Mary Blathwayt

Mary Blathwayt (1 February 1879 – 25 June 1961) was a British feminist, suffragette and social reformer. She lived at Eagle House in Somerset. This house became known as the "Suffragette's Rest" and contained a memorial to the protests of 60 suffragists and suffragettes. The memorial was bulldozed in the 1960s.

Early life Mary Blathwayt was born 1 February 1879 in Worthing, Sussex, the daughter of Colonel Linley Blathwayt, an army officer who had served in India, and his wife, Emily,

Upon retiring from active service, Colonel Blathwayt and his family moved from India to Eagle House, Batheaston, on the outskirts of Bath. and agreed to help Kenney, Elsie Howey, Clara Codd and Mary Phillips organise the women's suffrage campaign in her area.

Blathwayt was given an allowance by her family to support her in her work for women's rights. Many women who supported the cause bought merchandise supporting the WSPU such as 'branded' china or brooches, and in Blathwayt's diary she had bought tea (tea leaves) which she had to return to Bath WSPU - as it was "off". Blathwayt met many of the key people from the suffragette movement who were invited to stay at her parental home and to plant a tree to celebrate a prison sentence. However, when Vera Wentworth and Elsie Howey assaulted the Prime Minister, this proved too much for Blathwayt's family. Her mother, Emily, resigned from the WSPU and her father, Linley, wrote letters of protest to Christabel Pankhurst, Howey and Wentworth. Pankhurst was told that Howey and Wentworth could not visit their house again. Wentworth sent them a long reply expressing regret at their reaction but noting that "if Mr. Asquith will not receive deputation they will pummel him again".

Death and legacy Following her retirement from the WSPU, Blathwayt lived a quiet life with her family at Eagle House until her death on 25 June 1961.

Blathwayt's diary reveals that she probably had an affair with Cristabel Pankhurst before Pankhurst moved on to Annie Kenney. Blathwayt made notes of Kenney's sleeping partners when she stayed at Eagle House and jealousy has been proposed as the reason. In 1961 the Local Planning Authority overruled local objections and allowed the gardens to be redeveloped. The house was kept but its contents were auctioned and this included a Boadicea brooch given by Annie Kenney to Blathwayt. The garden did not completely go unnoticed as a local journalist noted that the contents of the house were unimportant when compared to the suffragette's garden.

The national archives has records belonging to a diarist of Batheaston who had a younger brother named William who worked in Germany who knew Margaret Hewitt.