# Beatrice Sanders
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{{Short description|British suffragette and humanist}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2026}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Beatrice Sanders
| image = Suffragette Beatrice Sanders.jpg
| caption = From The Suffragette, 20 June 1913
| birth_name = Beatrice Helen Martin
| birth_date = 1874
| death_date = 29 November 1932
| occupation = Suffragette
| organisation = [Women's Social and Political Union](/source/Women's_Social_and_Political_Union), [Union of Ethical Societies](/source/Union_of_Ethical_Societies), [Fabian Society](/source/Fabian_Society)
| spouse = [William Stephen Sanders](/source/William_Stephen_Sanders)
}}
'''Beatrice Helen Sanders''' (1874 – 29 November 1932) was a British suffragette and humanist,[{{Cite web|title=Heroines of freethought: women of the early humanist movement|url=https://humanism.org.uk/2020/11/20/heroines-of-freethought-women-of-the-early-humanist-movement/|access-date=2020-11-24|website=Humanists UK|language=en}}] who served as financial secretary of the [Women's Social and Political Union](/source/Women's_Social_and_Political_Union) from 1904 until 1914.[{{Cite book|title=Rise up, women! : the remarkable lives of the suffragettes |last=Atkinson |first=Diane |publisher=Bloomsbury |year=2018 |isbn=9781408844045 |location=London |pages=50, 396 |oclc=1016848621}}] and she worked as an assistant in her fathers' tobacconist shop before marrying a progressive social politician,[{{cite news |title=Suffragist salaries |work=The Times |date=12 June 1913}}] A keen women's suffrage activist, from 1904 until 1914, she was employed, at a salary of £3 a week,[{{cite news |title=Mrs Sanders |work=The Times |date=1 December 1932}}] [Annie Kenney](/source/Annie_Kenney) recalled in her memoirs[{{Cite book|title=Memories of a Militant|last=Kenney|first=Annie|publisher=Edward Arnold|year=1924|pages=82–3|author-link=Annie Kenney}}] Sanders' strong control of members' expenses, as they would be expected to correct errors or deficits "out of our own pocket".[{{cite news |title=[untitled article] |work=[The Manchester Guardian](/source/The_Manchester_Guardian) |date=2 December 1932}}] On one occasion, she was sentenced to fourteen months for taking part in the events at the [House of Commons](/source/House_of_Commons_of_the_United_Kingdom) in February 1907, and for a month for throwing stones on [Black Friday](/source/Black_Friday_(1910)) in November 1910. By 1913, as financial secretary of the [Women's Social and Political Union](/source/Women's_Social_and_Political_Union), she was arrested with [Harriet Kerr](/source/Harriet_Kerr)[{{Cite book|url=https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C4151734|title=DISTURBANCES: Harriet R. Kerr, Suffragette. Released under Prisoners (Temporary...|date=1913}}] after a struggle with police which was front-page news in ''[The Suffragette](/source/Women's_Social_and_Political_Union)'', when the premises at [Clement's Inn](/source/Inns_of_Chancery) was raided, the sentence was fifteen days.[{{cite news|title=Seizure of suffragette headquarters|date=1 May 1913|work=The Times}}] She went on [hunger strike](/source/hunger_strike) in Lewes prison and was temporarily released under the terms of the [Cat and Mouse Act](/source/Cat_and_Mouse_Act), and although her sentence was never annulled, she was not re-arrested.[{{Cite web |last=National Archives |date= |title=Roll of Honour of Suffragette Prisoners 1905-1914, Ref 7LAC/2 |url=https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/ee5a777f-1d7c-416b-a249-c7cb64fcc0a8 |access-date=17 March 2022 |website=The National Archives UKwww.nationalarchives.gov.uk}}] She was also given a [Hunger Strike Medal](/source/Hunger_Strike_Medal) 'for Valour' by the WSPU.{{cn|date=July 2023}}
[[File:Suffragettes Harriet Kerr and Beatrice Sanders.jpg|thumb|[Harriet Kerr](/source/Harriet_Kerr) and Sanders at the offices of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), from ''[The Suffragette](/source/The_Suffragette_(newspaper))'', 3 October 1913]]
Sanders and her husband were longstanding members of the [Fabian Society](/source/Fabian_Society) and the West London Ethical Society (part of the Union of Ethical Societies, now [Humanists UK](/source/Humanists_UK)). During the 1920s Beatrice served as chair of the [Fabian Women's Group](/source/Fabian_Women's_Group).[{{cite news |title=Obituary |work=Fabian News |date=January 1933}}][{{Cite book |last=Crawford |first=Elizabeth |author-link=Elizabeth Crawford (historian) |title=The women's suffrage movement : a reference guide, 1866-1928 |date=1999 |publisher=UCL Press |isbn=1-84142-031-X |location=London |oclc=59376897}}] For a period when her husband was working in [Geneva](/source/Geneva), she became an organiser in the Swiss women's movement.