WOMEN'S TAX RESISTANCE LEAGUEBiblio.com
Silver basket owned by the suffragette Lizzie Emma Turquand.
1852rif. 183532Sheffield: 1852. No Vote No Tax A Victorian silver cake basket seized in lieu of taxes. Turquand belonged to the Tax Resistance League TRL and in May 1912 refused to pay her house duty as a protest against women's disenfranchisement. In due course this family heirloom was confiscated by a bailiff. Turquand reclaimed it at auction after giving a speech on the urgency of women's suffrage. Lizzie Emma Turquand 1857-1943 was a member of multiple women's suffrage organizations in addition to the TRL and worked as a secretary and a teacher. She sent a letter to the Income Tax Offices explaining her refusal to pay her taxes which concluded "to force women out of the their earnings to pay salaries to Cabinet Ministers and M.P.'s to legislate for men who through the ballot box command attention and consideration is to me such gross injustice that I offer no apology for my action". The ensuing seizure of the basket was "formal but friendly" and the bailiff acted with "forbearance and politeness" Norwood News p. 5. The TRL seized the opportunity of the auction to promote their cause and on 14 May arrived at the auction house in large numbers bearing banners and placards. Although their presence in the auction room was unexpected the auctioneers dealers and other attendants treated them with good humour. The auctioneer permitted Turquand to give a speech on her decision to resist taxation; her remarks were met with cheers and a chorus of "For she's a jolly good fellow". The usual attendees declined to bid for the basket so that it could be purchased by a fellow member of the TRL. Turquand thanked the auctioneer for his kind manner and commented that similar sales all over the country were being met with the same "courteous treatment and sympathy" Norwood News p. 5. Turquand was reunited with the basket following the auction and continued to resist taxation which resulted in a similar confiscation and demonstration the following year. Items which so vividly represent the efforts of the Tax Resistance League to publicise the mantra "No Vote No Tax" are unusual in both commerce and institutions. The London Museum holds a comparable example: a gold bracelet seized in lieu of tax from the suffragette Edith How-Martyn. Provenance: from the collection of the suffrage historian Elizabeth Crawford. Sterling silver bowl with handle 253 x 95 mm by Henry Wilkinson elaborately fluted and embellished in ornate floral design later engravings in the centre "Sold for King's Taxes 1912 Woman Suffrage" and "L. E. Turquand 1913". A few spots of scraping and discolouration residue of polish in grooves of floral design overall bright and clean barely tarnished: in very good condition. "Resisting the King's Taxes" Norwood News May 1912. unknown
Peter Harrington · Regno Unito3000,00 £≈ 3583,03 €