Tuke was born in
Plumstead in London in 1871. In 1901, she married George Moxley Tuke who had died by 1905. Tukw was good friends with
Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence who introduced her to the
Manchester based WSPU, which had been founded by
Emmeline Pankhurst in 1903. The WSPU were opening a branch in London and in time their headquarters would move there. From 1906, Tuke was appointed the honorary secretary of the WSPU. Tuke was with the Pankhursts and Pethick-Lawrence near the head of the forty thousand
Women's Coronation Procession, following
Marjery Bryce as Joan of Arc, portraying the range of women's suffrage groups and notable historical women through London on 17 June 1911. Following a campaign of stone-throwing a warrant was made for the arrest of Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst, the Pethick-Lawrences and Tuke. Emmeline Pankhurst and Tuke were already under arrest as they and
Kitty Marshall had thrown a stone through a window of
10 Downing Street. Christabel managed to flee to Paris, France, but the Pethick-Lawrences were arrested at WSPU headquarters. On 28 March 1912 they were committed to be tried at the
Old Bailey on the charge of "
conspiracy." She was dismissed from the trial on 4 April 1912. The next argument at the WSPU involved the Pankhurst's decision to increase the militancy. The Pethick-Lawrences disagreed and were ejected from the WSPU. As Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence had been the person who had introduced Tuke to the WSPU, Tuke took her leave and went on a convalescent journey to
South Africa. In 1925 Tuke and the Pankhurst's created an ill fated tea shop in the South of France at
Juan-les-Pins. The tea shop was launched with mainly Tuke's money and she did the baking. The "English Tea Shop of Good Hope" soon closed. Tuke died in
Neville's Cross near Durham in 1962. == References ==