Bertha Brewster

Brewster was born in Lewes in Sussex in 1887 to Bertha (born 1863) and George Rice Brewster (born 1860) of Henfield, near Horsham in West Sussex. Her father was of independent means.^[3] Her brother Philip Brewster was born in 1889. She and her brother were day students at the co-educational private school Bedales. The 1901 Census shows the Brewster family were residing in Steep, Hampshire, where the school was located. Academically able, she was one of two girls who, on leaving Bedales in 1905, attended the University of London; however, it does not appear that she ever graduated.

In 1908 she and her mother joined the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), with Mrs Brewster later becoming the secretary of the Ombersley branch. Bertha Brewster was first arrested in August 1909 when she and a number of other suffragettes rented a house next door to a hall in Liverpool where Richard Haldane, a Liberal Member of Parliament and the Secretary of State for War was scheduled to speak at a meeting. When the meeting commenced one of the women climbed onto the roof of their rented house while another spoke to the crowd below. Press reports of the incident claimed that slates and other items were hurled from the roof of the house at the windows of the hall, resulting in Haldane having to interrupt his speech. On 24 August 1909 Brewster was sentenced to four weeks in prison, to be served at Walton Gaol, while the other women involved received eight weeks each. Brewster protested that her sentence was unduly lenient. The newspaper Votes for Women recorded that while being transported to prison the women sang La Marseillaise while waving a flag reading 'Votes for Women' from the roof of the prison van. Because the authorities did not recognise them as political prisoners the women went on hunger strike, refusing to eat for three days before being released after a further two days.^[4]

On their release from prison the suffragettes were charged with wilful damage of Walton Gaol, where it was claimed they had smashed windows. Brewster was charged with breaking 15 panes of glass in her cell, with a value of 3 shillings and 9 pence. The released women stated that they had already been punished for the damage to the windows and that they were willing to pay for the cost of repair. The authorities claimed that as Brewster had been ill in prison owing to her hunger strike she had been in no fit state to be punished. In September 1909 a summons was issued for her arrest, and Brewster's mother engaged a barrister to defend her daughter and to pay any damages. However, the judge at the hearing refused to listen to any representations from the barrister and issued a warrant for Brewster's arrest.^[4]

Brewster was involved in an incident at Louth Town Hall in Louth in Lincolnshire in 1910 where she and fellow-suffragette Edith Hudson managed to hide for more than 24 hours in the loft space above the ballroom in anticipation of a speech being given there by the then Chancellor of the Exchequer and future Prime Minister, David Lloyd George. She and Hudson conducted a protest by shouting out and interrupting his speech. In response, Lloyd George said: "I see some bats have got into the roof - Well, let them squeal; it doesn't matter. They are counting very little in this election. I have sympathy with their cause, but nothing makes me more despair of their success than their persistence with silly tactics." As the meeting continued the two women pushed a flag through the aperture in the ceiling which dropped to the platform. Lloyd George responded: "I am afraid we shall have to let a cat loose in there!" Both women were arrested and received a police caution.^[5][6][7]

Shortly after she was arrested and returned to Liverpool regarding the damage she had caused at Walton Gaol. On 21 January 1910 she was sentenced to six weeks imprisonment with hard labour. Before beginning her sentence she paid 5 shillings. While serving her sentence the WSPU held a protest meeting outside the prison, while in London Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence, the Treasurer of the WSPU, complained of the injustice of Brewster's sentence, comparing it unfavourably to a 5 shilling fine recently given to a man who had attacked a woman holding a baby, knocking both to the ground. Brewster immediately went on hunger strike, at the same time launching an appeal against her sentence. She was released from prison on bail on 30 January 1910 after having gone on hunger strike for six days and been force-fed twice, for which she was awarded the Hunger Strike Medal by the WSPU.^[4]