The Medal of Valour was given to Elsie Wolff Van Sandau after she endured “the last extremity of hunger and hardship” while fighting to win equal voting rights for women.

It was presented on March 4, 1912 – the date of an organised window-smashing campaign in Covent Garden, London, during which she was arrested.

The medal was sold to a private UK buyer at Hansons Auctioneers in Etwall, Derbyshire, yesterday.

Auctioneer Isabel Murtough said: “It was an honour to sell this medal. I was delighted that it did so well.

“I hope this find reminds people of the sacrifices Miss Wolff Van Sandau and her fellow suffragettes made a century ago to help women gain rights many of us now take for granted.”

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