Miss Laura Ainsworth

Photographic portrait of the Suffragette Laura Ainsworth (1885-1958), member and organiser of the Women's Social & Political Union.
Laura Ainsworth gave up teaching to become an organiser for the WSPU in London and Birmingham. She was one of the first suffragettes to go on hunger strike while in prison and to suffer force feeding. When the leadership of the WSPU split in 1912, Ainsworth resigned. She became honorary secretary of the north-eastern branch of the National Political League, an organisation which aimed to further social and political reforms including women’s suffrage.
Portrait postcards of leading Suffragettes were issued by the WSPU to raise funds for the campaign and to raise the profile of the leaders throughout the country.