Penelope Putz, a former pupil of The Mount School in York, was part of a long tradition of activism at the Quaker institution. She was one of at least 19 girls from the Fox family who attended the school in the 19th and 20th centuries, according to a letter from a former teacher.
The teacher, who wrote a history of the school titled Among Friends (2007), noted that Penelope participated in the February 2003 anti-Iraq war demonstration in London, alongside a group of current pupils and staff. After the war was declared, students spent break times protesting outside the school with banners and wrote to their MP, Hugh Bayley.
During Penelope's time at the school in the Second World War, students demonstrated against unequal food portions, complaining that staff received better meals. The protest led to staff eating separately in the evenings thereafter.
