Mabel Capper
--Johnny Cyprus (talk) 14:05, 27 August 2011 (UTC)
Mabel Henrietta Capper (23 June 1888 - 1 September 1966) was a Brtish Suffragette. She gave all her time between 1907 and 1913 to the WSPU as a 'soldier' in the struggle for voting rights for women. She was imprisoned six times, went on hunger strike and was one of the first Suffragettes to be forcibly fed. [1]
Family
She was borne in Brook's Bar, Chorlton on Medlock Manchester. Her father, William Bently Capper was a Chemist and an Honarary Secretary of the Manchester branch of the Men's League for Women's Suffrage. Her Mother, Elizabeth Jane Capper became a member of the WSPU. [2] [1]
Her views on National Service and votes for women
In 1908 Capper wrote to the Manchester Guardian to counter an objection to Women's enfranchisement on the grounds that they would be excluded from conscription into the armed forces.
She wrote: "-there is reason in denying the rights of citizenship to women on these grounds. - When our men set out to battle they do not go alone. They are accompanied by an army of women, whose duty it is to tend those stricken in the fight. They endure the same hardships, undergo the same risks. Is their work less noble? Does the State owe them a lighter debt?"[3]
- ↑ a b The Womens Suffrage Movement, Elizabeth Crawford, Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, London & New York, 1999, P95, ISBN 0-415-23926-5
- ↑ Private family papers, Late Lt Col S Brock
- ↑ Manchester Guardian, 18 December 1908, Letters