Gladice Keevil arrives in Manchester to organise the Suffragette by-election campaign at Manchester North West , April 1908

Gladice Keevil arrives in Manchester to organise the Suffragette by-election campaign at Manchester North West , April 1908. Gladice was photographed, probably by a local press photographer standing in Albert Square talking to two postmen. The Suffragettes campaigned against Winston Churchill, the Liberal MP for the constituency. He had recently been promoted to President of the Board of Trade and had to stand for re-election. He lost his Manchester seat to the Conservative candidate but was subsequently elected as MP for Dundee.
The date handwritten on this image is incorrect.
Gladice Keevil worked abroad as a governess, and when she returned to England in 1907, joined the Women's Social and Political Union. After being imprisoned for participating in a deputation to the House of Commons in 1908, she was made a WSPU organiser. In 1908 she became National Organiser in the Midlands, based in Birmingham.
Pro-female Suffrage organisations adopted a policy of urging electors to vote against the Liberal Government. During by-elections and general elections local branches would campaign vigorously through mass leafleting voters, organising public meetings, arranging for guest speakers from National Headquarters and heckling other candidates to force them to declare their position on votes for women.