Ethel Smyth was an English composer. Her work, The March of the Women, with words by Cicely Hamilton became the anthem of the suffrage movement.

As a suffragette and member of the Women’s Social and Political Union, she took two years out of her career to focus on her activism. Like many others, she was incarcerated in Holloway Prison. Here, the prisoners were said to march around the yard singing The March of the Women together.

Smyth lost her hearing around the age of 60, so turned her talents to publishing books instead of composing. She had several relationships with women, and cut a striking figure, striding out in her tweeds, a cigar in her mouth.