we can put off our appointment with you until Monday morning in
order that Harry may have the change of air until then. He thinks that
if Harry has to undergo treatment he will be braced up by the change.
Of course we are entirely in your hands in the matter. ... I shall feel
very obliged if you will let me know as soon as possible this evening
your decision so that Mr Lawrence may either retain or cancel the
rooms.^23As Harry was showing some improvement, Dr. Mills probably did not object to
the change of plan.
Soon Emmeline was back in the provinces, campaigning in Sheffield. The
busyness of her life left her little time to be with her children. Christabel and
Adela she saw regularly while the skills of the artistic Sylvia, who was not an
accomplished platform speaker and had neither ‘the beauty nor the poise of her
mother & elder sister’,^24 were put to good use in creating designs and decora-
tions for the women’s cause. But Harry lived at a distance and was always a
worry to his mother; his health was delicate and he was unsettled. Furthermore,
in the days before a National Health Service, the not wealthy Emmeline had to
pay Harry’s medical bills as, in this instance, when she later sent Dr. Mills a
cheque for £4 4s.^25 Realising that she needed to earn more money in order to
care for her son, Emmeline wrote to an old American friend from her Women’s
Franchise League days, enquiring about the possibilities of a lucrative paid
lecture tour in the USA in the autumn. ‘[Y]our Mother ... spoke of her desire to
earn some money so as to be able to secure for Harry the best of medical care
and asked if I could put her in touch with some reliable lecture bureau’, recol-
lected Harriot Stanton Blatch in a letter to Christabel.^26 Meanwhile, Emmeline
made sure that she spent some brief spells in London during April and May
when she could see Harry and also participate in a range of activities where she
felt her presence to be necessary. One such event was the release of the Union’s
Treasurer.
Recognising the importance of comradeship for the success of the WSPU,
and also for the effectiveness of its leaders, Emmeline urged all members to be
present at the Holloway gates at eight in the morning on 16 April when
Emmeline Pethick Lawrence was due to be released. ‘She must feel that not
only is she a leader of a great women’s movement, she is the friend and comrade
of every woman in the Union, and we are there each and all of us as members of
our great and united family of women’, Emmeline pleaded.^27 At the appointed
hour, Emmeline, Christabel and Annie Kenney were amongst the 1,000 people
gathered at the gates who gave hearty cheers as the Treasurer of the WSPU was
released. Emmeline spoke of the breakfast welcome at the Criterion Restaurant,
attended by between 400 and 500, as ‘our private family welcome’ to someone
whom they all loved, valued and had missed. But it was the imposing procession
that marched in the sparkling sunshine the following day from Hyde Park to the
packed Aldwych Theatre, where Emmeline gave a welcome to the Union’s
‘A NEW AND MORE HEROIC PLANE’