Edwy Godwin Clayton
Edwy Godwin Clayton, the son of Alfred George Smith Clayton (1825-1885) and Elinor Ansell Clayton (1830-1894) was born in November 1859. In the 1881 Census his father is recorded as a "Civil Engineer", where Edwy was described as an "Analytical Chemist & Teacher of Chemistry". (1)
In May 1881 Clayton married Clara Tilbury, the daughter of James Tilbury, a printer, from Islington. The couple had two children - Cuthbert Edwy Clayton (born 1882, St Pancras) and Hilda Faith Clayton (born 1883, Lambeth). In 1891, was described as a "Chemist" (Employer)". Ten years later he is described as running his own business as a "Consulting Chemist & Analyst". His son was a medical student and his daughter an art student. The family also employed a domestic servant, 25-year-old Alice Bunce. (2)
Clayton published two books on the subject of science: Arthur Hill Hassall, Physician & Sanitary Reformer (1908) and A Compendium of Food Microscopy with Sections on Drugs, Water, and Tobacco (1909). Clayton became Fellow of the Institute of Chemists and a Fellow of the Chemical Society. An authority on the manufacture of matches, with a laboratory at 23 Holban Viaduct. (3)
Edwy Godwin Clayton joined the Men's League For Women's Suffrage whereas his wife Clara Clayton and daughter, Hilda Clayton were members of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU). Clara was the Honorary Secretary of the Richmond and Kew branch and was also a member of the Church League for Suffrage. (4) By this time they were living at "Glengariff", Kew Road, Richmond, Surrey, but on the night of the census in 1911 he and his wife vacated the property as a protest in favour of women's suffrage. (5)
On 30th April 1913 the police raided the WSPU's office at Lincoln's Inn House. As a result of the documents found several people were arrested including Edwy Godwin Clayton, Flora Drummond, Annie Kenney, Rachel Barrett (editor of the The Suffragette), Harriet Kerr (office manager), Beatrice Sanders (financial secretary), Geraldine Lennox (sub-editor) and Agnes Lake (business manager). (6)
When he was arrested Clayton said: "I think this is rather a high-handed action. I am an extreme sympathizer with the Suffragette causes. What evidence have you against me?" He confirmed he had written the letter but refused to comment on the contents. The letter read: "Dear Miss Kenney, I am sorry to say it will be several days yet before I can be ready with which you want. I have devoted all this evening and all of yesterday evening to the business without success. Evidently it is a difficult matter, but not impossible. I nearly succeeded once last night and then spoilt what I had done in trying to improve upon it. By next week I shall be able to manage the exact proportions, and I will let you have the results as soon as I can. Please burn this." (7)
During the trial Matthias McDonnell Bodkin read extracts from a document headed "Votes for Women" and underneath "YHB". Bodkin claimed that YHB stood for Young Hot Bloods. The label was derived from a taunt thrown at Emmeline Pankhurst in one of the newspapers, which ran: "Mrs Pankhurst will, of course, be followed blindly by a number of the younger and more hot-blooded members of the union". (8) As a result of them being single women one newspaper described the Young Hot Bloods as "a spinsters' secret sect". (9)
Bodkin claimed that the police seized a great number of documents, that showed according to Bodkin that Clayton "put his knowledge and his brain at the Union's disposal for the purpose of carrying out crimes and of producing the reign of terror in London." Receipts for money he had been paid by the union were produced in court. (10)
The most incriminating evidence was a letter sent by Clayton to Jessie Kenney in April 1913 that was found inside a book on the 1831 Bristol Reform Riots. Bodkin said: "We did not know until these documents were seized at their offices that they had an analytical chemist in their service – a man who, as we know, written a secret letter which the vain folly of Miss Kenney causes her to leave in her bedroom. the letter he tells her he had been experimenting, and was on the brink of success. Clayton ended his letter: "Burn this letter." (11)
Bodkin provided other documents written by Clayton. One document in Clayton's writing was headed "Various Suggestions" and read "Scheme of simultaneously smashing a considerable number of street fire-alarms. This will cause tremendous confusion and excitement and should be as especially a good idea. It should be at once easier and less risky to execute than some other operations". Particulars as to timber yards and cotton mills also followed, as well as a plan for burning down the National Health Insurance Office. (12)
Another witness Mrs Strange, the proprietress of the refreshment pavilion at Kew Gardens, estimated the amount of damage done to the pavilion by the fire which took place there some time ago. Lilian Lenton and Olive Wharry were arrested and when they appeared at Richmond Police Court, she saw Clayton with them. (13)
