It was my brother, Peter, and his wife, Zulma, who discovered our grandmother Dora’s magnificent Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) certificate, signed by Emmeline Pankhurst. It was a bit torn, lying at the bottom of a drawer.

They had the certificate restored and framed – it measures 26 x 20 inches (60cm x 50cm) and commemorates Dora’s dedication to the cause “ever ready to obey the call of duty”.

We know that Dora and her sister, my great aunt Florence Spong, joined the WSPU in 1908 to fight for the right to vote and spent some time in prison for their actions.

All the women in their family attended WSPU demonstrations. Irene, another great aunt, gave concerts for the cause, and both Florence and Dora were arrested several times and sent to Holloway prison. Florence was charged with stone-throwing at the WSPU deputation of 29 June 1909, sentenced to a month’s imprisonment and went on hunger strike. This did not stop her from repeating the action in protest at the way suffragettes were treated in Parliament Square on “Black Friday” in November 1910, which got her another two months’ imprisonment.

Florence embroidered her signature on the WSPU banner made in Holloway prison that is still on display at the Museum of London.

Among the artefacts that have stayed in the family is a brooch, a portcullis with the symbolic broken chain which, we understood as children, celebrates victory in the fight for women’s suffrage.