‘Just for H. P-L’s information[.] To be returned to Gladys please. re Sylvia Pank-hurst.’
Pleads not guilty, and explains her reasons for having broken windows.
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Transcript
(I plead not guilty). I broke the glass of windows as the witness has said, because I realise that this is the only effective protest left to us by a Govt which boasts of its Liberalism, of its representative character, where men are concerned, but ignores the most elementary laws of Liberalism, of Constitutionalism, where women are concerned. Votes and riot are the only forms of pressure to which the present Govt respond. They refuse us votes: we are therefore reduced to riot. The wrongs they inflict on women are no longer tolerable, & we will no longer tolerate them.
I expect, Sir, that at this stage of our agitation, you will recognise—and public opinion will back you in recognising—that, tho having committed the acts, as brought forward by witnesses, we are not guilty of crime, our conduct being fully justified under the circumstances.
I appeal to you to vindicate the fundamental laws of liberty which our country has revered for generations.
I plead not guilty.
Constance Lytton.
Nov. 22. 1911.
11 Old Square, Lincoln’s Inn, London, W.C.2.—Is glad she remembers Helen. Sends a message expressing his delight that Ethiopian women have been given the vote.
P.O. Box 1896, Addis Ababa.—Is glad he likes Rita, whose knowledge of languages, including Romanian, is useful to Richard. Refers to her own prior interest in Romanian literature.
(Undated. Postmarked 29 Aug. 1959.)
P.O. Box 1896, Addis Ababa.—Her father’s letters have been destroyed. Comments on Elsa Fraenkel’s plan to exhibit some of her (Sylvia’s) sculptures.
P.O. Box 1896, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.—Is glad Helen’s back is better. Richard is researching a book in London. Suggests corrections to her sister’s book.
P.O. Box 1896, Addis Ababa.—Important items should not be sent to her by post, but given to her son, who is in London.
P.O. Box 1896, Addis Ababa.—Is writing a biography of her father. Asks for help in obtaining his letters to her mother, which are in the possession of Grace Roe, her sister’s executrix.
P.O. Box 1896, Addis Ababa.—Declines his offer of a second copy of Christabel’s book. Her father’s letters to her mother should be included in her memoir of him, but they are in the hands of someone outside the family.
P.O. Box 1896, Addis Ababa.—Richard and Rita are going to England shortly, via Palermo.
P.O. Box 1896, Addis Ababa.—The names of her parents’ first two sons are not given correctly in her sister’s book.
(Addis Ababa.)—Thanks him for a copy of her sister’s book (Unshackled), and discusses the references in it to herself.
(Addis Ababa.)
(A continuation of 9/78a.)
(Addis Ababa.)—Has been moved by Christabel’s book (Unshackled). Is planning to write a memoir of her father, and asks for help in procuring his letters.
(Addis Ababa.)—Thanks Lady Pethick-Lawrence for an account of the celebra-tion of her mother (Emmeline Pankhurst)’s centenary. Suggests ideas for a suitable memorial (for Christabel?), and recalls the courageous actions of Princess Tsahai.
P.O. Box 1896, Addis Ababa.—Thanks him for a copy of his speech at the memorial service (for Dame Christabel Pankhurst). Reflects on the suffrage movement and the the Pethick-Lawrences’ contributions to it.
(Letter-head of the Ethiopia Observer. Sylvia Pankhurst is named as Editor.)
(Addis Ababa.)—Reflects on her sister Christabel’s death.