Miss Lucy Burns
Gender: Female
Marital Status: Single
Born: 1879
Died: 1966
Place of birth: Brooklyn, New York, America
Education: Packer Institute; Vassar College; Yale University (1902?3); University of Berlin (1906?8); University of Bonn (1908?9, modern languages)
Main Suffrage Society: WSPU
Other Societies: WP (Women's Party, U
Society Role: Organiser (Scotland)
Arrest Record: Yes
Recorded Entries: 4
Other sources: http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C4769024
Elizabeth Crawford, The Women's Suffrage Movement: A Reference Guide 1866?1928 (1999)
Additional Information: Lucy was holidaying in London in 1909 when she joined the WSPU. She was arrested that year, taking part in a deputation to the House of Commons. She was imprisoned but went on hunger strike and was released. It was during the time of this arrest and imprisonment that she met fellow American suffragette Alice Paul. The two were arrested later that year for disrupting a meeting being held by Lloyd George. Lucy was sent to Holloway Prison, went on hunger strike and was again released. Lucy then travelled up to Scotland to help organise the WSPU campaign there, where she was again arrested for heckling a meeting. She was released due to another hunger strike after four days in prison. In November 1909, Lucy became WSPU organiser in Edinburgh but it was a turbulent appointment. Lucy returned to America in 1912 with her former prison mate Alice Paul, and there they launched the Women's Party, which borrowed many of the tactics used by the British WSPU.