Some historical and global examples of tax resistance → women’s suffrage movements → British women’s suffrage movement → Miss & Mrs. Skipwith

From the 6 July 1912 issue of The Vote:

Poster Campaign

…Income tax resisters will find “Twentieth Century Robbery,” “No Vote No Tax,” and “The Paid Piper,” especially applicable to their case.…

Also from the 6 July 1912 issue of The Vote:

John Hampden Statue at Aylesbury.

The statue of John Hampden, presented to the county of Buckinghamshire by Mr. James Griffiths, of Long Marston, in commemoration of the Coronation, was unveiled at Aylesbury on June 27 by Lord Rothschild. There was a large gathering, representative of Buckinghamshire generally. After some difficulty the Women’s Tax Resistance League received the assurance that they would be able to pay their last tribute to the great Tax Resister.

At the close of the unveiling ceremony a procession of members of the League crossed the market square to the statue, the crowd readily making way, while police lined the short route. On behalf of the League, two delegates, Miss Gertrude Eaton and Miss Clemence Housman, laid a beautiful wreath at the foot of the statue. It was made of white flowers, on which, in black letters, were the words, “From Women Tax Resisters.” Within the circle of flowers was a ship in full sail with the name of John Hampden in gold letters on the streamers. The ship was made of brown beech leaves (the beech is the tree most famous in Buckinghamshire) and white flowers. Emblems were also laid at the base of the statue from the Irishwomen’s Franchise League [this was corrected in a later issue; it was actually from the Irish League for Women’s Suffrage] (a harp in Maréchal Niel roses), the Gymnastic Teachers’ S.S. (blue immortelles and silver leaves), and the London Graduates Union (a laurel wreath). Among those present were Mrs. [Myra Eleanor] Sadd Brown, Mrs. [Mary] Sergeant Florence, Dr. Kate Haslam, Mrs. [Ethel] Ayres Purdie, Mrs. [Margaret] Kineton Parkes, Miss [Minnie?] Turner, M.A., Miss [Maud?] Roll, Mr. Lee and Mr. Sergeant.

Tax Resistance: The Situation at Bromley.

“My goods are not yet seized for non-payment of taxes. I am still barricaded.

“Outside the gate!

“A most uncomfortable position for the tax collector! But, while offering sympathy, I feel the experience will be beneficial. There is nothing so enlightening as a little ‘fellow-feeling.’ Nothing like going ‘there’ to learn the discomforts of being where the woman is, and should be, according to the gospel of the man at Westminster. Bolts and bars are never pleasant things to deal with — from outside! They are terribly, cruelly hard to remove when fixed by men driven by fear to protect an unjust wall of separation. But walls must yield to pressure, and the women gather, intent on ‘breaking down’; content, if need be, to ‘be broken.’ While men, relying on their fastenings, ignore the trembling of foundations, women know the wall is doomed, and when it falls they will flock in to do the bidding of the “Anti” — to scrub and clean, to mind the babies, to stay in the home — the National Home.”

K[ate]. Harvey.

Meetings in the Market-square, Bromley.

Meetings are now being held every evening in the Market-square, Bromley, and are exciting wide interest. Mrs. [Charlotte] Despard was the speaker at the first, and told the crowd why Mrs. Harvey was making this emphatic protest against taxation without representation. Mrs. Despard’s own experiences aroused much interest. The following evening Mrs. [Isabel] Tippett spoke, and still larger crowds gathered to hear her. By Saturday news of these regular meetings had spread, and the audience was ready to receive the speakers. The “Antis” are showing themselves — a sure sign of our success — but the chief argument they bring forward, in the form of questions, is that of physical force: because women do not fight they should not vote. Mrs. Merivale Mayer, the speaker on Saturday, was able to show how beneficial the women’s vote had proved in Australia, and told of the surprise of Australian politicians that the Mother Country still refuses to give the women the chance to stand side by side with men in the fight against evil. The police are exceedingly kind — and evidently interested.

More Tax Resisters.

