Gertrude Wilkinson
Gertrude Jessie Heward Wilkinson aka Jessie Howard (1851 – 19 September 1929) was a British militant Suffragette who as a member of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) was imprisoned In Winson Green Prison where she went on hunger strike and was force-fed for which she was awarded the WSPU's Hunger Strike Medal. In 1913 she became the Literature Secretary for the Women's Freedom League (WFL). Early life. Born as Gertrude Jessie Heward Bell in 1851 at Ickenham in Middlesex, the daughter of Jessie and Benjamin Bell, aged 18 she married solicitor William John  Wilkinson (1844-) on 14 June 1870 at St John's church in Hampstead. With him she had seven children: Eleanor Gertrude Wilkinson (1872–); William D. Wilkinson (1873–); John H. Wilkinson (1875–); Ethel Mary Wilkinson (1876–); Martin Blakeston Wilkinson (1877–1974); Geoffrey Andrew Wilkinson (1882–), and Leonard Garth Wilkinson (1883–1948). Militancy. During her militant career for women's suffrage she sometimes used the alias Jessie Howard. In 1909 she was photographed campaigning in Whitstable with Rose Emma Lamartine Yates and a Miss Barry. Yates had a holiday home nearby at Seasalter and Wilkinson would stay nearby. The two suffragettes were on holiday  but still campaigning for women's suffrage. In 1912 she was imprisoned where she went on hunger strike and was force-fed for which she was awarded the WSPU's Hunger Strike Medal. To keep up morale in prison the women were forced to make their own entertainment. Some such as Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence told stories; later Emmeline Pankhurst reminisced about the early days of the WSPU. On 10 June 1912 the three imprisoned grandmothers - Gertrude Wilkinson, Janet Boyd and Mary Ann Aldham sang together. On another occasion some of the women performed a scene from "The Merchant of Venice