Marion Wallace Dunlop’s Life and Work

The above picture shows Marion Wallace-Dunlop (1864-1942) as she lives on in our memory: a fierce suffragette, who was the first to go on hunger-strike and who famously declared that, “There is no time for Re-creations until the vote is won”. So, who was Marion?

BackgroundMarion was born in 1864 at Leys Castle, Inverness, the daughter of Robert Henry Wallace-Dunlop, who was a general and he retired from India in the year of her birth. She lived most of her life in London, whilst remaining strong about her Scottish descent, as she described herself as “a direct descendant of the mother of William Wallace” (Votes for Women, 2 July 1909, cited in Leneman, 2004).

She became an artist and it seems that others in her family were also creative, as two of her two sisters, Madeline and Rosalind, wrote “The Timely Retreat or, A Year in Bengal” before the Mutinies (1858), which became a best seller.

Her family moved to Ealing in 1892, to Ellerslie Towers, later 16 Montpelier Road.

© Museum of London, 0.82/1311

C1909: Marion Wallace Dunlop, posing before a reconstruction of the stencilled message she stamped in printer's violet ink on the wall of St Stephen’s Hall in the House of Commons, June 22nd 1909. Two days later Marion again returned to St Stephen’s Hall with Victor Duval and re-stamped the same message. On this occasion Marion was charged with willfully and maliciously damaging the stonework of the House of Commons with an indelible rubber stamp whilst Duval was charged with aiding and abetting. Refusing to pay a fine for the offence Marion was sent to prison for one month.

Marion Wallace Dunlop’s Life and Work

Marion’s house, Ellerslie Towers © Ealing Library

Marion - The ArtistMarion studied at Slade School of Fine Art. She was a portrait painter, figurative artist and illustrator. She worked in London from 1871 and in Ealing from1897 – 1903. As commented on in The Dictionary of 19th Century British Book Illustrators by Simon Houfe, “Her black and white work is extremely competent and heavily art nouveau”.

Her art can be seen in the two books she illustrated and co-wrote: Fairies, Elves and Flower Babies and The Magic Fruit Garden (both published in 1899).

She exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1903, 1905 and 1906, at the Royal Glasgow Institute of Fine Arts in 1903 and also in Paris.

Marion Wallace Dunlop’s Life and Work

Illustration from ‘Fairies, Elves and Flower Babies’ © British Library Board, 12809R42

Illustrations from The Magic Fruit Garden © British Library Board, 012804G5

Marion - The SuffragetteMarion became involved with the suffrage movement in 1900 when she subscribed to the Central Society for Women’s Suffrage. She was also a member of the Fabian Women’s Group from 1906 to 1913. From 1908, she became a member of Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), and advocated militant action in the struggle for women’s suffrage. The Fabian Society, established in London in 1884, was a socialist-ideals driven

Marion Wallace Dunlop’s Life and Work

organisation. Fabians advocated the tranquil transition towards a fairer society, where the gap between rich and poor would be narrower (similar to today’s Social-Democrats).

It is obvious that Marion combined her feminist ideas with the need for a holistic change in society and militancy had a great appeal to her.

She was arrested and imprisoned in Holloway Prison for the first time in July 1908 for ‘obstruction’ and again in November for leading a deputation to the House of Commons.

In June 1909, she stencilled the extract (seen in the photograph at the beginning of this document) on the wall of St Stephen’s Hall in the House of Commons for which she was again arrested.

The First Hunger-Striker

Marion was the first suffragette to hunger strike. It was a completely genuine and independent action, which other suffragettes then followed as a way of protest. After 91 hours of fasting she was released. The Middlesex County Times (issue of 10 July 1909) published Marion’s letter, which was read at the public meeting of the WSPU at St James’ Hall:

Marion Wallace Dunlop’s Life and Work

F As we can see Marion describes her reason for going on hunger strike: “I protested against being in the third division and demanded to be placed in the first.”

