Suffragettes and votes for women PDF
Preview Suffragettes and votes for women
THEN&THERE •• 30 1 . 41 2 S1~£ L E SNELLGROVE . .. I I -- ·- . -·----- ____ ·---- ,__,. . . 008 227 032 ITEM r ;1 rn 11 11111111 11 1111 UXRBJDfiE CQLLF;'iE J,EARNJN'i CESTRE P:irk Ro:id. Uir.bridgc, Middlesex UBS tNQ Telephone: 01895 853326/8 . ' Plt:l.'IC r.eturn this item 10 the Leaming Ctf''tC ?1'I or before the lut d~te s11mpcd below: 1 ' 2 2 OV 2001 ------- SNELL OVE, L. E. Suffr agett es And Votes For - --=-- ..-. ..~- Women. > LONGMAN --·I.- - • . ll"-1~,-... r..-. ,,...._,_ ---- - I,....._...., n ..- LONGMAN GROUP UK UMITED Longman House, Burnt Mill, Harlow,. Essex CM20 21£, England and Associated Companies throughout the world. © L. E. Snellgrove 1964 This edition © Longman Group Limited 1984 All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the Publishers. First published 1964 Second edition 1984 Founh impression 1988 Set in 11 I 12½ pt. Baskerville, Linotron 202 Produced by Longman Group (FE) Ltd Printed in Hong Kong ISBN 0-582-22125 -0 Cover: Wording from cover of'first issue of Vol.es for vVomen newspaper, ()ctober, 1907 (Mary Evans Picture Library) and lhC' 'vVSPU syn1bol designed by Sylvia Pankhursl, 1908 (Fawcett Library, City of London Polytechnic). Contents rfO THE READER page 4 1 EM l LY WILDING DA VI SON page 5 2 FRANCH I SE AND SU FFRAGE page 10 3 THE SUFFRAGETTES page 26 4 SUF'FRAG I STS, NOT SUFF RAGETTES p(lge53 5 W~R AND THE VOTE AT LA ST page 70 6 STEPP I NG STONES TOWARDS WOMEN'S EDUCATION page 84 7 STEPPING STONES TO FREEDOM page 87 THINGS TO DO page 90 GLOSSARY page 92 IND EX page 96 To the Reader 'Votes for ,,·on1en' "·as once a battlecry that could lead to argu n1ents, riots, court cases, imprisonments. ,,·indo,,· sn1ashing and house burning. The baule ended finally in 1928 "·ith complete ,·ic torv for " ·on1en and today "e "·onder "·hac all the fuss ,vas about. . , This book atte1npts co describe the fuss and explain "·hy it hap- pened. \ \'hen you ha ,·e finished reading it you n1ay ,,·ish to kno,,· 1nore about this ,,·01nen·s re,·olution. If so. go to your local library and see if they ha,·e any of these book-: ·\·ores for \\.omen' by Roger Fulford, '\\'on1en's Suffrage·. ·\\'on1en·s \·iccory· and '\\.hat I Rc n1en1bcr' by ~1rs Henry Fa"-cett. ·L· nshackled· by Christabel Pank hurst, '~1rs E1nmcline Pankhursc· and 'The Suffragette ~1o,-ement· by Syh·ia Pankhurst. ·The Cause· by Ray Scrachey and ·Laugh a Defiance' by ~1ary Richardson. \ ·arious ,,·on1cn·s ne"·spapers like 'The Comn1on Cause' ,,·ill be found stored at the London ~1useun1 (sec Things to Do on pa~e 90). The In1pcrial \\'ar t\1useu111 at l,an1beth has thousands of photographs and ocher articles con nected ,,·ith "·on1en·s ,,·ork in che First \\°orld \\'ar. ~lost large libraries ha,·e old copies of ·The 'l'in1es· for the years 1903- 1+, probably photographed on 111icrofiln1. "·hich can be examined: Herc you ,,·ill find the scory told as it happened. 'The Dictionary of National Biography' contains inforn1ation about 1nany of the fan1ous people n1entioned in these pages: so do rnost l:irgc encyclo paedias. :\ bo,-e all keep your e) es and cars open. Be a good detective. A.sk questions. Perhaps your o\\·n district "·as the scene of some e,·ent dcscribrd hrrr. Find out "·hat Great-granny "·:is doing during the years 1903- 1-1-. She ma_r ha,·e been a suffragette! \\.ords printrd in italics arc explained in the Glos ary on page 92. 4 7 1 Emily Wilding D avison We are at the Derby horse race held on 4 June 1913. No doubt you have an idea of what the Derby is like. Perhaps you have been to Epsom and seen it. If not, you may have watched the race on television. Probably it brings into your mind a picture of sleek horses and gaily dressed jockeys, of top-hatted gentlemen and bookmakers waving their arms, of traffic jams and cameramen perched on scaffolding. But all those years ago it was different in many ways. Instead of the ,, lines of cars, nose to tail on the roads or packed like sardines in the parks, you would have found thousands of carriages pulled by every variety of horse, from large drays to satin backed thoroughbreds and tiny ponies. Now it is Fords, Rovers, Renaults, and