The Suffragettes

Although there had been occasional suggestions that women should be given the vote, it was not until the 1890's that the women's suffrage movement really began to gather strength. At the forefront of this movement were three remarkable women, Mrs. Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughters Christabel and Sylvia.

Public opinion, including Queen Victoria herself, was against women having equal rights with men. A woman's place was in the home and it was unthinkable that she could have the same intelligence and capacities as a man. At the suffragettes' many public meetings noisy hecklers yelled insults and threw rotten eggs and even live mice at them. Despite this they continued their campaign courageously and the number of suffragettes rose rapidly. Soon Mrs. Pankhurst was able to say:

"At length the opening day of Parliament arrived. On February 19th, 1906, occurred the first suffrage procession in London. I think there were between three and four hundred women in that procession, poor working women from the East End, for the most part. My eyes were misty with tears as I saw them, standing in line, holding the simple banners which my daughter Sylvia had decorated, waiting for the word of command." (From My own Story, Emmeline Pankhurst.)

The suffragettes' tactics varied—sometimes they only shouted their demands at political meetings, or held orderly processions through the streets of London. But on occasion they became more militant and tried to force their way into the House of Commons or chained themselves to the railings outside Parliament, 10 Downing Street or Buckingham Palace, in an attempt to make the leading politicians listen to them. After 1906 hundreds of suffragettes were arrested and imprisoned, usually for short spells. In prison they defied the authorities by going on hunger strikes and an effectively horrifying suffragette poster of the time showed a suffragette being forcibly fed through the nose.

Parliament now introduced a new law. The starving women were released and re-arrested as soon as they were well. This became known as the "Cat and Mouse" Act because the Government resembled a cat playing with a mouse.

In 1912, embittered by the Government's failure to grant them the vote, the suffragettes turned to more violent action. On March 1st the people of London were amazed to see peaceful-looking women suddenly take stones and hammers from their bags and begin to hurl them through shop windows. Next morning's Daily Mail reported the scene vividly.

"From every part of the crowded and brilliantly lighted streets came the crash of splintered glass. People started as windows shattered at their sides; suddenly there was another crash in front of them; on the other side of the street; behind—everywhere. Scared shop assistants came running out on the pavements; traffic stopped ; policemen sprang this way and that; five minutes later the streets were a procession of excited groups, each surrounding a woman wrecker being led into custody to the nearest police station. Meanwhile the shopping quarter of London had plunged itself into a sudden twilight. Shutters were hurriedly fitted, the rattle of iron curtains being drawn came from every side. Guards of commissionaires and shop-men were quickly mounted, and any unaccompanied lady in sight, especially, if she carried a hand bag, became an object of menacing suspicion."

This opened an era of vandalism. Valuable pictures were slashed, railway stations burned, and bombs thrown. The suffragette movement had become deliberately hostile to the law. Probably the most tragic story was that of the young suffragette Emily Davidson who flung herself under the King's horse at the Derby. Neither her death nor the attacks on property benefited the suffragettes, for many moderate supporters left the movement. Mrs. Pankhurst herself was sent to prison for three years and many of her followers were arrested.

The troubles continued until, in August 1914, war was declared on Germany. It was the war which really ended the suffragette movement. The suffragettes realised that for the moment defeating Germany was more important than getting the vote and in addition a completely new idea was gained of the part women could play. As more and more men went into the services women were needed and conscripted to make munitions, drive vehicles, work as railway porters and operate signal boxes. It was obvious that the old beliefs about women were out-of-date. In 1918 the vote was given to women over 30, and then in 1928 a further Reform Act enfranchised all women over the age of 21.