Mary Raleigh Richardson (1889 – November 7, 1961) was a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 suffragette active in the women's suffrage movement in the United Kingdom

Women's suffrage in the United Kingdom

Women's suffrage in the United Kingdom as a national movement began in 1872. Women were not prohibited from voting in the United Kingdom until the 1832 Reform Act and the 1835 Municipal Corporations Act...

 and later the head of the women's section of British Union of Fascists

British Union of Fascists

The British Union was a political party in the United Kingdom formed in 1932 by Sir Oswald Mosley as the British Union of Fascists, in 1936 it changed its name to the British Union of Fascists and National Socialists and then in 1937 to simply the British Union...

 (BUF) led by Sir Oswald Mosley.

Militant actions

At the beginning of the 20th century, the suffragette

Suffragette

"Suffragette" is a term coined by the Daily Mail newspaper as a derogatory label for members of the late 19th and early 20th century movement for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom, in particular members of the Women's Social and Political Union...

 movement, frustrated by a failure to achieve parliamentary reforms, began adopting increasingly militant tactics. In particular, the Women's Social and Political Union

Women's Social and Political Union

The Women's Social and Political Union was the leading militant organisation campaigning for Women's suffrage in the United Kingdom...

 (WSPU), led by the charismatic Emmeline Pankhurst

Emmeline Pankhurst

Emmeline Pankhurst was a British political activist and leader of the British suffragette movement which helped women win the right to vote...

, frequently endorsed the use of property destruction to bring attention to the issue of women's suffrage. Richardson was a devoted supporter of Pankhurst and a member of the WSPU.

Slashing the Rokeby Venus

Richardson's most famous act of defiance occurred on March 10, 1914 when she entered the National Gallery in London and slashed the Rokeby Venus with a chopper she smuggled into the gallery.

She wrote a brief statement explaining her actions to the WSPU which was immediately printed by the press:

"I have tried to destroy the picture of the most beautiful woman in mythological history as a protest against the Government for destroying Mrs Pankhurst, who is the most beautiful character in modern history. Justice is an element of beauty as much as colour and outline on canvas. Mrs Pankhurst seeks to procure justice for womanhood, and for this she is being slowly murdered by a Government of Iscariot politicians. If there is an outcry against my deed, let every one remember that such an outcry is an hypocrisy so long as they allow the destruction of Mrs Pankhurst and other beautiful living women, and that until the public cease to countenance human destruction the stones cast against me for the destruction of this picture are each an evidence against them of artistic as well as moral and political humbug and hypocrisy."

As a Fascist

Richardson like a number of middle- and upper-class suffragettes turned to fascism. She became the head of the Women's section of the British Union of Fascists

British Union of Fascists

The British Union was a political party in the United Kingdom formed in 1932 by Sir Oswald Mosley as the British Union of Fascists, in 1936 it changed its name to the British Union of Fascists and National Socialists and then in 1937 to simply the British Union...

 BUF.. Two other prominent suffragette leaders to gain high office in the BUF were Norah Elam

Norah Elam

Norah Elam also known as Norah Dacre Fox, was a radical feminist, militant suffragette, anti-vivisectionist and fascist in the United Kingdom. Born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1878 to John and Charlotte Doherty, she emigrated to England with her family and by 1891 was living in London...

 and Commandant Mary Allen

Mary Sophia Allen

Mary Sophia Allen was a Welsh-born British woman who worked for women's rights. She is chiefly noted as one of the founders of the Women's Police Volunteers as well as for her involvement in far right political activity....

..

Later life

Richardson published her autobiography, Laugh a Defiance, in 1953. She died at her flat in Hastings

Hastings

Hastings is a town and borough in the county of East Sussex on the south coast of England. The town is located east of the county town of Lewes and south east of London, and has an estimated population of 86,900....

on November 7, 1961.