Postcard, photographic postcard

Photographic portrait of Mary Leigh (c.1855-alive 1978) dressed in the uniform of Drum Major of the Women's Social and Political Union drum and fife band. Written on the back is 'Mary Leigh who as Drum Major led the W.S.P.U. Drum and Fife Band through Wimbledon & was recently sentenced to 5 years penal servitude in Dublin but adopting the hunger strike was forcibly fed on order of the Government until at the point of death when she was released on ticket of leave- she has presented the ticket of leave to the Union.'
Mary Leigh was a member of the WSPU by 1907. She and Edith New became the first suffragette window smashers. Leigh served three prison sentences for her suffragette activities, and endured many episodes of forcible feeding. In 1909 she became drum-major of the WSPU drum and fife band, which often accompanied suffragette processions and demonstrations.