Breakfast reception held on the release of Edith New and Mary Leigh from prison

Breakfast reception to commemorate the release of the Suffragette Prisoners Edith New and Mary Leigh, 22nd August 1908.
The welcome home breakfast reception was held at Queen's Hall. Mary Leigh and Edith New had both given up their teaching careers to become involved in the militant suffragette campaign. On 30 June 1908 they carried out the first Suffragette window-smashing attack when they broke windows at 10 Downing Street, the official residence of the British Prime Minister. On their release from Holloway prison after serving two months they were greeted by a delegation of suffragettes that included Christabel Pankhurst and transported in an open carriage to Queen's Hall in Langham Place for the breakfast reception depicted in the photograph.