Leonora Tyson

Leonora Helen Tyson born Leonora Helen Wolff (13 August 1883 – 4 February 1959) was an English suffragette and member of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU).

Life
Leonora Helen Wolff was born in Bradford, Yorkshire, on 13 August 1883, to Gustav Wolff, a German doctor of music, and Rosa Helen Ashton. She was the fifth of six children. In 1901 the family moved to London. In 1908 while living in Drewstead Road, Streatham, the family changed their name from Wolff to Tyson. It was around this time that Rosa Tyson and her daughters Diana and Leonora became involved in the WSPU. In February 1908 Tyson and her mother  were both arrested at the House of Commons while taking part in a protest. 

Tyson became very active in the organisation serving as Honorary Secretary of the Streatham branch in 1909 and Secretary of the Lambeth branch in 1910, resuming her role in Streatham in 1911. Tyson spoke at many meetings in Streatham, Lambeth, and further afield. In October 1911 Tyson who was fluent in German represented the WSPU at the Women's Congress in Hamburg, Germany.

In 1911 the Anti-Suffrage Alphabet, authored by Laurence Housman and edited by Tyson, was published in London.

Her suffragette activities led to some time spent in Holloway Prison after being arrested at a protest in central London in March 1912. In April 1912 Tyson went on a hunger strike. She was force-fed by prison authorities after three days refusing food and water. She was released in May of the same year. Her signature is among those embroidered on The Suffragette Handkerchief in Holloway in March 1912.

Tyson died on 4 February 1959, aged 75, at her niece's home in East Sheen.

References 

Category:British suffragists
Category:1883 births
Category:1959 deaths
Category:English people of German descent
Category:People from Bradford
Category:People from Streatham