#OnThisDay in radical herstory, 1909: Suffragette Alice Chapin, member of the Women’s Freedom League, is in the dock at the Old Bailey charged with spoiling ballot papers with a noxious liquid at the polling station at Boutcher School in the 1909 #Bermondsey by-election.
https://thefword.org.uk/2009/10/bermondsey_suff/
She is also charged with assault as some of the chemical inadvertently got splashed into the presiding officer’s eyes though the court accepted it was not a deliberate act. She is found guilty and sentenced to 3 and 4 months respectively to run concurrently.
Alison Neilans was also charged for spoiling ballot papers at the Long Lane polling station. She was also found guilty and sentenced to 3 months in prison. The spoiling of the ballot papers was a protest against the PM Mr Asquith refusing to meet a suffragist delegation.
http://www.elisarolle.com/queerplaces/a-b-ce/Alison%20Neilans.html