In his summing up Justice Walter Phillimore, remarked that it was one of the saddest trials in his experience of nearly sixteen years as a Judge. "How in morals and how in good practical sense could such things, if they be true be justified? It was said that great causes had never been won without breaking the law. That might be true of some cases; it was very untrue of others. If every recorded act of anarchy, then, as history proceeded on its long course, the human race would reach a position of absolute savagery, and the only chance of salvation would be the obliteration of memory." (14)
During the trial, Rachel Barrett said: "When we hear of a bomb being thrown we say 'Thank God for that'. If we have any qualms of conscience, it is not because of things that happen, but because of things that have been left undone." (15) Barrett was sentenced to six months in prison. She was described by one of the prosecuting barristers at the trial as "a pretty but misguided young woman". (16)
After an absence of an hour the jury found all the prisoners guilty, with strong recommendations for leniency of sentence in the case of the three younger women, Rachel Barrett, Geraldine Lennox and Agnes Lake. The Judge said: "I agree with you, gentlemen of the jury, in the discrimination which you have made between the younger and elder men and women… which I propose to show in their sentences: As I have said, I assume you have been animated through out by the best motives. It is not merely that some of you have committed organized outrages, but I am more concerned with the incitement that has been given to young and irresponsible women, whose actions are not always balanced by their reason to do things which you are sure to regret." (17)
Annie Kenney was sentenced to eighteen months but it was Edwy Godwin Clayton who was treated most harshly and got twenty-one months. He went on hunger strike and was released on license, however, he went on the run and managed to evade arrest and went to live in Europe. (18)
Clayton wrote a letter that was published in Votes for Women. "We have received a letter, without address but bearing a foreign postmark from Mr Edwy Clayton, who it will be remembered was sentenced to twenty-one months' imprisonment last year in connection with the Conspiracy Trial of the WSPU officials, and was afterwards released on license under the Cat and Mouse Act and has not been re-arrested. He writes to say with reference to the House Secretary's recent allusions to 'paid' militant Suffragists, that the similar implications of the prosecution, in his own case at his own trial last year, while utterly unfounded." He added: "I neither received nor desired to receive payment for any assistance given by me to the women's movement. My sole reward has been the happiness derived from personal participation, as a volunteer helper, in this campaign against prejudice, ignorance, disease, and brutality." (19)
Sylvia Pankhurst pointed out that the court case had a disastrous impact on his professional career: "He (Clayton) had been purely a voluntary worker for the Union, happy, as he wrote, to give his services to a cause he believed just. His business ruined, he was reduced to great poverty, and was eventually assisted by J. E. Francis of the Athenaeum Press, who paid him a small wage". (20)
During the First World War Edwy Godwin Clayton's son, Cuthbert Clayton, was a Conscientious Objector. Cuthbert worked for the Friends War Victims Relief Service (FWVRS) after his Tribunal appearance in 1916. "The FWVRS was dedicated to helping civilians whose lives had been ruined by the war and who often received no useful or significant aid from their Governments. Cuthbert's time with the FWVRS from 1916 to 1923 saw him travel around Europe and work in Holland, Belgium and Poland providing medical care, education and economic support to vulnerable people and communities. In working with the FWVRS, Cuthbert made a personal and moral commitment to work against the devastating results of war." (21)
Edwy Godwin Clayton wrote about his activities in a letter to Annie Kenney in 1925. "There can be no doubt that in numerous directions, my actions and motives were both misunderstood - I suppose partly because it was conceived to be unnatural or impossible for a man to assist a women's agitation, without having 'an axe to grind' - cruelly misrepresented. I have felt this for years. Even now, I am consistently 'boycotted' by certain relations and by some of the most valued and intimate friends. Others thank goodness, by degrees 'have come round.'". (22)
Edwy Godwin Clayton and his wife Clara were living with their son Cuthbert Edwy Ansell Clayton at The White Cottage, London Road, Winkfield, Bracknell, Berkshire, when he died aged 76 in 1936. Clara died in 1941, Hilda in Ilford, 1960, and Cuthbert in St Pancras, 1966. (23)
Primary Sources
(1) Aberdeen Press & Journal (3rd May 1913)
Dear Miss Kenney, I am sorry to say it will be several days yet before I can be ready with which you want. I have devoted all this evening and all of yesterday evening to the business without success. Evidently it is a difficult matter, but not impossible. I nearly succeeded once last night and then spoilt what I had done in trying to improve upon it. By next week I shall be able to manage the exact proportions, and I will let you have the results as soon as I can. Please burn this.
When he was arrested Clayton said: "I think this is rather a high-handed action. I am an extreme sympathizer with the Suffragette causes. What evidence have you against me?" He confirmed he had written the letter but refused to comment on the contents.
