Annie Seymour Pearson
{{short description|British suffragette}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Annie Pearson
| image = File:WSPU brooch owned by Mary Ann Rawle19077MAR-02 (22751802806).jpg
| caption = WSPU prison brooch of the type awarded to Pearson
| birth_date = 1873
| birth_place = Bolsover, Derbyshire, England
| birth_name = Annie Jane Bennett
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1956|1873}}
| nationality = British
| known_for = Suffragette
| spouse = Arthur Seymour Pearson
| children = Four
| father =
}}
Annie Jane Bennett Pearson (née Bennett, 1873–1956), also known as Annie Seymour Pearson, was a British women's suffrage activist who ran a safe house for suffragettes evading police.{{cite web|url=https://www.suffrageresources.org.uk/database/2321/mrs-annie-seymour-pearson|access-date=3 June 2020|title=Mrs Annie Seymour Pearson / Database - Women's Suffrage Resources}}
Personal life
Pearson was born at Bolsover, Derbyshire in 1873 and was known as Nancy or Nance to friends.{{Cite web |date=2018-02-19 |title=Who were the York suffragettes? |url=https://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/16032387.york-suffragettes/ |access-date=2024-11-21 |website=York Press |language=en}} She was married to Arthur,
{{citation|url=http://yorkcivictrust.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Suffragettes-STUDENT-V1.pdf|access-date=3 June 2020|title=Suffragettes-STUDENT-V1.pdf|page=21}} had four children (surviving children were Elsa, Francis and Roland), and lived in York.{{citation|url=http://yorkcivictrust.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Suffragettes-STUDENT-V1.pdf|access-date=3 June 2020|title=Suffragettes-STUDENT-V1.pdf|page=16}}
Activism
Pearson was a supporter of votes for women and was both arrested for her militant campaigning and supported others to evade arrest. In 1912,18-year-old journalist Harry Johnson, a supporter of women's enfranchisement and possible member of the Men's Political Union (MPU),{{Cite web |title=Mr Harry Johnson / Database - Women's Suffrage Resources |url=https://www.suffrageresources.org.uk/database/2062/mr-harry-johnson |access-date=2024-11-21 |website=www.suffrageresources.org.uk}} was sentenced to a year's imprisonment in Wakefield Gaol with hard labour for attempting to blow up a house near Doncaster for the cause.{{Cite web |title=In History: Suffragettes speak about direct action and their brutal treatment |url=https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20240307-in-history-suffragettes-speak-about-direct-action-and-their-brutal-treatment |access-date=2024-11-21 |website=BBC News |language=en-GB}} He went on hunger strike and was released temporarily from prison under the Cat and Mouse Act, and Pearson, along with Violet Key Jones, helped him to evade rearrest.{{Cite web |date=2015-10-18 |title=What did the suffragettes do in York? Quite a lot actually... |url=https://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/13875262.what-did-the-suffragettes-do-in-york-quite-a-lot-actually/ |access-date=2024-11-21 |website=York Press |language=en}} Pearson also set up her own safe house for suffragettes and supporters.{{Cite book |last=Godfrey |first=Jennifer |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7Q0PEQAAQBAJ&dq=Annie+Seymour+Pearson&pg=PA159 |title=Secret Missions of the Suffragettes: Glassbreakers and Safe Houses |date=2024-07-04 |publisher=Pen and Sword History |isbn=978-1-3990-1399-4 |pages=159 |language=en}}
In 1913, Pearson went to protest at the House of Commons and walked arm-in-arm with a nurse from Birmingham towards Downing Street.{{Cite web |date=2017-06-08 |title=Theatre: Suffragette city heading to York |url=https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/culture/15336031.theatre-suffragette-city-heading-york/ |access-date=2024-11-21 |website=The Northern Echo |language=en}} She was arrested, charged with obstructing the police, and summoned to appear in court on 18 January 1913.
{{citation|url=http://yorkcivictrust.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Suffragettes-STUDENT-V1.pdf|access-date=3 June 2020|title=Suffragettes-STUDENT-V1.pdf|page=17}} Pearson was sentenced to a choice of a 40 shilling fine, or time in prison and opted for prison.{{Cite book |last=Cowman |first=Krista |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6cbvP3XF0yMC&dq=Annie+Seymour+Pearson&pg=PA87 |title=Women of the Right Spirit: Paid Organisers of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), 1904-18 |date=2007-07-15 |publisher=Manchester University Press |isbn=978-0-7190-7002-0 |pages=72 |language=en}} Two days later her husband paid the 25 shillings and sixpence fine, and Pearson was released from Holloway.
After returning to York, Pearson received a Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) prison brooch,
{{citation|url=http://yorkcivictrust.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Suffragettes-STUDENT-V1.pdf|access-date=3 June 2020|title=Suffragettes-STUDENT-V1.pdf|pages=22–23}} and was invited to the next WSPU prisoners' reception where she was thanked for her contribution.{{cite book |last=Cowman |first=Krista |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x8uugZ_Yfh8C |title=The Militant Suffragette Movement in York |date=2007 |publisher=Borthwick Publications |isbn=9781904497219 |page=18}} She was interviewed by a reporter from The Yorkshire Herald during which she explained her motivation for travelling to the demonstration and what happened when there.
{{citation|url=http://yorkcivictrust.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Suffragettes-STUDENT-V1.pdf|access-date=3 June 2020|title=Suffragettes-STUDENT-V1.pdf|pages=24–25}}
In popular culture
In 2017, York Theatre Royal and Pilot Theatre staged Everything Is Possible: The York Suffragettes a play about Pearson and other suffragettes.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2017/jun/25/everything-is-possible-review-the-york-suffragettes|access-date=3 June 2020|title=Everything Is Possible: The York Suffragettes review – an extraordinary community production | Stage | The Guardian|newspaper=The Observer |date=25 June 2017 |last1=Brennan |first1=Clare }} Pearson was a central character who was played by professional actress Barbara Marten. Maten has said that "the house in Heworth Green, where she ran a safe house, no longer stands and there’s no blue plaque. Even her obituary made no mention of her having been a Suffragette.”{{Cite web |last=Hutchinson |first=Charles |date=2020-04-30 |title=York Theatre Royal goes digital for Suffragette stream of Everything Is Possible protest play |url=https://charleshutchpress.co.uk/york-theatre-royal-goes-digital-for-suffragette-stream-of-everything-is-possible-protest-play/ |access-date=2024-11-21 |website=charleshutchpress |language=en-GB}}
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pearson, Annie Seymour}}
Category:Activists from Derbyshire
Category:British women's rights activists
Category:English prisoners and detainees
Category:Women's suffrage in the United Kingdom
Category:19th-century English people
Category:20th-century English people
Category:Women's Social and Political Union