Brackenbury was born in 1866. Her father Major General
Charles Booth Brackenbury was Director of the artillery college in Woolwich. She was brought up by
Flora Shaw, a governess housekeeper - as Brackenbury's mother,
Hilda Eliza, disliked housework. In 1890 the family moved to Kensington after the death of their father. Her parents both had artistic interests and Marie (and Georgina) went to the Slade School of Art where she specialised in landscapes. In 1911 they created a Joan of Arc costume for a demonstration. Marie was particularly known for
pavement art where she would chalk pavements to advertise WSPU events. at the
Suffragette's Rest in 1909 Georgina and Marie were sentenced to six weeks in prison after they joined a WSPU stunt at the
House of Commons. Their imprisonment qualified both of them to have a commemorative tree planted at the "Suffragette's Rest" in
Somerset on 22 July 1910. In 1913 the government passed the
Prisoners (Temporary Discharge for Ill Health) Act which gave the authorities the power to release hunger-striking suffragettes and then rearrest them when they had recovered. It was known as the "Cat and Mouse Act" because cats are known for playing with mice before they kill them. Marie's home at 2 Campden Hill Square was used as a convalescent home for recovering hunger strikers and was nicknamed "Mouse Castle".
Emmeline Pankhurst died on 14 June 1928, Brackenbury was one of her pallbearers, alongside other former suffragettes
Georgiana Brackenbury,
Marion Wallace Dunlop,
Harriet Kerr,
Mildred Mansel,
Kitty Marshall,
Rosamund Massy,
Marie Naylor,
Ada Wright and
Barbara Wylie. ==Death and legacy==