Harriet Kerr
{{Short description|British suffragette (1859–1940)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}}{{Use British English|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Harriet Roberta Kerr
| image = Harriet Roberta Kerr of WSPU in 1913 (sq cropped).webp
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| caption = Harriet Roberta Kerr in 1913
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| birth_date = 1859
| birth_place = Wanstead, Essex, England
| death_date = 1940
| death_place = Hampshire, England
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| employer = The Suffragette newspaper
| organization = Women's Social and Political Union
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Harriet Roberta Kerr (1859–1940) was a British suffragette and office manager of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU).{{Cite book |last=Crawford |first=Elizabeth |author-link=Elizabeth Crawford (historian) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ygXwlK_mj50C&dq=harriet+kerr&pg=PA324 |title=The Women's Suffrage Movement: A Reference Guide 1866-1928 |date=2003-09-02 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-43401-4 |pages=323–324 |language=en}}
Life
Kerr was born in 1859 in Wanstead, Essex. Her father was a professor of architecture at King's College London.{{Cite web |title=Miss Harriet Roberta Kerr |url=https://www.suffrageresources.org.uk/database/2095/miss-harriet-roberta-kerr |access-date=2025-01-10 |website=Women's Suffrage Resources}}
Kerr ran a successful secretarial agency in London, but she gave up her business to dedicate herself to working for the campaign for women's enfranchisement.{{Cite book |last=Cowman |first=Krista |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6cbvP3XF0yMC&dq=harriet+kerr+wspu&pg=PA98 |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=97–99 |language=en}} In 1906, she was appointed as the paid office manager of the national headquarters of the WSPU in Clement's Inn, London,{{Cite book |last=Cowman |first=Krista |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=srELBwAAQBAJ&dq=harriet+kerr+wspu&pg=PA315 |title=Suffrage, Gender and Citizenship – International Perspectives on Parliamentary Reforms |date=2008-12-18 |publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing |isbn=978-1-4438-0301-4 |editor-last=Markkola |editor-first=Pirjo |pages=315 |language=en |chapter=What Was Suffragette Militancy? An Exploration of the British Example |editor-last2=Nevala-Nurmi |editor-first2=Seija-Leena |editor-last3=Sulkunen |editor-first3=Irma}} on the agreement that her work would be solely administrative.{{Cite book |last1=Holton |first1=Sandra |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TlmGAgAAQBAJ&dq=harriet+kerr+wspu&pg=PA138 |title=Votes For Women |last2=Purvis |first2=June |date=2002-01-04 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-61065-5 |pages=138 |language=en}} She oversaw volunteers and mentored new recruits such as Charlotte Marsh.
On 30 April 1913, Kerr was arrested alongside Beatrice Sanders, Rachel Barrett, Agnes Lake (business manager of The Suffragette newspaper) and Flora Drummond when police raided the WSPU offices.{{Cite web |last=Crawford |first=Elizabeth |date=2013-04-30 |title=WALKS/Suffrage Stories: The Raid On WSPU Headquarters, 30 April 1913 |url=https://womanandhersphere.com/2013/04/30/suffrage-stories-the-raid-on-wspu-headquarters-30-april-1913/ |access-date=2025-01-10 |website=Woman and her Sphere |language=en}} She was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment with hard labour for conspiracy to do wilful damage to property,{{Cite web |date=2018-06-13 |title=The National Archives - 'Raided!!' London headquarters of the Women's Social and Political Union |url=https://blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/raided-london-headquarters-womens-social-political-union/ |access-date=2025-01-10 |website=The National Archives blog |language=en-GB}} even though she had not yet marched in a deputation or participated in any militant action. She went on hunger strike and was temporarily released in June 1913 under the "Cat and Mouse Act." It is likely that she was awarded the Hunger Strike Medal. She stayed at Hook Cottage in Billingshurst, Sussex, to recuperate,{{Cite book |last=Wojtczak |first=Helena |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6P4MAQAAMAAJ&q=harriet+kerr+wspu |title=Notable Sussex Women: 580 Biographical Sketches |date=2008 |publisher=Hastings |isbn=978-1-904109-15-0 |pages=43 |language=en}} then in October 1913 was rearrested, once again at the WSPU offices.{{Cite web |title=Suffragettes: Emma Birchell & Agnes Buckton |url=https://uncoveryourancestors.org/blog/suffragettes-emma-birchell-agnes-buckton/ |access-date=2025-01-10 |website=THE LIVES AND ACTIONS OF SUFFRAGETTES AND SUFFRAGISTS |language=en}} During the rearrest of Kerr and Sanders, Annie Ford, Emma Birchell and Alice Virtue tried to stop the police from taking them and were also arrested. They were charged with obstructing the police and fined 40 shillings each. After serving the rest of her sentence, Kerr was sentenced to twelve months under police supervision.{{Cite book |last=Atkinson |first=Diane |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YwNbEAAAQBAJ&dq=harriet+kerr+wspu&pg=PA396 |title=Rise Up, Women!: The Remarkable Lives of the Suffragettes |date=2019 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-4088-4405-2 |pages=396 |language=en}} Due to the impact on her physical health, Kerr retired from the suffrage campaign.
When Emmeline Pankhurst died on 14 June 1928, Kerr was one of her pallbearers, alongside other former suffragettes Georgiana Brackenbury, Marie Brackenbury, Marion Wallace Dunlop, Mildred Mansel, Kitty Marshall, Rosamund Massy, Marie Naylor, Ada Wright and Barbara Wylie.{{Cite book |last=Purvis |first=June |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wtx_AgAAQBAJ&dq=barbara+wylie&pg=PA353 |title=Emmeline Pankhurst: A Biography |date=2003-09-02 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-34191-7 |pages=253 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Pugh |first=Martin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IGelJr1eZDoC&dq=harriet+kerr+wspu&pg=PA408 |title=The Pankhursts: The History of One Radical Family |date=2008 |publisher=Vintage |isbn=978-0-09-952043-6 |pages=408 |language=en}}
References
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