Jennie Baines (1866-1951), Militant suffragette

Sitter in 2 portraits
Born in Birmingham, Sarah Jane, or Jennie, began working in a factory aged eleven. Following involvement with the Salvation Army, the Temperance movement and the Independent Labour Party, she joined the Women's Social and Political Union around 1905. By 1908 she was a full-time organiser for the WSPU in the north and Midlands. One of the first suffragettes to advocate militant methods, she was imprisoned fifteen times. She went on hunger strike five times but was never force fed. After her release in 1913 she was smuggled to Australia with her family. There she organised more militant activity for the Women's Peace League and had another spell in prison. She continued to campaign until her death in 1951.