On June 28, at Redding, goods belonging to Professor Edith Morley were sold. Speakers: Mrs. [Anne] Cobden Sanderson, Miss Gertrude Eaton. Also goods belonging to Miss Manuelle, at Harding’s Auction Rooms, Victoria Station, W. Speakers: Mrs. [Caroline] Louis Fagan, Mrs. Cobden Sanderson, Dr. [C.V.] Drysdale; and at Working, silver, the property of Mrs. Skipwith, was sold. Speakers: Mrs. [Barbara] Ayrton Gould, Mrs. Kineton Parkes. On Saturday, June 29, at Southend, silver belonging to Mrs. Douglas Hameton and Mrs. [Rosina] Sky was sold. There was a procession with brass band prior to sale, and also a very successful protest meeting. Speakers: Mrs. Cobden Sanderson, Mrs. Kineton Parkes, Mr. Warren.

Also from the 6 July 1912 issue of The Vote:

Watch the Authorities!

The need for women to be on the watch is strikingly shown in the news of her experiences which has been sent us by Miss Clara Lee, of Thistledown, Letchworth, who points out how she forced an admission of error from the Inland Revenue Authorities. She writes thus:—

As a tax resister, the following experiences prove the carelessness of Government officials. Having refused to pay Inhabited House Duty (8s. 9d.) to the local collector, I was reported by him to the surveyor for this district, who sent a demand containing two inaccuracies. I wrote to point that one ought not to have occurred, seeing that we had had compulsory education since 1868; the other, he would see did not agree with the original:—

Local Demand.

	s.	d.
Schedule A	5	0
House Duty	8	9

Surveyor’s Demand.

	£	s.	d.
Schedule A	0	5	0
Schedule B	1	1	5
House Duty	0	8	9

Schedule B, I found, applied to nurseries and market gardens. So I wrote pointing out that the nearest connection I had to either, was that under the Lloyd George Insurance Act I was classed with agricultural labourers. To this I received the following letter:—

4, Cardiff-road, Luton, March 11, 1912.

Inland Revenue — Surveyor of Taxes.

Madam, — Referring to your letter of the 9^th inst., I much regret that £1 1s. 5d. was included upon your demand note in error — the entry relating to the next person upon the collector’s return. — Yours faithfully,

(Signed) G.R. Simpson.

Is this the exactness of the work for which women, as well as men, pay so heavily? How long would a commercial firm exist, if it allowed such errors? How long would the public tolerate such mistakes by women workers in our hospitals and elsewhere? The title of idiot, lunatic and criminal must revert to the people responsible for such a condition of things. The 8s. 9d. Inhabited House Duty has now been deducted from my claim of return Income-tax; this seems an unusual proceeding.

From the 28 November 1913 issue of The Vote:

At It Again!

Nothing daunted, Mrs. Kate Harvey, of Bromley, has plunged into the fray again. In default of payment, the tax-collectors have once more broken the barricades at Brackenhill, and ear-marked goods for a forced sale. An ingenious plan of protection had been devised and carried out, and the King’s officers wrestled with the fortifications for two hours before an entry was effected by means of a battering-ram! The sale will take place on Saturday, and all friends and members who will give their support at the protest should hasten to send their names in to Headquarters. It is probable that the sale will be on the premises, as for some reason or other the authorities appear nervous about the prospect of a disturbance if the affair is held in a more public spot. As the protests of Mrs. Harvey are now recognised and appreciated at their true value by the people of Bromley, we have no difficulty in interpreting the nervousness as a fear that too great a demonstration of sympathy for the “offender” might make the task of the officials even more thankless than usual.

Also from the same issue:

Miss Lena Ashwell on Tax Resistance.

Miss Lena Ashwell addressed a crowded audience at the Suffrage Club, St. James’s, November 20, under the auspices of the Women’s Tax Resistance League. Mrs. [Caroline] Louis Fagan presided. Miss Ashwell said that taxation was the thing on which men succeeded in getting the vote, yet women had been constantly told that they had nothing to do with taxation. With her peculiar charm she gave account of her interview with Mr. Lloyd George when, with other members of the League, she stated her position under the Income Tax Act. “I had heard that this most charming and unreliable of men had the power to convince you of his own point of view, whatever your previous attitude. I therefore took the precaution to write down all I meant to say.” But all that the Chancellor of the Exchequer could say when pressed for amendments of the law, was that ‘the Treasury would lose by it!’ ” Miss Ashwell showed how hardly the Insurance Act dealt with the domestic servants, but it revealed a mass of misery among women hitherto unsuspected. The Press accepted with callousness such facts as that a woman and child managed to live on 4s. a week. “Women,” she added, “must organise as never before!”

