Background: Her mother and father (who both died in 1976) were Margaret Vera Kingham and George Ernest Arrowsmith. Pat went to Farrington's and Stover School, and later Cheltenham Ladies College. She achieved a degree in History at Newham College, Cambridge, and in the early fifties went to Chicago to study Social Sciences. She completed her education two years later in Liverpool, achieving a Certificate in Social Science.

Work: While in Chicago, from 1952, she experienced humble beginnings working as a community organiser, and later a cinema usher. In 1954, she returned to England to complete her education and also worked with Liverpool's Family Service Unit as a social caseworker. In the years following, she performed more social work, a childcare officer (in 1955) and a nursing assistant in Deva Psychiatric Hospital (from 1956 to 1957).
Perhaps a combination of her experiences in this field and her natural compassion for the well being of others led her to activism.
This began in 1958, when she became an organiser for several anti-Nuclear campaigns - the Direct Action Committee against Nuclear War, the Committee of 100, and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND).
It was her work for the latter that was to gain her the most public awareness, and she still takes part in anti-nuclear protests as a voice for the organisation today - most notably in April 2004, on a march from Aldermaston to London carrying the original 1954 CND logo on a small placard, and later addressing the crowd in Trafalgar Square with a speech.
Throughout the sixties, Arrowsmith continued her activism while taking on various different jobs - another position as a child care officer came along in 1964, and then in 1965 she began reporting for the activist newspaper 'Peace News'.
In 1966, she moved into politics and became a parliamentary candidate for Fulham, representing the Radical Alliance, and later was the parliamentary candidate for the Hammersmith Stop the South East Asia War Committee - a group protesting international involvement in the Vietnam War, and a canditate in Cardiff as an Independent Socialist.
She was also involved in race issues between 1969 and 1971, when she was a researcher for the Society of Friends Race Relations Committee.
Arrowsmith's tireless activism on many different issues was mainly funded by numerous jobs she had during the seventies - Farm worker, waitress, office temp, sales person, bartender, cleaner, holiday camp rep - she was thoroughly dedicated to making the struggle in these issues her career, as opposed to settling down to one well paid job.
In 1971, she took on the role of assistant editor for Amnesty International - a role which she fulfilled until 1994.
Arrowsmith was arrested and jailed 11 times as a political prisoner between 1958 and 1985, and a result was adopted as a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International, on two occasions.
In recent years, she has continued to be involved in peace activism, and also exhibits her paintings.

Friends & Relationships: She met her long time lesbian partner Wendy Butlin in 1962. The two remained together until 1976.
In August 1979, Arrowsmith married Donald Gardner. The marriage was annulled on the sa me day, however.

Greatest Achievements: In 1964 she was awarded the Holloway Prison Green Arm band and in 1991 she was awarded the Americans Removing Injustice, Suppression and Exploitation (ARISE) peace prize. As a result of her activism with CND she was entered in Who's Who. When asked to list her clubs for this entry, she mentioned the Gateways lesbian club, and was given an honorary life membership.

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