Teresa Billington-Greig

Postcard with photographic portrait of Teresa Billington-Greig and the address of the Women's Social and Political Union beneath.
Born in Preston, Billington-Greig gave up teaching to become an organiser for the Women’s Social and Political Union. She was one of the first militant activists, and served two sentences in Holloway Gaol. Known as ‘the woman with the whip’, Billington-Greig would interrupt meetings of the governing Liberal Party armed with a whip, which she would whirl around to prevent herself from being ejected. She left the WSPU in 1907, and together with Charltote Despard formed the Women’s Freedom League. She also left the WFL in 1911 and wrote 'The Militant Movement', which attacked militancy.