Mary Leigh

Mary Leigh (née Brown; 1885–1979) was an English political activist and suffragette.

Early life Leigh was born as Mary Brown in 1885 in Manchester. She was a schoolteacher until her marriage to a builder, surnamed Leigh.

Activism Leigh joined the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) in 1906, They threw tiles onto the roof, at Asquith's car and at the police. Leigh was given sentences totalling four months in Winson Green Prison. There she again protested about not being treated as a political prisoner by breaking a window and by going on hunger strike. Leigh and Patricia Woodlock were force-fed in Winson Green gaol in 1909. Leigh had been given a Hunger Strike Medal 'for Valour' by WSPU.

On 18 July 1912 in Dublin, Leigh threw a hatchet at H. H. Asquith, to which a suffrage message was attached, allegedly hitting and injuring Irish nationalist leader John Redmond instead. She was arrested, was tried on 11 December 1912 and went on hunger strike with fellow suffragette Gladys Evans. Leigh's case was later transferred to the High Court in London.

Leigh was unhappy with the WSPU, but refused to leave when Emmeline Pankhurst asked for loyalty or for members to leave. She remained loyal as she felt an ownership for the organisation she had helped create. The organisation intended to be militant and national but never achieved a large impact. Like the Independent WSPU, it was created in 1916. The SWSPU passed a resolution to concentrate on women's suffrage and to not encourage debate about former WSPU leaders.

Later life and death

Leigh joined the Labour Party and remained a committed socialist, regularly attending the May Day processions in Hyde Park. She was a founder of the Emily Wilding Davison Lodge, a memorial society for her suffrage comrade who died after being struck by the King's horse at the 1913 Epsom Derby, and every year she made a pilgrimage to Morpeth, Northumberland, to tend Davison's grave. She reportedly took part in the first Aldermaston March in 1958. In later years, she continued to recall her time in the WSPU with pride and stood by her actions as a suffragette.