The first division was for common criminals, whilst the third division was for political prisoners. Marion, as well as other suffragettes later, wanted to be regarded as political prisoners rather than common criminals. This gave them different treatment in prison. As Marion states in her letter:

“…I demanded the right recognised by all civilised nations that a prisoner charged with political offence should be given first division treatment.”

This was the main reason behind hunger striking.

(NB: You can also visit https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/from-the-archive-blog/2013/may/03/suffragette-force-feeding-1913 for a reproduction of Emmeline Pankhurst’s letter explaining the reasons behind hunger strikes.)

Marion Wallace Dunlop’s Life and Work

In her letter, Marion also talks about her hunger and deterioration of health. We can also see the strength of her character, especially in the way in which she

describes her attitude towards force feeding by the end of the letter:

“My pulse was felt many times a day and I laughed at them all the time, telling them I would show them the stuff the Suffragette was made of …. ‘You may feed me though the nostrils all the month,’ I added, ‘but suppose you get 108 women in here on Friday all requiring to be fed through the nostrils?’ At this the doctor’s face was a delightful study.”

Activism

However, Marion’s activism, like most of her comrades, did not stop at hunger strikes. After all, this was their reaction to their imprisonment for other militant actions. It is worth mentioning that hunger striking was rather a ‘self-harm’ and self-sacrificial form of protest, in order to get the public’s attention and put pressure on the Government.

Marion helped design many of the flamboyant WSPU processions in 1910 and 1911. One of them was the Women's Coronation Procession on 17th June 1911 (see the photograph below), held in support of the Woman Suffrage Bill. Flora Drummond led the procession on horseback with Charlotte Marsh as colour-bearer on foot behind her. She was followed by Marjorie Annan Bryce in armour as Joan of Arc.(http://spartacus-educational.com/Wwallace-Dunlop.htm).

Marion Wallace Dunlop’s Life and Work

Historical pageant; IN1347 © Museum of London

In November 1911, Marion helped organise a window - smashing campaign and was imprisoned for that.

Many suffragettes refused to participate in the 1911 census and so did the Wallace-Dunlop household. According to the enumerator’s note “Two female servants passed the night at 16 Montpelier Road, Ealing, but the head of the house being a suffragette refused to fill up the schedule or allow the two servants to give me any information.” (Oats, 2017).

It is worth noting that Marion Wallace-Dunlop like many other suffragettes, as well as George Bernard Shaw, was a vegetarian. This was quite uncommon at this time. It can be argued that this was a unique way of protest. It may indicate Marion’s – and other activists’ - holistic approach to creating better conditions of life.

From LSE Library collections, TWL.2009.02.097c’

Photograph of (front, from the right) Annie Kenney, Mary Blathwayt, Marion Wallace Dunlop and Florence Haig standing round a tree, Florence Haig holding a spade; Kitty and Jennie Kenney in the background (Jennie in a wheelchair), mounted on card; manuscript inscription bottom right corner 'LB 11 Jun 1910'. Jennie Kenney had recently had an operation at the Blathwayts' house.

Marion Wallace Dunlop’s Life and Work

RetreatMarion ceased to be active in the WSPU after 1911. As seen in Leneman, L. (2004) Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, in 1918 she was visited by Mary Sheepshanks at her home at Peaslake, Surrey. She notes that….

“We found her [Marion] in a delicious cottage with a little chicken and goat farm, an adopted baby of 18 months, and a perfectly lovely young girl who did some bare foot dancing for us in the barn; we finished up with homemade honey.”

We can see that Marion must have withdrawn before the First World War, and therefore before the vote was won.

In 1928 Marion was a pallbearer at the funeral of Emmeline Pankhurst. Over the next few years she took care of Mrs Pankhurst's adopted daughter, Mary. Joseph Lennon has pointed out: "Wallace-Dunlop never married, but there is no evidence of any sexual relationships with either men or women, despite her many close friendships with the latter."

