Marion Wallace-Dunlop
Early Life
Marion Wallace Dunlop was born on 22 December 1864 at Leys Castle. Her father was in the Indian Marion civil service. She studied at the Slade school of art and worked as a book illustrator, as well as exhibiting at the Royal Academy.
Activism
Marion and her mother first joined a suffrage movement in 1900. By the summer of 1908, Marion was an active member of the WSPU and was first arrested. She was arrested in 1909 for stencilling a notice on the walls of the House of Commons. During her imprisonment, she went on hunger strike, the first suffragette to do so, to support her demand to be treated as a political prisoner. Other suffragettes followed her example. In 1910, she became honorary secretary of the Weybridge WSPU branch. In 1911, she developed a device so that she could stencil on pavements and buildings more quickly. She was arrested for breaking windows at the Home Office and was given a three week prison sentence. She also put her artistic skills in organising suffragette processions many of which deployed hundreds of women.
She planted a Tsuga mertensiana in the arboretum in June 1910.
Later Life
Marion stepped away from active campaigning and retired to a cottage in Peaslake Surrey with her adopted daughter. She died in Guildford in 1942.
Quote
'I claim the right recognized by all civilized nations that a person imprisoned for a political offence should have first-division treatment; and as a matter of principle, not only for my own sake but for the sake of others who may come after me, I am now refusing all food until this matter is settled to my satisfaction.'