[2] Ayres Purdie began her suffragist work in 1894 at a trade union protest against the treatment of female telegraphists.

The telegraphists contributed to pension funds that they never received, as the women typically left their jobs when they were married.

[6] Ayres Purdie was the only woman allowed to represent clients in front of the Special Commissioners of Income Tax.

[9][2] On 26 March 1923, she committed suicide by jumping in front of a train at Covent Garden underground railway station.

According to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, "Her state of mind had been disturbed by the fear that she was losing her mental powers.