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© Museum of London
Photograph of Dame Ethel Smyth, May 1913.
Smyth joined the WSPU in 1910 and is well known as the composer of 'The March of the Women', which was frequently heard throughout the Votes for Women campaign.
Smyth studied composition and symphony at the Leipzig Conservatory in Germany, despite the protests of her father who felt they were fields too masculine a profession for his daughter. Among her many achievements, she went on to be the only woman for over a century to present an opera at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City.
One of the larger-than-life stories of Smyth was of her conducting performances of 'The March of the Women' with her toothbrush while held in Holloway Prison for her contributions to the Suffragette’s window smashing campaign.
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