Caprina Fahey

Caprina Fahey (née Gilbert; 13 September 1883 – 26 October 1959) was a British suffragette who was given the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) Hunger Strike Medal "for Valour" in 1914. She was an active member of the WSPU and was imprisoned twice in Holloway Prison. In 2017, the Norfolk Museums Service made a successful appeal for information about her life.

Fahey was born in Capri, Italy and was the daughter of sculptor Alfred Gilbert. Growing up she lived in Italy, Belgium and England. She married twice, divorcing her first husband and retaining custody of their child, which was unusual at the time. Trained as a masseuse, she served with the French Red Cross in World War I. She then qualified as a midwife, later moving to Hainford in Norfolk, where she lived with her second husband until her death in 1959.

Early life and family Caprina Fahey was born Charlotte Emily Caprina Gilbert in Capri, Italy, on 13 September 1883. She was the youngest of five children. Fahey travelled by train to Belgium with her mother on 7 September 1901.

Fahey would occasionally model for her father. He disapproved of her later activism as a suffragette, commenting in a letter in 1909 "Cappie a thumper of drums or a 'tootler' on Flutes and a banner waver in a rotten Cause!!!!" He later left her out of his will, although she did attend his funeral at Golders Green Crematorium.

Career Fahey trained as a masseuse and married Alfred Edward Fahey in 1901, taking his name. Her husband was one of her father's assistants and a painter. Together they had a son called Dennis Mountiford Fahey in 1905,

Fahey served with the French Red Cross as a masseuse during World War I, where she is thought to have met her second husband Edward Knight. Returning to Britain, she then trained as a midwife, qualifying in May 1917, and participated in the Women's Institute. She joined the WSPU in 1908, and within two years became organiser for Middlesex. where she stayed in the summers of 1908 and 1909.

Fahey was arrested in 1909, along with twenty six other suffragette campaigners who marched from Caxton Hall, Westminster and attempted to enter the House of Commons. and also used the name 'Charlotte Hay', Her medal also refers to the date 21 May 1914. In 2019, her medal was on display at a Quilters Guild event at Norwich Castle.