Barbara Ayrton

The Suffragette Barbara Ayrton dressed as a fisher-girl representing Grace Darling. Barbara is preparing to take part in a procession organised to promote the Women's Exhibition due to open the following week in Knightsbridge. The procession took place in central London on Saturday 8th May 1909. This being also Lifeboat Day the representation of Grace Darling was intended to attract maximum publicity for the event.
The route of the procession that began and ended at Kingsway included Regent Street, Piccadilly, Knightsbridge, Victoria Street, Whitehall and Charing Cross. The following week the Votes for Women newspaper reported the event attracted considerable interest from a supportive crowd of onlookers with General Drummond noting 'there was nothing but kindness and good humour all along the route'.

Barbara Ayrton studied chemistry and physiology at University College, London. Her Mother was the only female member of the Institution of Electrical Engineers In 1908 Barbara gave up her post-graduate academic research to become a full-time salaried organiser for the Women's Social and Political Union. In November 1909 she recreated her role of Grace Darling in the play A Pageant of Great Women at the Scala Theatre. The following year she married Gerald Gould a founding member of the Men's League for Women's Suffrage.