Gardener

38

Single

Bathesaton Villa (Tollemache House) Bailbrook Lane, Somerset

WSPU

Evades

Grace Tollemache, born in Rangoon, Burma, was the daughter of Reverend Clement Reginald Tollemache and Frances Josephine Simpson. Her great grandfather was nobleman Lord Huntingtower. Grace, alongside her sister Aethel, were friends and near neighbours with Mary Blathwayt and similarly became active suffrage workers. Grace joined the WSPU in 1910, a couple of years after her sister. In 1911, Grace evaded the census with a group of protesting suffragettes in an empty house in Lansdowne Crescent, Bath. Alongside her sister, who was playing the piano, Grace played violin to entertain her fellow suffragettes evading the census that night. Later that month, Grace used her musical abilities once again at the ‘Suffrage Social Gathering in Grove Street’. Alongside her sister, they arranged the programme and sang together in a trio with Miss Johnston. Grace also played two violin solos and was cast in the play as ‘Molly’. In March 1912, Grace Tollemache joined the WSPU’s window-smashing campaign and was sentenced to two months of hard labour. During this time Grace was sent oranges and dates from Mary Blathwayt and was visited by Mrs Kineton Parkes of the Tax Resistance League. In the same year, she provided a comment representing the Bath Suffragists’ views on The Reform Bill to the newspaper the Bath Chronicle. Aethel and Grace often protested cabinet minister meetings, including one in Trowbridge, in which they disguised themselves as "market women". From 1913, when Blathwayt stepped back, Aethel and Grace took over as providers of hospitality and organising for visiting WSPU speakers to Bath. Grace, specifically, became secretary of the Bath branch. In 1913, she protested the sale of her mother’s silver, which was seized by tax officials and sold as recompense when the Tollemache’s engaged in the ‘No Vote, No Tax’ strategy popular among many suffrage campaigners. The silver was purchased by Miss Bruere, a fellow suffrage activist, who duly returned them to Frances Tollemache. In 1914 the sisters were arrested outside Buckingham Palace after taking part in the deputation to the King on the 22nd of May. Grace received lighter punishment than her sister, only receiving a sentence of one day’s imprisonment. With this light punishment, Grace and another suffragette smashed a window at Buckingham Palace during a banquet. The King did not press charges. In July 1914, with her sister, Grace organised a garden party at which Annie Williams spoke. In 1914, the sisters committed to doing their part to support the war effort by ploughing their own field for crops. In the 1930's the Tollemache's turned part of The Villa into a hostel for hikers and in 1934, provided lunch to a group of Welsh hunger marchers who were protesting against unemployment. They also offered their home for Labour Party meetings and continued their musical pursuits in and around Bath. Grace Tollemache passed away in 1952. Sources: J Liddington, Vanishing for the Vote (Manchester, 2014);
E Crawford, The Women's Suffrage Movement: A Reference Guide (London 1999); Lucienne Boyce, "Madder than ever": The Tollemache Family of Batheaston. Contributed by Jack Thompson, undergraduate researcher in history, University of Warwick.