Died 1972 | ||
Eileen Mary Casey (1881–1972) was a suffragette, translator and teacher.
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Early life
She was born on April 4, 1881 in Deniliquin, New South Wales, Australia. Casey was the first born of Dr. Phillip Forth Casey and Isabella Julia Agnes Raey. In April 1882 her father moved her family to Hay, New South Wales. In March 1890 her father’s job moved the family back to Europe where they settled in Göttingen, Germany. Eileen became fluent in German.
Work as a suffragette
Casey was inspired by Emmeline Pankhurst who she saw at a rally. After this she became a member of the Women’s Social and Political Union. She is considered super-militant. It was 1911 when she partook in WSPU’s Window Smashing Raid in London. She escaped being arrested while over 213 fellow suffragettes were arrested. WSPU told the suffragettes who smashed the windows that they should not destroy the businesses in Queensland and Victoria because women did have the right to vote in Australia. The following year alongside her mother and fellow suffragette, Oliver Walton, they participated in another raid. She moved back to England in 1951. In 1956 she became a member of Calling All Women. When she moved to Australia in 1968 she participated in the Australian branch of the Suffragette Fellowship and Liberal Catholic Church in England.
Imprisonments
In March 1912 she was imprisoned in Holloway for four months for “damage” which was the smashing the windows of Marshall and Snelgrove’s shop in Oxford Street. In prison she participated in a hunger strike and had to force-fed. In 17 March 1913 was arrested under the name “Eleanor Cleary” for “ placing noxious substance in a Pillar-box work”. She was released after she paid a fine. In October 1913 she was arrested under the name “Irene Casey”, in Bradford was sentenced to three months and went on a hunger strike. She was released under the “Cat and Mouse” Act. She escaped by dressing in men’s attire while her mother, Isabella, dressed as Eileen. She was out for eight months when she was arrested on June 1914 in Nottingham for possession of explosives. She was sentenced to 15 months.
Teaching career
It was during World War I that Eileen Casey became a landgirl and gardener at Kew Gardens. From 1923 to 1940 she moved to Japan to teach English. When World War II broke out she moved to Australia where she became a translator for the Board of Censors. She became the master of an Emulation Lodge