Also from the same issue:

Women’s Tax Resistance League.

On November 12 a drawing-room meeting was given at Harley-place by Dr. Handley Read and Dr. Constance Long, when Mr. Laurence Housman spoke on the necessity for Tax Resistance on the part of voteless women in order to make the Government realise the far-reaching spirit of revolt among all classes of women. Speeches were also made by Dr. Constance Long, Mrs. [Margaret] Kineton Parks, and Mr. Vernon Compton. On Friday, November 14, Mrs. Skipwith, who lent her drawing-room in Montagu-square and presided over the meeting, said she had twice resisted her taxes and felt that the protests had been very valuable to the Cause. Miss Abadam was the speaker, and made a most earnest appeal to women to realise their enormous responsibility if they continued to subscribe money to the Government under existing conditions.

The December monthly meeting will be held on December 4 at the offices of the League, 10, Talbot House, 98, St. Martin’s-lane. Miss Winifred Holiday will preside, and members who have successfully evaded payment of taxation will give their experiences. Tea will be served at four o’clock, and the meeting will begin at 4.30. Members are invited to bring friends.

From the 11 April 1913 issue of The Vote:

Tax Resistance.

The Unsold Waggon at Ipswich.

There is a waggon on the Cowslip Farm at Witnesham, Suffolk, which has become quite celebrated. It has been sold twice annually for the last three years and still remains on the same farm.

It was drawn into Bond’s Sale Yard at Ipswich on Tuesday, April 1, and the plate on it disclosed it as the property of Dr. Elizabeth Knight and Mrs. [Hortense] Lane. A placard described it as Lot 21, and when the other lots had been sold the auctioneer approached the waggon, followed by a large crowd who were curious to see what was the meaning of three women being seated inside, apparently with a set purpose. Just as the crowd assembled Dr. Knight came into the sale yard to look after the welfare of her property.

Miss Andrews asked the auctioneer if she might explain the reason for the sale of the waggon, and, having received the necessary permission was able to give an address on tax resistance, and to show how it is one of the weapons employed by the Freedom League to secure the enfranchisement of women. Then came the sale — but beforehand the auctioneer said he had not been aware he was to sell “distressed” goods, and he very much objected to doing so. He declared that he regarded Dr. Knight and Mrs. Lane as persons, and thereby showed himself to be in advance of the law of the country. The meeting and the auctioneer together made the assembly chary of bidding, and the waggon was not sold, which was a great triumph for the tax-resisters. Further developments are eagerly awaited, for it is assumed that the Government will not thus easily give up its claim to tax unrepresented women, and will endeavour to find a less scrupulous auctioneer. Miss Trott and Miss Bobby helped to advertise the meeting by carrying placards round the crowded market.

C[onstance].E.A[ndrews].

Women’s Tax Resistance League.

At a Members’ Meeting at the offices of the League on April 3, with Mrs. [Anne] Cobden Sanderson in the chair, speeches were given on the following subjects:— “The Recent Sales and Protests,” by Mrs. Kineton Parkes; “Married Women’s Dividends” — test case, by Mrs. [Ethel] Ayres Purdie; “Married Women and Income Tax,” by Miss Amy Hicks, M.A.; an interesting discussion followed.

Sales of the Week.

On April 3, Mrs. Skipwith, 13, Montagu-square, W., and Gorse Cottage, Woking, had a silver dish sold at Woking for refusal to pay Property Tax. A good protest meeting was held, the speaker being Mrs. [Myra Eleanor] Sadd Brown. On April 5, a clock, belonging to Miss Bertha Brewster was sold by auction at Wilson’s Repository, Chenies-mews, Gower-street, because of non-payment of Inhabited House Duty. At the subsequent protest meeting at the corner of Grafton-street, and Tottenham Court-road, the speakers were Mrs. Cobden Sanderson, Miss Sarah Bennet, and others. On the same day at Eastchurch, Kent, Miss [Kate] Raleigh’s goods were sold for refusal to pay Imperial Taxes. The speakers were Mrs. Sadd Brown, Mrs. Kineton Parkes, and Miss Raleigh.