Dora (Thewlis) Dow (1890 - 1976)

Born 15 May 1890 in Honley, Yorkshire, England

Ancestors

Wife of John Thomas Dow — married 1918 in Victoria, Australia

Died 5 Jun 1976 at age 86 in Ascot Vale, Victoria, Australia

Dora (Thewlis) Dow is Notable.

Dora (Thewlis) Dow was a part of the Suffragette Movement.

Dora (Thewlis) Dow migrated from Yorkshire, England to Victoria, Australia on Chemnitz in 1912.

Biography

Dora Thewlis was one of the youngest members of the struggle for women’s suffrage in England. At 16 she joined protestors trying to storm the House of Commons, became a tabloid sensation dubbed Baby Suffragette, and was sent to Holloway prison after refusing to return home to Yorkshire.^[1]

Early Life

The daughter of weavers James Lindley Thewlis and Eliza Elizabeth Taylor, Dora was born on 15th May 1890 at Honley, Yorkshire.^[2][3] She was baptised at the age of seven on 20th June 1897 at St Bartholomew Church in Meltham, West Yorkshire.^[4]

Girls of Dora's social class in this part of the country typically began working part time in the mill at age 10, and were working full time by age 12. It was dangerous work for poor pay, and people often moved home, going to where the work was.^[5][6]

Activism

Despite her demeaning job, Dora was an intelligent girl. From the age of seven she was a diligent reader of newspapers and could hold her own in politics.^[7] In 1906 at Market Cross in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, Dora watched Emmeline Pankhurst speaking to the crowds. In 1907 Dora joined the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) and on 20th March of the same year Dora was on a train bound for London.^[5]

On 8th March 1907, Willoughby Dickinson introduced the Women's Enfranchisement Bill, a private member's bill, to the parliament for its second reading.^[8] In protest at its defeat, members of the WSPU attempted to break into the Houses of Parliament on 20th March. Among the hundreds of demonstrators was a group of mill girls from the north of England, dressed in clogs and shawls and accompanied by former mill worker, Annie Kenney. During the repeated attempts to break through police lines, over 70 women were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct, including Dora. ^[9][10]

The following day Dora made the front cover of the Daily Mirror under the headline The Baby Suffragette.^[7] Mocked by the court for her age and what men considered to be disgraceful actions, she was told that she had no idea what she was doing. Ordered to go home, she defiantly told the judge: "I don't wish to go back, sir. I shall remain here as long as the WSPU women want me."^[1] Dora spent one week in Holloway prison.^[7] It seems the authorities were keen to make an example of her, as despite not yet having been found guilty of any offence, she was kept in solitary confinement and made to wear prison garments.^[11]

Once released from prison, Dora told one newspaper:^[12]

They tortured me. I can see it all now. They tried to break my spirit, and they succeeded. They held me up to ridicule as a 'baby' and a 'child', and treated me like a criminal rather than a girl under remand...

Dora went quiet on the political front and continued her work in the woollen mills.^[13] A few years later she moved to Australia with her sister, Eveline, arriving in Melbourne on 9th October 1912.^[14][15] Their parents followed in 1920.^[16]

Dora married John Thomas (Jack) Dow in 1918 in Victoria, Australia,^[17] and they had two children:

• Mabel (born 1919 South Melbourne)
• Jack (born 1923)

Dora's name appears on the electoral roll in 1919, in the division of Melbourne Ports, in Victoria, some nine years before she would have been allowed to vote in England.^[18] According to her grandson, Chris Dow, Dora remained politically active throughout her life:^[19]

The sacking of the Whitlam Government in 1975 promoted numerous family debates but no one stood stronger with the Labour cause than my octogenarian Grandmother who declared to my father that a vote for the Liberal Party would be a vote against everything your family has ever stood for. Strong to the end!

Widowed in 1956, Dora outlived Jack by 20 years, until she died as a result of cardiac failure and coronary sclerosis in 1976 in Ascot, Victoria, at the age of 86. Her remains were cremated at the Fawkner Crematorium.^[20]

Research Notes

Possibly son's profile. PM contacted. Jack Dow Ford-7139 10:13, 10 January 2022 (UTC)