(2) Aberdeen Press and Journal (6th May 1913)
Clayton had, in his written communications, talked about breaking fire alarms and getting into timber yards with fiendish ingenuity. He had suggested disorganizing the fire alarms and firing the timber yards at the same time. What a position would you have been created in London, and what of human life?
(3) The Weekly Dispatch (11th May 1913)
As the hearing against the militant leaders at Bow Street Police Court progresses the revelations made by the police as a result of the Kingsway raid on the offices of the Women's Social and Political Union became more startling. The existence of a spinsters' secret sect, "The Young Hot Bloods" has now been revealed…
Edwy Godwin Clayton, analytical chemist, Fellow of the Institute of Chemists and a Fellow of the Chemical Society. He had a laboratory and "put his knowledge and his brain at the Union's disposal for the purpose of carrying out crimes and of producing the reign of terror in London." Receipts for money he had been paid by the union were produced in court.
Mr Bodkin said the case for the prosecution was that the union existed, not necessarily solely, but mainly, for the procuring of the commission of crimes.
"We did not know until these documents were seized at their offices," he said holding up a bundle of papers, "that they had an analytical chemist in their service – a man who, as we know, written a secret letter which the vain folly of Miss Kenney causes her to leave in her bedroom. In the letter he tells her he had been experimenting, and was on the brink of success. "Burn this letter," he added.
(4) The Scotsman (14th May 1913)
Mrs Strange, the proprietress of the refreshment pavilion at Kew Gardens, estimated the amount of damage done to the pavilion by the fire which took place there some time ago as £1,000. After the fire she went to the Richmond Police Court, where she saw two women who were charged with having burned down the building. At the police Court she saw a man, whom she now recognized as the defendant Clayton, offer to become bail.
(5) The Belfast Telegraph (10th June 1913)
Speaking of the defendant Clayton, counsel said the document found disclosed an astonishing degree of recklessness on his part, because he appears to have been suggesting and planning outrages for more serious than the miner outrages with which undoubtedly the movement began.
(6) Votes for Women (13th June 1913)
When the police went to Miss Kenney's flat at 19, Mecklenburgh Square they found, in a book which dealt with the Bristol riots.
Another document in Mr Clayton's writing was headed "Various Suggestions" and read "Scheme of simultaneously smashing a considerable number of street fire-alarms. This will cause tremendous confusion and excitement and should be as especially a good idea. It should be at once easier and less risky to execute than some other operations". Particulars as to timber yards and cotton mills also followed, as well as a plan for burning down the National Health Insurance Office.
(7) The Scotsman (18th June 1913)
Mr Justice Phillimore, in summing up, remarked that it was one of the saddest trials in his experience of nearly sixteen years as a Judge… How in morals and how in good practical sense could such things, if they be true be justified? It was said that great causes had never been won without breaking the law. That might be true of some cases; it was very untrue of others. If every recorded act of anarchy, then, as history proceeded on its long course, the human race would reach a position of absolute savagery, and the only chance of salvation would be the obliteration of memory.
(8) The Suffragette (20th June 1913)
After an absence of an hour the jury found all the prisoners guilty, with strong recommendations for leniency of sentence in the case of Miss Lake, Miss Barrett, and Miss Lennox…
The Judge said: "I agree with you, gentlemen of the jury, in the discrimination which you have made between the younger and elder men and women… which I propose to show in their sentences: As I have said, I assume you have been animated through out by the best motives. It is not merely that some of you have committed organized outrages, but I am more concerned with the incitement that has been given to young and irresponsible women, whose actions are not always balanced by their reason to do things which you are sure to regret.
(9) Votes for Women (10th July 1914)
We have received a letter, without address but bearing a foreign postmark from Mr Edwy Clayton, who it will be remembered was sentenced to twenty-one months' imprisonment last year in connection with the Conspiracy Trial of the WSPU officials, and was afterwards released on license under the Cat and Mouse Act and has not been re-arrested. He writes to say with reference to the House Secretary's recent allusions to "paid" militant Suffragists, that the similar implications of the prosecution, in his own case at his own trial last year, while utterly unfounded.
I neither received" he writes, "nor desired to receive payment for any assistance given by me to the women's movement. My sole reward has been the happiness derived from personal participation, as a volunteer helper, in this campaign against prejudice, ignorance, disease, and brutality.
(10) Edwy Godwin Clayton, letter to Annie Kenney (14th March 1925)
There can be no doubt that in numerous directions, my actions and motives were both misunderstood - I suppose partly because it was conceived to be unnatural or impossible for a man to assist a women's agitation, without having 'an axe to grind' - cruelly misrepresented. I have felt this for years. Even now, I am consistently 'boycotted' by certain relations and by some of the most valued and intimate friends. Others thank goodness, by degrees 'have come round.'