# Doreen Allen > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Doreen_Allen > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Doreen_Allen.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doreen_Allen > Source revision: 1341778146 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|English militant suffragette (1879–1963)}} {{Use British English|date=November 2025}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox person | image = Edith Doreen Allen suffragette.jpg | caption = Allen in 1905 | birth_date = 1879 | birth_place = Dartford, Kent, England | death_date = 18 June 1963 | organization = [Women's Social and Political Union](/source/Women's_Social_and_Political_Union) }} '''Doreen Allen''' ({{Nee|Allchin}}, 1879 – 18 June 1963) was an English [suffragette](/source/suffragette) and member of the [Women's Social and Political Union](/source/Women's_Social_and_Political_Union) (WSPU), who on being imprisoned was [force-fed](/source/Force-feeding), for which she received the WSPU's [Hunger Strike Medal](/source/Hunger_Strike_Medal) '''For Valour'''. == Life == Allen was born in [Dartford](/source/Dartford), [Kent](/source/Kent), England{{cite web |title=Women's suffrage - History and citizen's resources for schools |url=https://www.suffrageresources.org.uk/database/1516/mrs-edith-doreen-allen |website=Woman's suffrage |accessdate=31 January 2020}} as Edith Doreen Allchin, one of ten children of Mary Ann ''née'' Amos (1838–1924) and John James Allchin (1836–1903), a builder. In 1905 she married Melville Hodsoll Allen (1879–1932) who worked at the [Stock Exchange](/source/London_Stock_Exchange) in London[https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/2352/rg14_02317_0361_03/545275 1911 England Census for Edith Doreen Allen: London, Wandsworth, Streatham - Ancestry.com {{subscription required}}]{{Cite book |last=Godfrey |first=Jennifer |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CQ4PEQAAQBAJ&dq=doreen+allen&pg=PT131 |title=Secret Missions of the Suffragettes: Glassbreakers and Safe Houses |date=2025-11-04 |publisher=Casemate Publishers |isbn=978-1-3990-1397-0 |language=en}} and who served in [World War I](/source/World_War_I) as a captain in the [Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment](/source/Queen's_Own_Royal_West_Kent_Regiment).[https://www.theauxiliaries.com/men-alphabetical/men-a/allen-mh/allen.html Capt. Melville Hodsoll Allen, Royal West Kents - The Auxiliary Division of the Royal Irish Constabulary] thumb|Cartoon of a woman in suffragette colours smashing windows.|230x230px left|thumb|219x219px|Force feeding suffragettes on hunger strike Following Allen's arrest in March 1912 for taking part in a window smashing campaign she appeared at [Bow Street Magistrates' Court](/source/Bow_Street_Magistrates'_Court) on 12 March 1912, before being sent for trial at the London Sessions on 19 March 1912. She was sentenced to four months imprisonment in [Holloway Prison](/source/HM_Prison_Holloway) for "causing willful damage."[https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/61005/45597_625537_0094-00003?pid=17&backurl=https://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?_phsrc%3Ddjv2639%26_phstart%3DsuccessSource%26usePUBJs%3Dtrue%26indiv%3D1%26dbid%3D61005%26gsfn%3Ddoreen%26gsln%3Dallen%26cp%3D0%26new%3D1%26rank%3D1%26uidh%3Drc8%26redir%3Dfalse%26msT%3D1%26gss%3Dangs-d%26pcat%3D36%26fh%3D0%26h%3D17%26recoff%3D%26ml_rpos%3D1%26queryId%3D076e0e8fd2ebb1fce51c810f65bcdb56&treeid=&personid=&hintid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=djv2639&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true England, Suffragettes Arrested, 1906-1914 for Doreen Allan: HO 45/24665: Suffragettes: Amnesty of August 1914: Index of Women Arrested, 1906-1914 - Ancestry.com {{subscription required}}] She went on [hunger strike](/source/hunger_strike) in prsion and was [force-fed](/source/Force-feeding).