Who is Beatrice (Beattie) Roper from The Eye in the Door and what is their importance?

Beattie Roper is a friend of Billy's who lives in Salford. Billy spent part of his childhood in Beattie's home. Beattie owns a defunct shop and lives with her daughter Hettie. Beattie has two other children, Winnie and William, who is imprisoned for being a conscientious objector to the war. Beattie Roper is working-class and unapologetic about her views as a pacifist. It is also revealed that Beattie is a proponent of womens' suffrage and that she performed abortions for young women in their neighborhood. Beattie is stubborn and unyielding about her pacifist views. After being sent to prison for conspiring to assassinate the Prime Minister, Beattie Roper goes on hunger strike to protest the unfairness of her sentence. Beattie Roper sees Billy Prior as an ally and she refuses to believe that it was Billy who turned in Patrick MacDowell.