Overview to Gladice Georgina Keevil

Gladice Georgina Keevil: 180 Willifield Way (after marriage)

Born at the Clitterhouse Farm, Cricklewood in 1884. Attended Frances Mary Buss School in Camden (now Camden School for Girls), followed by Lambeth Art College. In the 1901 Census, she was recorded as a music student. She was later a governess in France and USA for 18months.

After her return to England, she joined the WSPU in 1907. She became a popular speaker at events around the country, including to 250,000 at a suffrage march in Hyde Park. She was described as a 'clever speaker who knows her subject'.

In 1908, she was arrested in 1908 (14/2/08) with Emmeline Pankhurst and others.  She was one of 12 women who walked in single file to present a petition to Parliament, protesting about the imprisonment of women who had taken part in an earlier deputation and the failure to recognise them as political prisoners. She was sentenced to six weeks in Holloway Prison for resisting arrest and obstructing the police.

In 1908, she was appointed as one of a small number of WSPU’s National Organisers (a paid role). She was responsible for the Midlands and set up a new regional office in Birmingham. She left Birmingham at the end of 1909 to campaign in Exeter. However, she later returned to Birmingham. She is mentioned frequently in the WSPU newspaper, Votes for Women as a speaker, sometimes with Mrs Pankhurst. Her prominence is illustrated by the fact that she was one subject (of 10) of picture postcards of WSPU leaders and personalities.

May then have suffered with ill health. Interestingly, she appears in 1911 Census at Clitterhouse Farm. The form would have been filled in by her father as the householder, so she probably was not able to avoid being registered, however he does record her occupation as Suffragette Speaker.

In 1913 she married Leslie Rickford in Hendon in September 1913 and her first child was born 1914. She appears to have retired from active work for the WSPU around the time of her marriage. They moved to 180 Willifield Way (previously occupied by Margaret Stockman 1911 Census refuser).

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