One of the first suffragettes to go on hunger strike, she was one of the most effective, professional organisers of the Women’s Social and Political Union working at various moments in Yorkshire (1909), Oxford (1910), Portsmouth and Southampton (1911-12).
With its attacks, the RZ tried to encourage women and girls to form gangs to fight back against the many forms of violence and abuse that they experienced in their everyday lives.
Militant British suffragette
Notorious Irish pickpocket and head of a criminal gang
Alice May Parkinson’s conviction and imprisonment for manslaughter became a cause célèbre in New Zealand in the years before 1920.
Roman woman who killed her father
Between 1962 and 1976 Flora MacKenzie appeared in court six times on brothel-keeping charges, and was twice imprisoned for periods of six months.
French heroine, assassin of Marat
New Zealand’s most celebrated and energetic confidence trickster
Dr Dian Fossey was one of the world’s leading experts on primatology (the study of primates) and spent 18 years in African mountain forests studying gorillas. Fossey conducted the majority of her zoological research in the Congo jungle and Rwandan forests. In addition to anti-poaching activism, she pioneered scientific discoveries about gorilla societal structure. Her best-selling book, Gorillas In The Mist, was later adapted into a film. Her 1985 murder remains unsolved. She also reportedly tortured her enemies, kidnapped their children, and killed their livestock, along with lesser retaliatory acts. She was also known to be racist to the local Rwandans.