Elsie Duval

Elsie Diederichs Duval (1892–1919) was a British suffragette. She was arrested many times throughout her life and in 1913 became the first woman to be released from Holloway Prison under the so-called 'Cat and Mouse Act'. Elsie died from heart failure on 1 January 1919 caused by septic pneumonia during the influenza epidemic. Early life Elsie Duval was born in 1892 into a family of passionate supporters of the suffrage campaign in the United Kingdom. Between 1908 and 1912, her mother, Emily Duval (née Hayes), was arrested on six occasions. She was one of six children born to Ernest and Emily Duval and her family were involved in the campaign for women's voting rights. Elsie herself became involved in the movement when she signed up to the Woman's Social and Political Union (WSPU) in 1907, although she was too young to partake in any militant action herself.