Florence Mary Canning (19 May 1863 – 24 December 1914) was a British suffragette and Chair of the Executive Committee of the Church League for Women's Suffrage.
Florence Canning | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 19 May 1863 Hereford, England |
| Died | 24 December 1914 (aged 51) Brighton, England |
| Known for | Leading Church League for Women's Suffrage |
Early life
editCanning was born in Hereford on 19 May 1863.[1] She was the eldest daughter of the Reverend Thomas Canning,[2] vicar of Tupsley,[3] and his wife Elizabeth Hampden Phillips. Florence had six siblings, four brothers and two sisters, one of whom, Frances Ethel Canning, became an author and Conservative Church suffragist.[4] She performed with a number of other pupils of Dr Herbert Wareing in a concert at the Public Hall in Worcester in July 1889.[5]
Canning became a professional artist and exhibited her paintings at exhibitions in Hereford and London.[6]
Activism
editCanning joined the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) in 1906. She appears on the Suffragette Roll of Honour,[7] having been imprisoned at least twice, firstly in 1908 when she was sent to Holloway Prison after being arrested on a deputation to the Prime Minister.[8]
Canning convalesced on more than on occasion at Eagle House, Batheaston (home of the Blathwayt family) where she planted an Oregon cedar at Annie’s Arboretum on 25 April 1909.[9] Canning was injured in the Black Friday protests on 18 November 1910 but never regained her health, being subsequently diagnosed with breast cancer. When the 1911 census was taken, she participated in the suffragette boycott and evaded being enumerated.[9]
Canning was elected as Chair of the Executive of the Church League for Women's Suffrage (CLWS) in early 1912,[10] before ill-health later forced her to resign. She did attend the General Council meeting of the CLWS which took place in Brighton in July 1913, and appears in a photograph taken by Muriel Darton alongside other delegates including two Indian women.[11] Canning was “most decidedly in favour” of the ordination of women, in correspondence to Ursula Roberts dating from 1913.[12]
Newspaper reports show Canning travelling the country to speak about suffrage, travelling as far as the Isle of Skye and Dublin.[6][9] Her last public act was as a member of a deputation to the King in May 1914, when she was once again arrested. In addition to the CWLS and the WSPU, Canning was a speaker on behalf of the Conservative and Unionist Women's Franchise Association (CUWFA). She was said to be ‘an indefatigable worker and most effective speaker’.[13] She also worked for the East London Federation of Suffragettes, established by Sylvia Pankhurst.[9][14]
Later life
edit
Florence did not live to see women win the vote. She died on Christmas Eve 1914 in Brighton,[3] where her death was certified by Dr Louisa Martindale. Florence’s coffin was brought back to Hereford where she was interred with her family at St Paul’s Church, Tupsley.[6] Members of the WSPSU attended her funeral,[9] and Florence was buried with a wreath in the WSPU colours of purple, white and green on her grave.[15]
A fund was set up in her memory by her friends, including CUWFA member, Gertrude Eaton, to raise money for the Women’s Hospital for Children. By 1917 it had collected £265 to equip and furnish an operating theatre in Canning’s memory.[16] Her tree in the aboreatum at Eagle House in Batheaston was bulldozed with dozens of others in the 1960s.
In 2018, she was honoured with a Violet Plaque, an initiative of Hereford Cathedral funded by the National Lottery.[17] In 2022 an appeal was launched by a local suffrage researcher to raise £1,000 to renovate her grave.[18][6]
References
edit- ^ "Hereford Times". 23 May 1863.
- ^ Dobbie, Beatrice Marion Willmott (1979). A Nest of Suffragettes in Somerset: Eagle House, Batheaston. The Society. p. 19. ISBN 978-0-9505390-1-0.
- ^ a b Phelps, David (15 February 2019). Secret Hereford. Amberley Publishing Limited. ISBN 978-1-4456-8434-5.
- ^ Inkpin, Jonathan David Francis (1996). Combatting the #sin of self-sacrifice'? : Christian feminism in the women's suffrage struggle, 1903-1918 (Doctoral thesis). Durham University.
- ^ "Worcester Journal". 8 June 1889.
- ^ a b c d Young, Hattie (15 January 2023). "Grave of 'remarkable' Hereford woman set to be restored". Hereford Times. Retrieved 20 November 2024.
- ^ "Suffragette Roll of Honour".
- ^ "Suffragette". 16 April 1915.
- ^ a b c d e Wichbold, Clare. "Florence Canning". Mapping Women's Suffrage. Retrieved 20 November 2024.
- ^ "Unearthed photograph highlights important role of Indian suffragettes". London School of Economics and Political Science. 1 July 2019. Retrieved 20 November 2024.
- ^ "Unearthed photograph highlights important role of Indian suffragettes role of Indian".
- ^ "Autograph Letter Collection: Women in the Church, 1913-1963". The Women's Library, London School of Economics and Political Science.
- ^ "The Church League for Women's Suffrage Monthly Paper". February 1915.
- ^ "Women's Dreadnought". 9 January 1915.
- ^ "Suffragette". 16 April 1915.
- ^ "Church League Monthly Paper". 1 January 1917.
- ^ "Hereford Cathedral Violet Plaques". Hereford Cathedral.
- ^ "Florence Canning, suffragette: grave restoration". Crowdfunder UK. Retrieved 23 July 2022.