Marion Wallace-Dunlop died on 12th September 1942 at the Mount Alvernia Nursing Home, Guildford. (Source: Laneman, L. (2004) Oxford Dictionary of National Biography)

Marion’s Legacy More suffragettes followed Marion’s example of hunger striking, as a powerful

weapon against the Government. Many women, such as Grace Roe and Kitty Marion were force-fed more than 200 times.

Frederick Pethick-Lawrence wrote to Marion, referring to her hunger strike as ‘heroic action’

Hunger strike is a weapon that a lot of activists as well as political prisoners are still using (e.g. Mahatma Ghandi; Bobby Sands in 1981; Nuriye Gülmen and Semih Özakça in 2017 – Turkish teachers who lost their jobs after a failed coup against the president.)

It has been argued that feminists in Britain and the USA in the 1960s and 1970s, especially those identifying themselves with radical feminism, were inspired by the WSPU – notably the suffragette hunger strike and forcible feeding (Nym Mayhall, 1995).

Excerpt from the Roll of Honour with the names of all the suffragette prisoners 1905-1914. On the right we can see Marion’s name (Dunlop, Marion Wallace). © Source unknown, LSE Library Collections, TWL.

Marion Wallace Dunlop’s Life and Work

Note: Students need to be aware that the Roll of Honour is a dubious source. It was compiled in the 1950s by the Suffragette Fellowship based on the recollections of former suffragettes. It is not a comprehensive list and includes some women who did not go to prison e.g. Drs Elizabeth Garrett Anderson and Flora Murray. As a result, it can be a good opportunity for the students to be reminded that not all documents can be trusted. They should be informed that the Roll of Honour  is not a primary source, question it and compare it to other sources. In their discussions,  they have to conclude that   the source is accurate in Marion's case, as we have other sources that verify Marion’s imprisonment. e.g. her letter from prison.

Sources Houfe, S (1999) The Dictionary of 19th Century British Book Illustrators, ACC Art Books, 2nd

Edition

Hounsel, P (2005) The Ealing Book, London: Historical Publications

http://spartacus-educational.com/Wwspu.htm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/history/mwh/britain/votesforwomenrev_print.shtml

http://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/electionsvoting/womenvote/overview/earlysuffragist/]

http://www.parliament.uk/about/livingheritage/transformingsociety/electionsvoting/womenvote/overview/earlysuffragist/

http://www.parliament.uk/about/livingheritage/transformingsociety/electionsvoting/womenvote/overview/earlysuffragist/

http://www.parliament.uk/about/livingheritage/transformingsociety/electionsvoting/womenvote/overview/startsuffragette-/

Marion Wallace Dunlop’s Life and Work

http://www.parliament.uk/about/livingheritage/transformingsociety/electionsvoting/womenvote/overview/male-sympathisers/

http://www.sylviapankhurst.com/about_sylvia_pankhurst/politics_&_world_affairs.php

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/oct/12/suffragettes-white-middle-class-women-pankhursts

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/mar/06/sylvia-pankhurst-honoured-at-last http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/history/mwh/britain/votesforwomenrev3.shtml

Kay, J (2007) “No Time for Recreations till the Vote is Won”? Suffrage Activists and Leisure in Edwardian Britain, Women’s History Review, 16:4, pp 535 – 553.

Leneman, L. (2004) ‘Dunlop, Marion Wallace- (1864–1942)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press; online edn, April 2016 

Nym Mayhall, L.E (1995) Creating the ‘suffragette spirit’: British feminism and the historical imagination1, Women's History Review, 4:3, 319-344. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09612029500200088

Oats, J. (2017) The Suffrage Issue in Ealing, 1907-1914, Available online: http://www.ccslibraries.com/libraries/ealing-libraries/local-history-centre/local-history-blog/the-suffrage-issue-in-ealing-1907-1914