance League and was a supporter of the East London Federation of Suffragettes led by Sylvia Pankhurst. Florence eventually moved to Brighton to receive further treatment from Dr Louisa Martindale for her breast cancer but died there on Christmas Eve 1914. Her body was taken back to Hereford, and she was buried with the suffragette colours on her coffin. Florence is absent from the 1911 Census and was likely an evader; her housekeeper Annie Hubbard and her husband John completed the form. Florence's sister Ethel was a suffragist and appears on the 1911 census as an author living in Bournemouth. Sources: C. Wichbold ‘Hard Work - but Glorious: Stories from the Herefordshire Suffrage Campaign (Orphan Press, 2021); Women's Library (LSE), Autograph Letter Collection: Women in the Church, Ref No 9/06. Contributed by Herefordshire community fundraiser & author Clare Wichbold, MBE.