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Daily Mirror, Friday 22 March 1907, page 5, column 2. Stern Treatment for Suffragettes. (British Newspaper Archive, https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000560/19070322/043/0005 link to title : accessed 25 October 2021)
2. ↑ "England & Wales General Register Office" GRO Online Indexes - Birth (accessed 10 September 2021) Thewlis, Dora (Mother's maiden name: Taylor). GRO Reference: 1890 Apr-May-Jun in Huddersfield Volume 09A Page 274.
3. ↑ "England and Wales Census, 1891," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:7D6M-P2M : 23 February 2021), Dora Thewliss in household of Wright Newton, Austonley, Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom; from "1891 England, Scotland and Wales census," database and images, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : n.d.); citing PRO RG 12, Yorkshire, Yorkshire (West Riding) county, subdistrict, The National Archives of the UK, Kew, Surrey, England; Census Returns of England and Wales, 1891; Class: RG12; Piece: 3557; Folio: 80; Page: 11; GSU roll: 6098667. For image see Ancestry Sharing Link
   

   Old Road, Austonley, Yorkshire
   Wright Newton, head, mar, 50y, occupation: clogger, birthplace: Upperthong, Yorkshire
   Lydia Newton, wife, mar, 55y, birthplace: Cartworth, Yorkshire
   Mary M. Thewliss, daughter, unm, 13y, birthplace: Cartworth, Yorkshire
   Dora Thewliss, granddaughter, 10m, birthplace: Honley, Yorkshire

4. ↑ "West Yorkshire, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1910". West Yorkshire Archive Service; Wakefield, Yorkshire, England; Yorkshire Parish Records; New Reference Number: WDP163/1/2/3. Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 2252 #3917209 (accessed 25 October 2021). Dora Thewlis baptism on 20 Jun 1897 (born 15 May 1890), child of James Lindley & Eliza Elizabeth, in Meltham, St Bartholomew, Yorkshire, England.
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1} Dora Thewlis: teenage suffragette. Published online 23 Apr 2011. (Huddersfield Daily Examiner, https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/news/local-news/dora-thewlis-teenage-suffragette-4978209 : accessed 25 Oct 2021)
6. ↑ "England and Wales Census, 1901," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X9VF-N4Z : 21 May 2019), Dora Thewlis in household of Jas Lindley Thewlis, Ramsbottom, Lancashire, England, United Kingdom; from "1901 England, Scotland and Wales census," database and images, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : n.d.); citing Ramsbottom subdistrict, PRO RG 13, The National Archives, Kew, Surrey, England: The National Archives, 1901. Class: RG13; Piece: 3633; Folio: 83; Page: 9. For image see Ancestry Sharing Link
   

   17 Queens Pl, Ramsbottom, Lancashire
   Jas Lindley Thewlis, head, mar, 40y, occupation: cotton card mixer, birthplace: Holmfirth, Yorkshire
   Eliza E. Thewlis, wife, mar, 40y, birthplace: Woodbridge, Suffolk
   Mary E. Thewlis, daughter, unm, 20y, occupation: cotton card rover, birthplace: Meltham, Yorkshire
   Amy Thewlis, daughter, unm, 19y, occupation: cotton intermediate tenter, birthplace: Holmfirth, Yorkshire
   Flora Thewlis, daughter, unm, 16y, occupation: cotton slubber, birthplace: Holmfirth, Yorkshire
   Evelyn Thewlis, daughter, unm, 15y, occupation: cotton doubler, birthplace: Holmfirth, Yorkshire
   Dora Thewlis, daughter, unm, 10y, birthplace: Honley, Yorkshire
   Mabel Thewlis, daughter, unm, 3y, birthplace: Meltham, Yorkshire
   Muriel Thewlis, daughter, 11m, birthplace: Slaithwaite, Yorkshire

7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1 7.2} McCaffrey, Julie. The Baby Suffragette. Published online 10 June 2006. (The Mirror, http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/the-baby-suffragette-628607#ixzz30yJ8Gvz2 : accessed 06 May 2014).
8. ↑ Talked Out! pamphlett (British Library, https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/talked-out-pamphlet : accessed 25 Oct 2021)
9. ↑ Maud Arncliffe Sennett's scrapbook, volume 1 (British Library, https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/maud-arncliffe-sennetts-scrapbook-volume-1 : accessed 25 Oct 2021)
10. ↑ "England, Suffragettes Arrested, 1906-1914". Archive Name: The National Archives; Archive Location: UK, Kew, Surrey, England; Collection Title: England, Suffragettes Arrested, 1906-1914; Class: HO 45; Piece: 24665; Piece Description: Suffragettes: Amnesty of August 1914: Index of Women Arrested, 1906-1914. Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 61005 #1150 (accessed 25 October 2021). Name: Doro Thewlis [Dora Thewlis]; Imprisonment or Trial Date: 21 Mar 1907; Imprisonment or Trial Place: Westminster.
11. ↑ Dora Thewlis (1890-1976). (Huddersfield Exposed, https://huddersfield.exposed/wiki/Dora_Thewlis_(1890-1976) : accessed 10 Jan 2022)
12. ↑ wikispaces. Dora Thewlis. LocalSuffragettes - https://web.archive.org/web/20180726073224/https://localsuffragettes.wikispaces.com/Dora%20Thewlis (retrieved from Wayback Machine 10 Sep 2021).
13. ↑ Census Returns of England and Wales, 1911. Kew, Surrey, England: The National Archives of the UK (TNA) Series RG14, 1911. For image see Ancestry Sharing Link
    

