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On the evening of December 10th, at the Astor Theatre, then named Stanhope Hall, a meeting was held by the WSPU. This was advertised by a motor-car, decorated with the tri-colours of the Suffragettes, being driven around the town. With cars still being quite a novelty and the Suffragettes well known for their militant antics, this must have caused a stir and local police officers were called upon to be on guard inside and outside the hall.
On the stage with WSPU members were several local suffrage supporters; Mrs Emily Juson-Kerr, Mrs. Winifred Edgar and Miss Mary Lily Widlake the headteacher of Penlee School for girls in St. Margaret’s, who spoke briefly on modern education and the effect it had on the suffrage question.
She later made her women’s suffrage opinions known, in 1911, when she dutifully filled out the census form on which, at the bottom she wrote, ‘No Vote.’