Margaret and Frances McPhun

Both were graduates of Glasgow University and then worked at the Queen Margaret College Settlement.

Margaret was a member of the Maryhill Liberal Association from 1906-8 and in the Scottish University Women's Suffrage Union, but left when both sisters joined the WSPU in 1909. Later Margaret became a regular contributor to the socialist journal ‘Forward’.

Frances helped organise the 'Pageant of famous Scottish Women' for a procession in Edinburgh in 1909 and the WPSU exhibition in Glasgow in 1910. She was also honorary secretary of Glasgow WSPU 1910-12 and Margaret Press secretary for WSPU Scotland 1912-14. Both were imprisoned in Holloway 1912 for window smashing and were force fed. Margaret wrote of its horrors.

Maragret also wrote one of the poems included in the Holloway Jingles which was published by the Glasgow WSPU in 1913. She also contributed to 'Votes for Women' and 'The Suffragette'.

Margaret continued in feminist campaiging after 1918 being a member of the Scottish Council of Women's Citizens Associations and the Open Door Council. Frances's later activities are not known.

Picture: Margaret McPhun, Burrell collection, Glasgow museums