Mabel Tuke

Mabel Kate Tuke born Mabel Kate Lear (19 May 1871 – 22 November 1962) was a British suffragette known for her role of honorary secretary of the militant Women's Social and Political Union. Life Tuke was born in Plumstead in London in 1871. In 1901 she married George Moxley Tuke but he died and by 1905 she was back in Britain. She was good friends with Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence who introduced her to the Manchester based Women's Social and Political Union that had been started by Emmeline Pankhurst in 1903. The WSPU were opening a branch in London and in time their headquarters would move there. From 1906 Tuke became the honorary secretary of the WSPU. Emmeline Pankhurst resisted efforts to remove her absolute authority. In 1907 a group of members led by Teresa Billington-Greig called for more democracy at the WSPU's annual meetings. Pankhurst admitted to being autocratic. She announced at a WSPU meeting that the constitution was void and cancelled the annual meetings. She declared that a small committee chosen by the members in attendance in 1907 be allowed to co-ordinate WSPU activities. Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst were chosen together with Tuke and Emmeline Pethick Lawrence. Several WSPU members including Billington-Greig and Charlotte Despard were so annoyed that they quit to form the Women's Freedom League.