Lillian Forrester (née Williamson)
(1879-1973), Militant suffragetteSitter in 3 portraits
On 4 April 1913, Forrester and Evelyn Manesta were charged with damaging thirteen pictures at Manchester Art Gallery and sentenced to three months in prison. The Manchester Guardian reported that 'Just before nine 'clock last night ... They found three women making a rush around the room, cracking the glass of the biggest and most valuable paintings in the collection'. The attack was one of many as an act of protest following the sentencing of Emmeline Pankhurst to three years of imprisonment. Forrester asserted that they had not intended to damage the pictures adding 'I do not stand here as a malicious person but as a patriot ... a political offender ... my knowledge of history has spurred me to this fight for women's freedom'.
'Surveillance Photograph of Militant Suffragettes'
by Criminal Record Office
bromide print mounted onto identification sheet, 1914
NPG x132847
Lillian Forrester (née Williamson); Evelyn Manesta
by Unknown photographer
Criminal Record Office memorandum, Issued 24 April 1914
NPG x136417
Lillian Forrester (née Williamson)
by Criminal Record Office
silver print mounted onto identification sheet, 1914
NPG x45562
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