[3] She was one of six children born to Ernest and Emily Duval and her family were involved in the campaign for women's voting rights.

Elsie herself became involved in the movement when she signed up to the Woman's Social and Political Union (WSPU) in 1907, although she was too young to partake in any militant action herself.

[4][5][6] Over the following three years, she became involved with the Men’s Political Union for Women’s Enfranchisement, which had been founded by her brother Victor Duval, and where she grew closer to her future husband Hugh Franklin.

One day after being force-fed she wrote: 'Sunday: After big struggle fed me through throat- pain at heart after- Doctor came back examined me and tried to make me take medicine and after put to bed by my wardresses'.

Using the character references she had (all provided by people who knew her such as her brother Victor- who was married to fellow activist Una Dugdale) she got a job in Germany as a governess for 10 months.

When she returned in 1914 she became involved in politics again, giving Sylvia Pankhurst a blue velvet cap that Christmas, and supporting the WSPU over the course of the following years, but she also found more time for her romantic life.

Elsie and Hugh eventually got married at West London Synagogue on 28 September 1915 but their marriage was short-lived as she died just over three years later.

In 1919, Elsie died aged 26 partly due to her experience of force-feeding in prison but also because of heart problems caused by septic pneumonia which she contracted during the 1918 influenza epidemic.

In her last letter to Hugh she wrote "my heart is like a steam engine" and it is thought that because she had previously been force-fed it severely impacted her health.