was built for the Terreros and became the focus of their activities for the WSPU A Suffragist since the age of 18, Janie Terrero joined the
Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) in 1908. She was also a member of the
National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS). Like many other
suffragettes, Janie Terrero
boycotted the 1911 Census, which only lists her husband at their home address. In 1910, following
Black Friday, Terrero hosted four injured suffragettes in her home whilst they recovered from their injuries at the hands of the police. She supported suffragettes imprisoned in
Holloway Prison over Christmas 1911 with a hamper, and received an embroidered handkerchief in thanks from Cissie Wilcox, who had been one of the injured suffragettes who recuperated at her home the previous year. By 1912 the Terreros were living in
Harrow. Terrero was among 200 women arrested in March 1912 who had taken part in a window-smashing campaign in London to coincide with the reading of the
Conciliation Bill in Parliament. Terrero had the support of her husband Manuel, who was a member of the
Men's League for Women's Suffrage. She had not wanted him to know of her involvement in the campaign beforehand “as I know with your usual kindness and consideration for me you would want to come too, this I could not allow” .... “I feel my honour as a woman at stake and I must take up my stand with the rest. If I should get into prison don't pay my fine but let me go through it properly ...” On 2 March 1912 she appeared at
Bow Street Magistrates' Court to answer charges of wilful damage after smashing windows. On being convicted at the London Sessions on 19 March 1912 she received a sentence of four months in
Holloway Prison where she went on
hunger strike and was twice
force-fed. A prison doctor ended her force-feeding, presumably because of the effect it was having on her health, and she was released a few days before the end of her sentence. Whilst she was imprisoned and on hunger strike, her cat Blackie refused to eat at home and died. Her signature is among those embroidered on
The Suffragette Handkerchief in Holloway in March 1912. Whilst she was incarcerated her husband Manuel was "officially informed" that he not allowed to see her, receive or write letters to her nor send in any food for the first two months, treatement that was not applied to other prisoners. He wrote a letter to the Pinner Gazette newspaper on 4 May 1912 highlighting the treatment of the women prisoners and describing how "weak and ailing" she was after hunger strike and forced feeding but full of "quite courage and determination". She later wrote an account of her experiences in Holloway Prison: “I was in close confinement for twelve days, was in two hunger strikes & was forcibly fed in April & again in June. To those who intend to be actively militant, I want to say this; you cannot imagine how strong you feel in prison. The Government may take your liberty from you & lock you up, but they cannot imprison your spirit. The only one thing the Government really fears is the hunger strike. They fear it not because of our pain & suffering, but because it damages their majorities. How strong that weapon made us feel. If they had only dared, they would have put us in a lethal chamber. Some people wonder at the courage of our women, but I believe physical courage is a common human attribute, & I do not see why women should possess it in a lesser degree than men... I should like to make it quite clear that the forcible-feeding was not carried out with any idea of saving life but as a deliberate act of brutality to terrorise and torture.” Terrero refused to sign a petition calling for the 'ousting' of
Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence and
Frederick Pethick-Lawrence from the WSPU in 1912, and appears to have taken little part in the campaign for
women's suffrage thereafter. ==Legacy==