On Monday 4th March 1914, local newspapers reported an act of vandalism at Bath Golf Club. A green-keeper discovered that the 15th green, which was near the bridle path on Hampton Down and not far from the boundary between the expanding men's course and the shrinking space allotted to women players, had been damaged during the night. Between 30 and 40 holes were found in the green, and caustic soda had been scattered about causing the grass to be discoloured. Similar damage had occurred at nearby holes. Furthermore, a number of luggage labels had been left attached to the flags on the mutilated greens. The labels read:
"There can be no sport or peace until Women have the Vote"
"Down with the government that tortures Women"
"Votes for Women"
"Militancy must go on until Justice is done to Women"
This was just one example of women's suffrage activism in Edwardian Bath, which, as elsewhere in the country, involved both non-militant (suffragist) and militant (suffragette) action. During the movement, over a thousand suffragette women from across the country were imprisoned in Holloway Prison, London. Those who protested there by hunger strike were typically force-fed using throat or nasal tubes.
Of course, this cache page cannot adequately cover the whole history of women's suffrage in Bath or elsewhere. In fact, the main purpose of this cache is to bring to light a more restorative piece of local history associated with this struggle.
Annie's Arboretum
If you travel through Northend, Batheaston, your attention may be drawn to a grand house crowned with a magnificent stone eagle. Appropriately, it is known as Eagle House, and around the beginning of the twentieth century it was owned by Colonel Linley Blathwayt (retired) and his wife Emily. Emily and their daughter Mary were both committed advocates of women's suffrage. Colonel Blathwayt was a liberal, a keen plantsman and photographer, and incidentally was the first owner of a motor car in Batheaston, in 1904. In support of the suffrage cause, Linley and Emily built a summer-house in the grounds of Eagle House called the "Suffragette Rest". Suffragettes who endured imprisonment were invited by the Blathwayts to rest and recuperate at Eagle House and the Suffragette Rest.
Furthermore, the Blathwayts created a three-acre arboretum in their grounds in tribute to their political guests. Between 1909 and 1912 more than 60 women planted a tree there, including the well-known Pankhursts. Those who had undergone hunger strike and forced feeding planted a conifer, and non-militant activists planted holly bushes. The planting of each was accompanied by a ceremony in which the suffragette would dress in her finest clothes and suffrage jewellery. Colonel Blathwayt would take a photograph, and a metal plaque would be made to identify the plant and the woman for whom it was planted. The arboretum was variously known as Suffragettes' Wood or Annie's Arboretum, named after prominent suffragist Annie Kenney who was a regular visitor to Eagle House.
There are many more interesting historical details that could be told of that time, but if we skip ahead to the 1960s we would sadly witness the destruction of the arboretum (which by then had been unmaintained for a long while) to make way for a new housing development.
Present day
Just a single tree of the original arboretum remains standing to this day. It is an Austrian Pine (Pinus Austriaca) planted for the suffragette Rose Lamartine Yates on 30th Oct 1909. It is inaccessible to the public as it stands in the garden of one of the houses of the development, but being over 100 years old it is now very large and clearly visible from the lane outside the house.
In March 2011, coinciding with International Women's Day, a group of people sought to recognise the lost arboretum, led by a Canadian academic and some local historians and enthusiasts. There was an exhibition at Bath Central Library, and symbolically three young conifer trees were planted in parkland in and around Bath.
The cache
Something resonated with me about this house, its suffragette story, the old arboretum, and the new commemorative trees; I felt compelled to visit. Furthermore I have set a cache featuring the trees, should you wish to participate.
Each individual element of the cache is relatively straightforward. However, there is a fair amount of organisation and travelling to undertake, which I have reflected in a higher overall difficulty rating. Furthermore, the cache is about 6 feet up a tree (perhaps appropriately, although it is not a conifer), for which the finder may want a "bump up" as there is little to work with lower down. You may wish to bear all this in mind before committing to undertake the journey.
As indicated in the cache attributes, to participate you will need a special tool: Ada, the Suffragettes' Tree Detector. This is a trackable device, TB6K3DM, so you will have to acquire it before setting out. You may find the trees without Ada, but you won't find the cache, so please bear that in mind.
There follows a short quiz to discover more helpful information about finding the cache. To continue, click on the scene below, which is of a 1913 suffrage march that passed through the nearby village of Box, Wiltshire.
