Emmeline earlier in the year.^51 Now, in the summer of 1913, Adela found
herself in the peaceful Ticino Valley in Switzerland, acting as a governess to the
Archdale children, Alec and Betty.^52
Sylvia, despite her political differences with her mother, was following much
more closely in her footsteps. On 3 July she was served with a summons under
an old statute passed during the reign of Edward III, which attempted to prevent
her from speaking in public, a procedure that was also adopted with George
Lansbury. Sylvia ignored the summons and spoke at a public meeting held in the
East End on 7 July. A near riot broke out as men and women in the audience
tried to prevent her arrest. In court the next, day she was sentenced to three
months’ imprisonment. Sylvia had encouraged the East End people to protest
against the Cat and Mouse Act, and a number of gatherings campaigning for its
repeal took place, including a large meeting held in the Queen’s Hall on 8 July,
under the auspices of the National Political League. In Holloway, Sylvia imme-
diately went on a hunger and thirst strike. After a few days, she also walked
about her cell incessantly, until she fainted, the sooner to secure her freedom.
On 13 July she was released and taken to 28 Ford Road, Bow, the home of Mr.
and Mrs. Payne, who were shoemakers. Here, in this small terraced house,
Sylvia was to be nursed back to health, attended by Dr. Flora Murray who had
also looked after her mother and many other ‘mice’. 28 Ford Road was to be
Sylvia’s home for the next year. During this period she often wrote unpaid arti-
cles for theClarion, theMerthyr Pioneerand theGlasgow Forward, all socialist
newspapers, as well as some paid articles for the American press.^53
Emmeline came to visit Sylvia, exchanging details of their prison experi-
ences. Henceforth, wrote Sylvia, ‘we were chasing each other in and out of
prison, as though it had been a race between us, until she had served forty-two
days in ten imprisonments, and I, in nine imprisonments, had served sixty-five
days’.^54 Emmeline was tired of the waiting game the prison authorities were
playing with her. She wanted to assert the right to be a free citizen in the way
that Sir Edward Carson, leader of the Ulster Unionists in Northern Ireland, was
free; he had incited people to violence if Home Rule was passed and yet not
been arrested by the government. On the afternoon of Monday, 14 July,
Emmeline unexpectedly appeared at the WSPU meeting at the London
Pavilion. Annie Kenney, another ‘mouse’ out on a licence, had just finished
speaking, when Emmeline walked onto the stage. The startled audience gasped
and amidst tremendous enthusiasm, gave her a standing ovation on this partic-
ular day, Emmeline’s ‘birthday’. Emmeline had missed speaking on public
platforms and was not going to lose this opportunity to exercise her authority as
the WSPU’s leader:
Now I wondered as I came along to this meeting if I should find the
physical strength to speak to you ... [C]oming as I have off my sick bed
which I have kept intermittently during ... three months, I thought to
myself, ‘At any rate, I must say one thing – that a defiant deed hasPRISONER OF THE CAT AND MOUSE ACT