Grace Roe

Grace Roe (1885 – 1979) was Head of Suffragette operations for the Women's Social and Political Union. She was released from prison after the outbreak of World War I due to an amnesty negotiated with the government.

Roe was said to be Irish but she was born in 1885 and brought up by a well off family in London. She was educated at Bedales before attending art college. She later reported that at the age of six she was interested in women's rights. She was told that the suffragettes were "unwomanly" so she resisted joining the cause despite being impressed by the majestic figure of Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughter Cristobel when she heard them speak in 1908. Later that year she heard Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence speak and given that she was financially independent she opted to join the campaign.

Christobel was very close to Annie Kenny who had joined the campaign in 1905. It has been claimed that Christobel transferred her affections to Grace Roe and that they may have been lesbian relationships.

Roe said that she met her first suffragette who was chalking "Votes for Women" on the pavement together with the details of a meeting when she was out shopping in London. She was impressed by Lucy Burns coming from America to fight for this cause, courting imprisonment. She was succeeded in 1910, as organiser the Brixton branch of WSPU by Helen Craggs.

Roe was sent to Ipswich and in about 40 days she had transformed the town which had only one WSPU member into a town. She was based at 19 SilentStreet and she invited other leading suffragettes like Marie Brackenbury and Mildred Mansel down to help.

In October 1912, George Lansbury resigned his parliamentary seat to fight a by-election in his constituency of Bow and Bromley on the specific issue of women's suffrage. Roe was sent by the WSPU to lead his campaign. Helost to his Conservative opponent, whocampaigned on the slogan "No Petticoat Government". Sylvia Pankhurst later crticised Roe's campaign but Labour MP Will Thorne figured that no constituency could ever be won on the single question of votes for women.

Roe was chosen as the deputy to Annie Kenney in order that she could take over if necessary and eventually Kenney was arrested and Roe took over her role.

Roe had been given a Hunger Strike Medal 'for Valour' by WSPU and a Holloway Brooch.

When war broke out in 1914 Roe was in prison and she was released as part of the deal struck by the WSPU with the government. The WSPU agreed to cease militant disruption and in exchange the government released all the suffragettes and paid for the WSPU to have a celebration in support of the war effort.

Durinf the war in 1915 Roe accompanied Emmeline Pankhurst, Flora Drummond, Norah Dacre Fox and Annie Kenney to South Wales, the Midlands and Clydeside on a recruiting and lecture tour to encourage trade unions to support war work.

Roe was interviewed twice for the BBC concerning her role in the suffrage struggle. She was seen wearing her Holloway Brooch in a reunion with Leonora Cohen, on the cover of Radio Times.

• Schneer, Jonathan (1990). George Lansbury: Lives of the Left. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press. ISBN 0-7190-2170-7.
• Shepherd, John (2002). George Lansbury: At the Heart of Old Labour. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-820164-8.