Dora Beedham nee Spong

Procession of Suffragettes on The Strand on 30 June 1908. The Suffragettes are (left to right) Dorothy Hartopp Radcliffe, Dora Spong who appears to be holding a pile of Votes for Women newspapers, Hilda Dallas and Charlotte Marsh carrying the placard Dora Beedham (née Spong; 3 June 1879 – 1969) was an English nurse from the social activist Spong Family and suffragette who joined the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) in 1908 and was imprisoned and force-fed.

Biography Born as Dora Spong in Balham, London in 1879, she was the fourth daughter of Frances Elizabeth Scott (1843-1929) and father James Osborne Spong (1839-1925) who ran a labour-saving device engineering company, Spong & Co, who made and sold devices which may 'help women move out of the kitchen' like coffee grinders, corkscrews, She married Ralph John Beedham (1879-1975) on 14 October 1910 Following that event, the suffragettes tried to march from Caxton Hall to the House of Commons into a crowd of around 10,000 who tried to harass them, with only 1,700 police to keep order, Spong was amongst the seventy-five suffragettes were arrested in the ensuing aggression. She was charged for the first time, the next day on 1 July 1908, where they were still living in 1949. She died in Surrey in 1969.

Minnie 'Frances' Spong The oldest daughter Minnie Spong (1863 – 19 June 1953), who became a teacher in Africa, wanted to be known as 'Frances' after their carnivore father named his meat mincing gadget 'the Minnie', and she only returned to Britain in 1911. She was unmarried but lived with a fellow artist Joseph Sydell, whom she met at art college. Annie took up dancing under the direction of Raymond Duncan, whose sister Isadora was more well known for modern expressive dance. She opened the Spong School in Hampstead in 1919, where Spong Rhythmic Dancing was taught and which in 1920 became known as Natural Movement Dancing. With her sister the singer Irene Spong she performed in the Greek drama Lysistrata at the Royal Court Theatre.

Irene Spong Sister Irene Osborn Spong (1882 – 21 June 1960) was a singer and put on concerts to raise money for the WSPU, and gave elocution classes to suffragette speakers.

With Annie, Irene performed in Lysistrata, a Greek drama at the Royal Court Theatre.

Florence Spong

Another sister, Florence (1873 – 30 March 1944), was a weaver, dressmaker and made lace and wood-carvings.

Florence and her sister Minnie Spong became poultry farmers in Felbridge, East Grinstead and advertised in Votes for Women for female students. With her sister Dora Spong she joined the WSPU in 1908. Florence was sentenced to one month's imprisonment for stone-throwing in June 1909, and went on hunger strike and was given another two months' sentence on Black Friday in November 1910. Her signature is on the Holloway banner made by WSPU members in prison, now in the Museum of London.