Janie Allan facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Janie Allan
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Jane Allan
28 March 1868 Glasgow, Scotland
|
| Died | 29 April 1968 (aged 100) Spean Bridge, Scotland
|
| Nationality | British |
| Years active | 1902–1914 |
| Known for | Women's rights activism |
Jane "Janie" Allan (born March 28, 1868 – died April 29, 1968) was an important Scottish activist. She helped fund the suffragette movement in the early 1900s. Suffragettes were women who fought for the right to vote.
Contents
Janie Allan's Early Life
Janie Allan grew up in a rich family in Glasgow, Scotland. Her family owned a big shipping company called the Allan Line. Her grandfather, Alexander Allan, started the company in 1819.
By the time Janie's father, also named Alexander, took over the Glasgow part of the business, the company was very successful. They had many ships and offices in other cities like Liverpool and Montreal. They even won a big mail contract from the Cunard company.
Like many in her family, Janie believed in socialist ideas. This meant she wanted to help people who were poor or struggling. She was an early member of the Independent Labour Party (ILP), which worked for workers' rights. Janie also wrote a column about women's suffrage (women's right to vote) for a socialist newspaper called Forward.
Fighting for Women's Votes
In May 1902, Janie Allan helped restart the Glasgow branch of the National Society for Women's Suffrage. This group became the Glasgow and West of Scotland Association for Women's Suffrage (GWSAWS). Janie was on its main committee.
She gave a lot of money to the GWSAWS. In 1903, she joined the committee of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS). This was another big group working for women's voting rights.
In 1906, Janie heard Teresa Billington speak. Teresa had been arrested for protesting in London. Later that year, Janie also heard Helen Fraser talk about the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU). This new group believed in more active, sometimes forceful, ways to protest.
By 1907, Janie felt the GWSAWS was not doing enough. She left their committee and joined the WSPU. She still supported GWSAWS with money until 1909.
Over the next few years, Janie gave at least £350 to the WSPU. This was a lot of money back then, about equivalent to £25,600 in 2021 in today's money. She also gave money to the Women's Freedom League (WFL) when they split from the WSPU. Besides her money, Janie actively took part in the WSPU's protests.
Janie Allan's Imprisonment and Forced Feeding
In March 1912, Janie Allan joined over 100 other women in a protest in central London. The women had hidden large stones and hammers under their clothes. At a signal, they broke shop windows on Regent Street and Oxford Street. After breaking the windows, they waited calmly for the police.
While police were busy, Emmeline Pankhurst and three others managed to throw stones at 10 Downing Street, the Prime Minister's home. Janie Allan was arrested, like many others. She was sent to Holloway Prison for four months.
Her time in prison was widely known. About 10,500 people from Glasgow signed a petition asking for her release. Another suffragette, Margaret McPhun, wrote a poem for Janie called "To A Fellow Prisoner (Miss Janie Allan)." This poem was in a book called Holloway Jingles, published by the Glasgow WSPU.
While in prison, Janie used her position to help other suffragettes. She shared sweets and fruit with them. Two months into her sentence, she blocked her cell door. It took three men a long time to get in. After this, Janie started a hunger strike. This meant she refused to eat.
Marion Dunlop had started this type of protest in 1909. She had been released from prison because of her health. But the British government then decided to force-feed suffragettes who went on hunger strike.
Janie Allan was force-fed for a whole week. Emmeline Pankhurst called force-feeding a "horrible outrage." Janie later wrote that it was very bad for her health. She said, "I am a very strong woman... but it was not till 5 months after, that I was able to take any exercise or begin to feel in my usual health again." She felt it "simply ruins the health."
In February 1914, force-feeding was used in Scotland on Ethel Moorhead. Janie Allan strongly protested against this. She met with a prison doctor, Dr. James Devon, to argue against force-feeding. She believed it would "injure permanently a woman's health."
In June 1914, Janie wrote to prison officials. She warned that if other suffragettes like Arabella Scott and 'Frances Gordon' were force-fed, there could be "disastrous" protests during an upcoming royal visit to Scotland. In July, Janie again helped Frances Parker after she was imprisoned for trying to burn Burns Cottage.
Protesting Taxes for Women
In 1913, Janie Allan went to court. She was part of the Women's Tax Resistance League. This group believed that if women could not vote, they should not have to pay taxes. Because of this, Janie refused to pay a special tax on her income and investments for 1912.
At her trial on March 1, 1913, Janie defended herself. She argued that if women were not seen as 'persons' when it came to voting, they should not be 'persons' when it came to paying taxes. The judge, Lord Cullen, disagreed. He said that tax laws clearly included women.
Later Life and Legacy
When World War I started in 1914, the WSPU stopped their suffragette protests. They focused on helping with the war effort. Janie Allan gave a lot of money to Dr. Flora Murray and Dr. Louisa Garrett Anderson. This money helped them start the Women's Hospital Corps.
In 1923, Janie led the Women's Watch Committee. This group continued to report on how public officials treated women. She was also involved with the Scottish Council for Women's Trades for 20 years.
Janie Allan died in April 1968 at her home near Spean Bridge in the Scottish Highlands. She passed away one month after her 100th birthday.
See also
In Spanish: Janie Allan para niños
