In our age, we are able to recognize civil disobedience and call it by name, but this was certainly not the case for this "Old Boy" writing in 1912; he read about the criminal past-times of Mrs. Pankhurst (Emmeline Pankhurst, 1850 - 1928) and her two daughters (Christobel Pankhurst, 1880-1960; Estelle Sylvia Pankhurst, 1882 - 1960), and thought that no good could possibly come of such rabble-rousing.
From Amazon: Emmeline Pankhurst
Emmeline and Her Daughters: The Pankhurst Suffragettes