The Suffragettes

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The Suffragettes
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Who were the Suffragettes?

• At the beginning of the 20th century only men
  were allowed to vote in elections for Members of
  Parliament.
• Many women thought this was unfair and started to
  demand that women should be allowed to vote.
• These women were called SUFFRAGETTES.
• They were called this because the word suffrage
  means the right to vote.

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The Leaders

• The leader of the Suffragettes was a lawyers wife
  called Mrs Emmeline Pankhurst.
• In 1903 Mrs Pankhurst started a society called
  the W.S.P.U (Womens Social and Political Union).
  
• This was the organisation the Suffragettes
  belonged to.

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WSPU leaders Annie Kenney (left) and Christabel
Pankhurst
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The W.S.P.U.

• The W.S.P.U. had headquarters in Manchester and
  London but soon branches formed all over Britain.
  
• It was mainly a middle class movement but got
  some support from the working class.
• Its motto Deeds, not words attracted many
  younger women.
• Its aim was to persuade the Liberal government
  to give women the vote but the Prime Minister
  Herbert Asquith was against this.
• The W.S.P.U. began a peaceful campaign which
  included marches, distributing leaflets and
  posters, sending letters and articles to
  newspapers.

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The Militant Campaign

• As peaceful methods seemed to gain little, the
  W.S.P.U. began to break the law to gain publicity
  and support.
• They disrupted political meetings of leading
  Liberal politicians and harassed MPs.
• They began a campaign of vandalism smashing
  shop windows, painted slogans on buildings, cut
  telephone wires and slashed paintings in art
  galleries.
• They chained themselves to railings near
  Parliament in London.
• They set fire to letter boxes and empty public
  buildings.

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Militancy Results in Death

• On 4th of June 1913 the famous Derby horse race
  was run at Epsom Racecourse.
• King George V and Queen Mary were there as the
  Kings horse, Amner, was running in the race.
• During the race as a group of leading horses
  reached the bend called Tottenham Corner a
  suffragette named Emily Davidson ducked under the
  rails and rushed on to the racecourse.
• The first horse missed her but she ran right into
  the track of the Kings horse.
• The women was hurled into the air by the force of
  the collision and died later in hospital.
• The horse fell, rose again and then galloped away
  dragging the jockey who had caught his foot in
  the stirrup. He survived.

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I M P R I S O N M E N T

• Many women were imprisoned for breaking the law.
• Whilst in prison some women went on hunger strike
  to draw attention to their campaign.
• The prison authorities force fed these women
  though this was dangerous to their health.
• In one eighteen month period, Emmeline Pankhurst,
  who was 50 years old, endured 10 of these hunger
  strikes.

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A drawing from the WSPU newspaper in 1909
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The Cat and Mouse Act 1913

• Many people were horrified at the cruelty of
  force feeding by prison authorities.
• In reaction to this and after a general election
  in which the Liberals had lost a lot of support
  the government passed the Temporary Discharge of
  Prisoners Act (1913).
• Hunger strikers who were very weak were released
  from prison but were then admitted back to prison
  once they were healthy.
• However it proved difficult to re-arrest those
  released from prison.
• This was known to the Suffragettes as The Cat and
  Mouse Act.

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Reaction to Militancy

• The suffragettes did gain publicity for their
  cause.
• Some suffragists left the WSPU and joined the
  Womens Freedom League which used less militant
  tactics.
• Some members of the public believed that the
  extreme actions of the militants were proof that
  women did not deserve the right to vote.
• Some ministers like Lloyd George and Winston
  Churchill were sympathetic to the womens cause
  but others were very much against them.
• After the more militant actions of 1910 the
  government was determined not to give into force
  in case it encouraged other groups.