{{Citation needed|date=November 2025}} left|thumb|156x156px|The Suffragette Handerkerchief A fellow-prisoner in Holloway was [Mary Ann Aldham](/source/Mary_Ann_Aldham) and the signatures of the two appear on ''[The Suffragette Handkerchief](/source/The_Suffragette_Handkerchief)'' embroidered by [Janie Terrero](/source/Janie_Terrero). To keep up morale in prison, the women were forced to make their own entertainment. Some such as [Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence](/source/Emmeline_Pethick-Lawrence%2C_Baroness_Pethick-Lawrence) told stories while Doreen Allen sat at her feet with an arm on her knee; later [Emmeline Pankhurst](/source/Emmeline_Pankhurst) reminisced about the early days of the WSPU. On 10 June 1912 the three imprisoned grandmothers - [Gertrude Wilkinson](/source/Gertrude_Wilkinson) (aka Jessie Howard), [Janet Boyd](/source/Janet_Boyd) and [Mary Ann Aldham](/source/Mary_Ann_Aldham) sang together.{{Cite book |last=Norquay |first=Glenda |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v4m-aqVKOqoC&pg=PA184 |title=Voices and Votes: A Literary Anthology of the Women's Suffrage Campaign |date=1995 |publisher=Manchester University Press |isbn=978-0-7190-3976-8 |language=en}} On another occasion some of the women performed a scene from ''[The Merchant of Venice](/source/The_Merchant_of_Venice)'' with [Evaline Hilda Burkitt](/source/Evaline_Hilda_Burkitt) as [Shylock](/source/Shylock) and the role of Narissa played by Allen.Purvis, June. (1995) [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/09612029500200073 'The prison experiences of the suffragettes in Edwardian Britain'], ''[Women's History Review](/source/Women's_History_Review)'', 4 ('''1'''), p. 112. On her release Allen resumed her political activities on behalf of [women's suffrage](/source/women's_suffrage).{{Cite web |title=The Suffragette Handkerchief at the Priest House, West Hoathly |url=https://sussexpast.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Priest-House-suffragette-handkerchief.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210513063659/https://sussexpast.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Priest-House-suffragette-handkerchief.pdf |archive-date=13 May 2021 |access-date=31 January 2020 |website=Sussex Past}} When WSPU leader [Emmeline Pankhurst](/source/Emmeline_Pankhurst) returned to Great Britain from America in late 1913, she was met at [Plymouth](/source/Plymouth) by a group suffragettes which included Allen. As Pankhurst disembarked from the ''Majestic'' she was arrested under the [Cat and Mouse Act](/source/Prisoners_(Temporary_Discharge_for_Ill_Health)_Act_1913) and taken to [Exeter Prison](/source/HM_Prison_Exeter). in her later years Doreen Allen lived in [Brighton](/source/Brighton) in [Sussex](/source/Sussex). She died in June 1963.[https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/1904/32858_611411_1966-00058/18513036?backurl=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/family-tree/person/tree/154173400/person/362064524311/facts England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1995 for Edith Doreen Allen 1963 - Ancestry.com {{subscription required}}] thumb|150x150px|Example of WSPU Hunger Strike medal Allen's nephew was Sir Geoffrey Cuthbert Allchin KCBE, CMG, MC (1895–1968), British Ambassador in [Morocco](/source/Morocco).{{Citation needed|date=November 2025}} == See also == * [Women's suffrage in the United Kingdom](/source/Women's_suffrage_in_the_United_Kingdom) * [Hunger Strike Medal](/source/Hunger_Strike_Medal) * [The Suffragette Handkerchief](/source/The_Suffragette_Handkerchief) ==References== {{reflist|2}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Doreen}} Category:1879 births Category:1963 deaths Category:People from Dartford Category:English suffragettes Category:English feminists Category:English women's rights activists Category:Women's Social and Political Union Category:Prisoners and detainees of England and Wales Category:Force-feeding victims --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Doreen Allen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doreen_Allen) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doreen_Allen?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.