Victoria Lidiard (23 December 1889 – 3 October 1992) was a British social activist, optician, and Christian author who is noted for her involvement in the women's suffrage movement and for being the longest‑surviving suffragette in the United Kingdom at the time of her death.
Early life and education
Born Victoria Simmons in Clifton, Bristol, she was one of twelve children of a furniture dealer. She left school at fourteen and later pursued evening classes in shorthand and bookkeeping. Lidiard became a vegetarian at the age of ten, a practice that influenced her lifelong advocacy for animal welfare.
Suffrage activism
Lidiard joined the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) and participated in militant actions, including window‑smashing campaigns in London in March 1912. She was arrested and sentenced to two months’ imprisonment in Holloway Prison, where she, like many suffragettes, endured force‑feeding after a hunger strike.
Professional career
After World War I, she qualified as an optician and established a practice in Brighton, later moving to Hove, East Sussex. Her professional work provided a stable platform for her continued activism.
Later activism and writing
Beyond suffrage, Lidiard campaigned for animal rights, vegetarianism, and the ordination of women within Christian churches. She authored several Christian‑themed works that reflected her ethical convictions.
Personal life
In 1918, she married Alexander Lidiard, adopting his surname. The couple remained in the Brighton/Hove area for the remainder of their lives.
Legacy
Victoria Lidiard lived to the age of 102, passing away in Hove on 3 October 1992. Her longevity, combined with her early militant suffragette activities, made her a symbolic link between the early 20th‑century women’s rights movement and later feminist and animal‑rights causes. Her papers and oral histories are held in several British archives, providing primary source material for scholars of suffrage, women's history, and social reform.