Who is REAL in The Unstoppable Letty Pegg?

EDITH GARRUD

She wasn’t a formal member of the WSPU although she DID help train the Suffragette Bodyguard. She also didn’t take part in the Census Boycott, she and Isabel and William were all at home.

It is also likely that when she trained jiu jitsu she used the English instead of Japanese names. So, Seo otoshi became ‘shoulder drop’. She really was only 4 ft 11 though.

PRINCESS SOPHIA SINGH

She really was a the God Daughter of Queen Victoria. Her father was Maharaja Duleep Singh, who had been taken from the Sikh Empire to the British Raj, and was subsequently exiled to England. She was convinced to join the WSPU by Una Dugdale (later Duval). She also had a leading role in the Women's Tax Resistance League.

Her dog, Joe was also real.

YUKIO TANI

Mr Tani was knowledgeable not only in jujitsu, but also in rokushakubo and hanbo (types of staff fighting), horseback riding, sumo wrestling and kenjutsu (Japanese swordsmanship). Tani’s brother and another fighter named S. Yamamoto also arrived to teach at The Golden Square Dojo (Edward Barton Wright’s school) but left after a year to return to Japan. Tani and his fellow jitsuka Uyenishi (who had also returned to Japan before The Unstoppable Letty Pegg begins) ended up leaving a lasting mark upon England, being two of the first to bring jiu jitsu to Western Europe.

Mrs Mary Clarke

She was the younger sister of suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst and she was arrested in 23 November 1910. She died after being force fed whilst in prison on Christmas Day 1910 - the suffragette's "first woman martyr".

We never met her in the Unstoppable Letty Pegg but news of her death is what sparked the plan to boycott the census in the Book. In reality however this plan likely originated in Manchester and was later adopted by the London branch of the WSPU.

UNA DUGDALE

Una Harriet Ella Stratford Duval (1879–1975) was a suffragette and marriage reformer. Her refusal to say "and obey" in her marriage vows made national news although that was a few years after The Unstoppable Letty Pegg is set.

There is no evidence that she was involved in the Jiu Jitsu. She definitely knew Princess Sophia having convinced to join The WSPU.

WILLIAM GARRUD

William Garrud was Edith’s Husband and taught ‘Physical Culture’ (old word for PE) at universities he also trained at The Dojo in Golden Square and wrote an instructional book on Jiu Jitsu.

Ironically while Edith taught the suffragettes self defence, William taught the police!

He and Edith had three children together - including Isabel.

ANNIE KENNEY

Annie Kenney was an English working-class suffragette and socialist feminist who became a leading figure in the Women's Social and Political Union. She co-founded its first branch in London with Minnie Baldock.

Kenney attracted the attention of the press and public in 1905 when she and Christabel Pankhurst were imprisoned for several days for assault and obstruction, after heckling Sir Edward Grey at a Liberal rally in Manchester on the issue of votes for women. The incident is credited with inaugurating a new phase in the struggle for women's suffrage in the UK, with the adoption of militant tactics.

She famously was missing a finger after it had been snipped off by machinery in the factory she was forced to work in as a girl.