Diederichs Duval family - Green Plaque site

About Diederichs Duval family - Green Plaque site

The Diederichs Duval family campaigned for universal suffrage and lived in Lavender Sweep from 1884 to 1906.

Matriarch Emily Diderichs Duval (1861-1924) endured multiple prison sentences during which she went on hunger strike and was force fed. Her 17-year-old daughter Barbara was also arrested and imprisoned following her part in a disturbance in the House of Commons.

Another daughter, Elsie (1892-1919) was sentenced to a month in Holloway Prison for smashing a window at Clapham Post Office. During her incarceration she too went on hunger strike and was force-fed nine times, at lasting detriment to her health. Her husband Hugh Franklin was from a Jewish women's suffrage family, and Elsie and Hugh were the first two prisoners to be released under the Cat & Mouse Act, whereby women's suffrage supporters were sent home to regain their health (and to avoid bad publicity for the Government) before being re-arrested to serve out their sentences.

Son Victor also got involved, and following his prison sentence for window breaking he founded the Men's Political Union for Women's Suffrage in 1910. He married a well-known suffragette, Una Dugdale, who became famous for her refusal to promise to 'obey' her husband in their marriage service.

Sadly, three of Emily and Ernest's daughters died before getting the chance to vote. Emily became a Battersea councillor in 1919.

Location: 97 Lavender Sweep, Battersea

Unveiled: 9 June 2023

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