 She was awarded the Hunger Strike Medal by the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU).Violet Doudney was born in 1889 in Barkby in Leicestershire, the daughter of Laura Annie "née" Rice (1858–1939) and George Richard Doudney (1859–1913), a corn merchant.She matriculated at St Hilda's College at the University of Oxford in 1908, from where she graduated in 1911 aged 21.