    14 Bradley Street South, Huddersfield, Yorkshire
    Ann Nicholl, head, widow, 63y, married 20y, 1 child born alive, 1 child still living, occupation: housekeeper, birthplace: Sowarby, Yorkshire
    Annie Eliza Nicholl, daughter, unm, 22y, occupation: charwoman, birthplace: Blackpool, Lancashire
    Eveline Thewlis, boarder, unm, 25y, occupation: wollen weaver, birthplace: Holmfirth, Yorkshire
    Dora Thewlis, boarder, unm, 20y, occupation: wollen weaver, birthplace: Meltham, Yorkshire
    Fred Hamilton, boarder, unm, 29y, occupation: professional (music hall), birthplace: Lowestoft, Suffolk
    Samuel Frederick Warburton, visitor, unm, 29y, occupation: furrier, birthplace: Stepney

14. ↑ Ancestry.com. Victoria, Australia, Assisted and Unassisted Passenger Lists, 1839–1923 [database on-line]. Original Data: Victoria. Inward Overseas Passenger Lists (Foreign Ports). Microfiche VPRS 7667, copy of VRPS 947. Public Record Office Victoria, North Melbourne, Victoria. Source: Series: VPRS 7667; Series Title: Inward Overseas Passenger Lists (Foreign Ports) [Microfiche Copy of VPRS 947].
15. ↑ Unassisted passenger lists (1852-1923). Record Series Number (VPRS): 947 (Public Records Office of Victoria, https://prov.vic.gov.au/explore-collection/explore-topic/passenger-records-and-immigration/unassisted-passenger-lists : accessed 10 Jan 2022) Passenger list transcription for the Chemnitz, arrived October 1912. Passengers included Everlyne Thewles (Age: 26) and Dora Thewles (Age: 22).
16. ↑ Unassisted passenger lists (1852-1923). Record Series Number (VPRS): 947 (Public Records Office of Victoria, https://prov.vic.gov.au/explore-collection/explore-topic/passenger-records-and-immigration/unassisted-passenger-lists : accessed 10 Jan 2022) Passenger list transcription for the Osterley, arrived October 1920. Passengers included Mr Thewlis (Age: 52) and Mrs Thewlis (Age: 56).
17. ↑ Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages, Victoria. Online index - Marriage (https://www.bdm.vic.gov.au/research-and-family-history/search-your-family-history : accessed 24 October 2021) database entry for Dow, John Thoms and Thewlis, Dora (Marriage Date: 1918, Location: Victoria, Reference: 2563/1918).
18. ↑ Australia, Electoral Rolls, 1903-1980 (Ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 10 January 2022) entry for Dora Dow (Gender: Female, Roll Number: 1092, Date: 1919, Address: 154 Pickles Street South Melbourne, Occupation: weaver, Electorate: Emerald Hill, Melbourne Ports, Victoria, Australia Ancestry Record 1207 #10851103 Ancestry Sharing Link)
19. ↑ Comment by Chris Dow, left on article Revolting Women: Dora Thewlis, Teenage Working Class Suffragette, 7 Feb 2016. (Bad Reputation, https://badreputation.org.uk/2011/09/13/revolting-women-dora-thewlis-teenage-working-class-suffragette/#comment-489157 : accessed 10 Jan 2021)
20. ↑ Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages, Victoria. Online index - Death (https://www.bdm.vic.gov.au/research-and-family-history/search-your-family-history : accessed 24 October 2021) index entry for Dow, Dora (Occupation: Home Duties, Cause of Death: Cardiac failure 7 days, Coronary sclerosis 20 years, Birthplace: Yorkshire England, Residence in Australia: 60 years, Father: James Thewlis, Mother: Mary Unknown, Marriage Place: Melbourne, Victoria, Marriage Age: 26y, Spouse: John Dow, Conjugal Status at Death: widow, Age: 86, Death Place: Flat 1/34 Dunlop Avenue Ascot Vale, Cremated 7 Jun 1976 at Fawkner Crematorium, Registration number/year: 12678/1976).

See Also:

• British Suffragettes
• Wikidata: Item Q5297446