Frances Gordon facts for kids

Frances Graves aka Frances Gordon (born around 1874) was a British suffragette who became prominent in the militant wing of the Scottish women's suffrage movement prior to the First World War and was imprisoned and force-fed for her actions.

Campaigning for women's suffrage and arrest

Frances (Florence) Graves adopted the alias Frances Gordon while campaigning for women's suffrage. Adopting an alias was not uncommon for campaigners, either to avoid their families being condemned by association or to evade capture by police.

Gordon and Arabella Scott were prominent in the militant wing of the Scottish women's suffrage movement. The pair were arrested after breaking into Springhall House, a mansion house in Lanarkshire, with the intention of setting it on fire on 3 April 1914. The house was not occupied but a caretaker was awoken by a noise at 2:30am and was astonished to find Gordon in the parlour.

The caretaker fired two shots with his revolver to alert the local constable on the beat.The noise of which caused the other suffragettes accompanying Gordon to flee the house. Frightened by the shots, the caretaker was able to lock Gordon in the kitchen and telephone the police. On arrival, the police found three-quarter gallon flasks of paraffin oil, matches and suffrage literature. Gordon was arrested and taken away.

Trial

Gordon was described as a small woman of about forty years of age with a pronounced English accent. The lady owner of Springhall House declined to prosecute Gordon but the public prosecutor decided to proceed with the trial date fixed for 22 June 1914.

At the High Court of Glasgow, Gordon was charged with attempting to set fire to Springhall House. Gordon pleaded not guilty and her counsel attempted to have the case thrown out on a technicality - that housebreaking with intent to set a fire was not a crime in Scotland - but the attempt was unsuccessful and the guilty verdict was returned by the jury. She was sentenced to one year's imprisonment.

The Glasgow Evening Times covering the trial described "Miss Gordon's Remarkable Speech" as she left the court. Shouting to the gallery, she cried "Trust in God, constant war and fight on."

While the Evening Times made no mention of any disturbances, the High Court's own records mention three women being charged with contempt of court "in respect that they interrupted the proceedings of the Court by shouting and yelling (or by throwing missiles in the direction of the bench)". The three women refused to give their names to court officials.

Release from prison

On 3 July 1914, Gordon was released from prison under the Cat and Mouse Act and taken to Glasgow.

On 10 August 1914, not long after the outbreak of the First World War, the British government ordered that all prisoners convicted of suffrage agitation be released. Three days after this, Emmeline Pankhurst called an end to all militancy stating "it has been decided to economise the Union's energies and financial resources by a temporary suspension of activities."

In 2010, the story of the four suffragettes - Scott, Gordon, Parker and Maude Edwards - at Perth prison has been turned into a stage play, Cat and Mouse, by playwright Ajay Close.