Alice Wheeldon: PM plot suffragette mugshot saved from skip sold

A police ledger featuring a pacifist convicted of trying to kill a prime minister has been sold for about five times its estimate.

Saved from a skip, the book featured a mugshot of Alice Wheeldon, who was convicted of a conspiracy to kill David Lloyd George in 1917.

A bid to officially clear the name of the Derby-born campaigner for women's rights failed this year.

The ledger was sold for £10,500 at auction in Derbyshire on Wednesday.

The seller, a 53-year-old engineer from Staffordshire, inherited the book from his father and kept it in a cupboard for decades.

He said he had been "flabbergasted" at the amount the book - which had a guide price of £2,000 to £3,000 - had raised when it sold to a private UK collector.

He said his father, who was a police officer, saved it from being thrown in a skip after a clear-out at a Derby police station 40 years ago.

Derbyshire Record Office had hoped to secure the ledger for public use and launched a fundraising appeal.

However, despite nearly £2,000 of public donations, it was outbid on the day.

The seller said: "I suppose it's all down to who has the deepest pockets. I wish the collector well.

"I am very happy with the result. To say I was pleasantly surprised is an understatement. I was flabbergasted. I would have been happy with the original estimate of £2,000-£3,000."

Ms Wheeldon was jailed for 10 years after her conviction, but was discharged months later on the request of Lloyd George himself.

She died in 1919 during the influenza pandemic.

The reliance on evidence from a British spy for the conviction against her has caused controversy since, leading to a campaign to overturn the decision.

The 500-page book - which also includes images of the suffragette's daughter Winnie and son-in-law Alfred Mason, who were convicted alongside her - features black and white photographs of people convicted of a range of offences between 1890 and 1920.

Auctioneer Charles Hanson said: "The fact that it sold for so much underlines its importance as a unique primary historical resource."

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