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Leonora Cohen
Leonora Cohen OBE (née Throp; 15 June 1873 – 4 September 1978) was an English suffragette and trade unionist, and one of the first female magistrates. She was known as the "Tower Suffragette" after smashing a display case in the Tower of London and acted as a bodyguard for Emmeline Pankhurst. She lived to the age of 105 and contributed to the second wave of feminism in the 1970s.
Cohen was born Leonora Throp in Hunslet, Leeds on 15 June 1873 to Canova and Jane (née Lamie) Throp. Her father, Canova Throp, was a sculptor but died in 1879 when Leonora was 5 years old, after developing tuberculosis of the spine, which left her widowed mother to raise Cohen and her two younger brothers. Her mother worked as a seamstress to provide for the family. Cohen became a vegetarian in 1891 which she remained for the rest of her life.
She apprenticed as a milliner and while she was working as a millinery buyer, she met Henry Cohen, a jeweller's assistant in central Leeds and the son of Jewish immigrants, most recently from Warsaw. Henry was a childhood friend but both families opposed the marriage.
The couple's first child, Rosetta, died in her first year. In 1902, Cohen gave birth to her son Reginald who survived into adulthood. For the next nine years, the small family enjoyed a peaceful life as Henry's business as a jeweller flourished.
Cohen's mother Jane was an influential factor in her life. Because her mother was a widowed seamstress who raised three children alone, it was obvious to Cohen that her mother had few rights as a woman living in Britain in the late nineteenth century. In an interview late in life, Cohen stated that, "Life was hard. My mother would say 'Leonora, if only we women had a say in things', but we hadn't. A drunken lout of a man ... had a vote simply because he was a male. I vowed I'd try to change things." Cohen recognised at a young age that her mother had to overcome huge obstacles in her life simply because she was a woman. It was "her mother's lack of empowerment that radicalised her."
Cohen made many physical acts of protest against the government. In 1909, she joined the Leeds Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), founded by Emmeline Pankhurst in 1903. Later, Cohen was part of "The Bodyguard" to Mrs Pankhurst.
In 1911, Cohen joined in a protest where she threw a rock at a government-building window; she was arrested and held in Holloway Prison for seven days. She defended herself in court and, though found guilty, was released. She was also "thumped on the jaw with the clenched fist of a policeman and knocked down under a mounted policeman's horse" at a House of Commons protest. As Cohen began to take more bold steps as a suffragette, her family supported her suffrage allegiance but her friends did not; she received hate letters and her son reportedly faced persecution at school.
In 1913, Cohen protested against the government by using an iron bar to smash a glass showcase containing insignia of the Order of Merit in the Jewel House at the Tower of London. Cohen was arrested a second time and sent to Armley Gaol where she went on a hunger strike. Because of the Cat and Mouse Act, Cohen was released from prison after a few days to allow her to recover from self-induced starvation. Leonora and Henry Cohen then moved to Harrogate to establish a vegetarian boarding house, where they also gave refuge to suffragettes fleeing from the police. She received a Hunger Strike Medal 'for Valour' by WSPU.
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Leonora Cohen
Leonora Cohen OBE (née Throp; 15 June 1873 – 4 September 1978) was an English suffragette and trade unionist, and one of the first female magistrates. She was known as the "Tower Suffragette" after smashing a display case in the Tower of London and acted as a bodyguard for Emmeline Pankhurst. She lived to the age of 105 and contributed to the second wave of feminism in the 1970s.
Cohen was born Leonora Throp in Hunslet, Leeds on 15 June 1873 to Canova and Jane (née Lamie) Throp. Her father, Canova Throp, was a sculptor but died in 1879 when Leonora was 5 years old, after developing tuberculosis of the spine, which left her widowed mother to raise Cohen and her two younger brothers. Her mother worked as a seamstress to provide for the family. Cohen became a vegetarian in 1891 which she remained for the rest of her life.
She apprenticed as a milliner and while she was working as a millinery buyer, she met Henry Cohen, a jeweller's assistant in central Leeds and the son of Jewish immigrants, most recently from Warsaw. Henry was a childhood friend but both families opposed the marriage.
The couple's first child, Rosetta, died in her first year. In 1902, Cohen gave birth to her son Reginald who survived into adulthood. For the next nine years, the small family enjoyed a peaceful life as Henry's business as a jeweller flourished.
Cohen's mother Jane was an influential factor in her life. Because her mother was a widowed seamstress who raised three children alone, it was obvious to Cohen that her mother had few rights as a woman living in Britain in the late nineteenth century. In an interview late in life, Cohen stated that, "Life was hard. My mother would say 'Leonora, if only we women had a say in things', but we hadn't. A drunken lout of a man ... had a vote simply because he was a male. I vowed I'd try to change things." Cohen recognised at a young age that her mother had to overcome huge obstacles in her life simply because she was a woman. It was "her mother's lack of empowerment that radicalised her."
Cohen made many physical acts of protest against the government. In 1909, she joined the Leeds Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), founded by Emmeline Pankhurst in 1903. Later, Cohen was part of "The Bodyguard" to Mrs Pankhurst.
In 1911, Cohen joined in a protest where she threw a rock at a government-building window; she was arrested and held in Holloway Prison for seven days. She defended herself in court and, though found guilty, was released. She was also "thumped on the jaw with the clenched fist of a policeman and knocked down under a mounted policeman's horse" at a House of Commons protest. As Cohen began to take more bold steps as a suffragette, her family supported her suffrage allegiance but her friends did not; she received hate letters and her son reportedly faced persecution at school.
In 1913, Cohen protested against the government by using an iron bar to smash a glass showcase containing insignia of the Order of Merit in the Jewel House at the Tower of London. Cohen was arrested a second time and sent to Armley Gaol where she went on a hunger strike. Because of the Cat and Mouse Act, Cohen was released from prison after a few days to allow her to recover from self-induced starvation. Leonora and Henry Cohen then moved to Harrogate to establish a vegetarian boarding house, where they also gave refuge to suffragettes fleeing from the police. She received a Hunger Strike Medal 'for Valour' by WSPU.
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