Nellie Hall

Nellie Hall (about 1893 Her grandfather Spencer Timothy Hall was a homeopathic doctor and writer. Nellie Hall was early exposed to political and cultural discussions in a home that hosted visitors such as Emmeline Pankhurst and George Bernard Shaw. She began her political activism while still in her teens, in 1909, when she joined the nightly protests against force-feeding outside Winson Green Prison. but was released after eight days, suffering from mumps. and three other women (Grace Arnes, Julia Jameson, and Grace Roe), for participating in a conspiracy and concealing an arsenal of pebbles and "window smashing equipment" in their Maida Vale flat. As she was carried out of court during her trial, she waved her handkerchief to supporters and cried, "It doesn't matter; we shall go on fighting, fighting, fighting". She was sentenced to three months, went on hunger strike,

Nellie moved back to Birmingham during the First World War, where she joined the Post Office and became the first mail sorter for the British Expeditionary Force. in 1928, through the intervention of Flora Drummond, she was persuaded to act as secretary and liaison officer for Emmeline Pankhurst, whom she nursed through her final illness. She carried the WSPU flag at Pankhurst's funeral. and settled in Warwickshire. She had sons David Hall-Humpherson and Peter Hall-Humpherson. Following Emmeline Pankhurst's death, the Humphersons emigrated to Canada in 1929. Nell Hall-Humpherson lived in Nova Scotia and Toronto, where she was president of the Soldiers' Wives Association during World War II, and a life member of the Association of Women Electors in Toronto. She was interviewed again on Canadian television, by Pierre Berton, in 1971. She died in 1976, aged 83, in Cobourg, Ontario.