Mary Scawthorn

Women's Suffrage Work 

Mary attended the Women's Parliament in February 1907 and protested with other members of the Women's Social and Political Union outside Parliament. On this occasion she avoided being arrested but when the WSPU repeated the event on 21st March 1907, Mary was imprisoned with 75 others.

She had travelled to London with Annie Hopson, Sarah Pogson, Elizabeth Pinnance, Dora Thewlis and Ellen Brook.

Mary was sentenced to 14 days in Holloway Prison.

Biography

Mary was born in Slaithwaite in 1863 to Nathaniel Shaw, a painter and plasterer, and Mary Hirst. 

By the age of 17, Mary's mother had died and she was living on Moorside, Slaithwaite with her father, two brothers and three sisters whilst working as a woollen weaver. Mary was the oldest daughter in the household, the youngest child being 9 years old. 

Aged 25, Mary married Joe Scawthorn, a woollen spinner and shawl weaver from Marsden. Together the couple had seven children: four girls and three boys. The family lived in Gladstone Buildings, Marsden until 1912 when the emigrated to America. 

On 23rd July 1912, the family set sail on the 'Franconia' from Liverpool to Boston, Massachusetts, USA, arriving on 31st July. It was only a few months since the Titanic had sunk on a similar journey from Southampton to New York City. The family settled in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, although Mary returned to Marsden on at least one occasion in 1920. In 1956 she died at the age of 93 in Rhode Island.


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