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Pat Arrowsmith
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Pat Arrowsmith
Margaret P. Arrowsmith (2 March 1930 – 27 September 2023) was a British author and peace campaigner. She was a co-founder of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) in 1957.
Margaret P. Arrowsmith was born on 2 March 1930, into a family in Leamington Spa as the youngest of three children. Her mother was Margaret Vera Arrowsmith (née Kingham) and her father Reverend G. E. Arrowsmith.
In 1939, the family moved to Torquay, where Arrowsmith studied at Stover School, before transferring to Cheltenham Ladies College in September 1944. She read history at Newnham College, Cambridge, and then read social science at the University of Liverpool and at Ohio University as a US–UK Fulbright Scholar.
Arrowsmith was a peace campaigner and worked to campaign for nuclear disarmament, an end to the Vietnam War, the removal of British troops from Northern Ireland, an end to the Gulf War, and feminist and lesbian issues.
Arrowsmith was a co-founder of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and was one of its vice-presidents. She was one of the organisers of the first Aldermaston march. She was also one of the original signatories of the Committee of 100. From 1958 onward, she served eleven prison sentences for her political activities. In 1961, she was the subject of parliamentary questions after she was force-fed while on hunger strike in Gateside prison. She also worked for the human-rights organisation Amnesty International for 24 years up to 1994, and was the organisation's first prisoner of conscience in Britain.
In 1974, Arrowsmith was convicted of offences against sections 1 and 2 of the Incitement to Disaffection Act 1934, and sentenced to 18 months in prison for having handed out leaflets at a British army base, urging soldiers to refuse to serve in Northern Ireland.
On 7 September 1974, Arrowsmith absconded from Askham Grange open prison. After walking out from prison, Arrowsmith spoke at an anti-fascist demonstration in Hyde Park and befriended lesbian and gay attendees. In an interview with the 5 Cally Road research project, Nettie Pollard (a member of the Gay Liberation Front), recalled Arrowsmith saying to LGBT protestors, "Well, why don't we go to Housmans?" The group took sanctuary at the 5 Caledonian Road premises shared by the radical bookshop Housmans and the pacifist newspaper Peace News. Upon arrival, the group contacted The Press Association to say: "There's a fugitive at Housmans, 5 Caledonian Road." Their photographs appeared on the front page of The Sunday Telegraph. When arresting officers appeared at the scene, Arrowsmith refused to walk downstairs and was carried down three flights of stairs.
In 1975, the Court of Appeal dismissed her appeal, describing her conduct as "mischievous" and "wicked". However, it upheld her appeal against the sentence, reducing it so that she would be immediately released.
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Pat Arrowsmith
Margaret P. Arrowsmith (2 March 1930 – 27 September 2023) was a British author and peace campaigner. She was a co-founder of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) in 1957.
Margaret P. Arrowsmith was born on 2 March 1930, into a family in Leamington Spa as the youngest of three children. Her mother was Margaret Vera Arrowsmith (née Kingham) and her father Reverend G. E. Arrowsmith.
In 1939, the family moved to Torquay, where Arrowsmith studied at Stover School, before transferring to Cheltenham Ladies College in September 1944. She read history at Newnham College, Cambridge, and then read social science at the University of Liverpool and at Ohio University as a US–UK Fulbright Scholar.
Arrowsmith was a peace campaigner and worked to campaign for nuclear disarmament, an end to the Vietnam War, the removal of British troops from Northern Ireland, an end to the Gulf War, and feminist and lesbian issues.
Arrowsmith was a co-founder of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and was one of its vice-presidents. She was one of the organisers of the first Aldermaston march. She was also one of the original signatories of the Committee of 100. From 1958 onward, she served eleven prison sentences for her political activities. In 1961, she was the subject of parliamentary questions after she was force-fed while on hunger strike in Gateside prison. She also worked for the human-rights organisation Amnesty International for 24 years up to 1994, and was the organisation's first prisoner of conscience in Britain.
In 1974, Arrowsmith was convicted of offences against sections 1 and 2 of the Incitement to Disaffection Act 1934, and sentenced to 18 months in prison for having handed out leaflets at a British army base, urging soldiers to refuse to serve in Northern Ireland.
On 7 September 1974, Arrowsmith absconded from Askham Grange open prison. After walking out from prison, Arrowsmith spoke at an anti-fascist demonstration in Hyde Park and befriended lesbian and gay attendees. In an interview with the 5 Cally Road research project, Nettie Pollard (a member of the Gay Liberation Front), recalled Arrowsmith saying to LGBT protestors, "Well, why don't we go to Housmans?" The group took sanctuary at the 5 Caledonian Road premises shared by the radical bookshop Housmans and the pacifist newspaper Peace News. Upon arrival, the group contacted The Press Association to say: "There's a fugitive at Housmans, 5 Caledonian Road." Their photographs appeared on the front page of The Sunday Telegraph. When arresting officers appeared at the scene, Arrowsmith refused to walk downstairs and was carried down three flights of stairs.
In 1975, the Court of Appeal dismissed her appeal, describing her conduct as "mischievous" and "wicked". However, it upheld her appeal against the sentence, reducing it so that she would be immediately released.