SUFFRAGETTE, KITTY MARION – one of the two women accused of burning down Hurst Park Racecourse.

Born in Germany, but came to Britain to escape a tyrannous father, and joined the theatrical profession, treading usually on the boards of provincial music halls and variety theatre.

She appears to have been as passionate and impulsive as her mop of violent red hair.

 Having been imprisoned as early as 1909 for breaking windows in Newcastle when Lloyd George went to visit Tyneside, she went on hunger strike, and resisted forcible feeding with intense vigour. Barricading her cell door with furniture, she kept the staff at bay until the next day when they managed to chisel the hinges away.

On another occasion, when all metal objects had been removed from her reach, she broke open the pillow with her teeth, scattered the contents around, tore up the prison bible, and in the middle of the night, by breaking the glass of the gaslight, managed to set fire to the accumulation. By the time the smouldering combustion was detected and dowsed, she was already in an insensible condition, and in her already weak state, was stimulated only after the employment of much effort.

At the opening of the Welsh National Eisteddfod in 1911, with some colleagues, she again tried to interrupt Lloyd George, but was roughly thrown out by the stewards, and set upon by the crowds, who fell on them, tore off their clothes, and snatched out lumps of hair. 'Being thrown to wild beasts', she afterwards declared, 'is nothing to being thrown to an infuriated mob. The former may tear you to pieces, but would draw the line at indecent assault'.

She and Clara Giveen were committed to appear at the Surrey Assizes at Guildford, found guilty, and each sentenced to three years' penal servitude.