cars of a dozen other makes. T hen it was victorias, barouches, waggonettes and faur-in-hands. Now it is a few top hats and a lot of jerseys and jeans. Then it was many top hats, some white bowlers and caps galore. T he greatest change, of course, has been women's clothes. Then the idea of a woman wearing trousers would have been too horrible to mention. Ladies were covered from head to foot, lost under hats and veils, imprisoned in flowing dresses, steeJ corsets and hobble skirts which were tight to the ankles. T hey were not expected to live the way they do today, to work, drive cars, play various sports and be as active as men, and so their clothes could be restricting. When their way of life changed their clothes had to be altered too. Naturally much has not changed. The gipsies sold their wares and made remarks like, 'You'll have a lucky lover, miss,' or 'Cross me hand with silver, kind gentleman', just 5 Derk}' Da_v. 1913. The horses speed awa_r as Emi{i· Danson is thrown to the ground. Tlze King's horse is rolling his jocke_r 011 as they do today. T he bookmakers' stalls \,·ere similar and they certainly shouted just as loudly( Tipsters, then as nO\'\-', were ready to sell you the na1ne of the \-vinner. Pearly kings, their bell-bottomed trousers and caps decorated with tiny buttons, haYe changed hardly at all. ,..\nd there was a clear sign of the future in the fe\,' tall motors \.vhich stood here and there and the lines of solid-tyred charabancs, played on to the scene bv their cornet bands. , ·et it \.Vas a different world which \'\-'as represented on the open downland that day all those years ago. There ¼'ere rich and poor as today, but the poor, n1any of \vhom had \valked to Epsom to see the race or arrived on fann \vaggons, \Vere poorer than any people in England 110\V. Exciternent mounted as the time of the big race drew near. Everybody, from King George \ ' and Queen rviary to the poorest cos/er with his barro\.v, found a good position from which to see it. Some sat in the grandstand, others clambered 6 on to \vaggons or crushed themselves against the white rails lining the course. The string of horses pranced and backed into a shivering, ever changing line. The starter gave his orders, the wires sprang up and they were om Cheering and shouting spread like wildfire along the path of the riders. Near the bend known as Tanenham Corner stood a lady in a black dress. She alone had no interest in who won this race. Earlier another woman who knew her had wondered what she was doing at Epsom. To this acquaintance, seated some little distance from the railings, the lady seemed calm as she shaded her eyes from the sun with one hand. To a man standing next to her, however, she seemed very nervous and he wondered why. Suddenly a bunch of the leading horses streamed around the bend. The ground shook to the thud ding hooves and bits of turf were tossed into the air. The man turned his attention to the race. As he did so his silent companion slipped under a rail. The next moment she had rushed into the speeding horses, her hands held above her head. The front riders missed her but Herbert Jones, riding 7 the King's horse, Anmer, found she had grasped at his reins. Horse and woman collided violently. Some people saw a bundle of black clothing hurled avvay by force of the collision. i\nn1er stumbled sideways and fell head over heels. The purple, gold and scarlet colours of the royal jockey disap peared from the saddle. Then the horse got up and ran \-v-ildly across the course. J ones, whose foot \vas caught in a stirrup, was dragged along the ground. His face was badly bruised before he n1anaged to free himself. The woman lay still, a huddled black mass on the green turf. For a moment those at Tattenham Corner were silent. • Even the disappearing horses \Vere forgotten by the amazed spectators. But gradually people realized what had happened and angry shouts and cries broke out. The King and Queen left hurriedly from the back of the grandstand; afterwards the Queen wrote of this 'horrid \voman' although she did send someone to inquire about her condition. Both the lady and the jockey were carried off. Confusion and rumour began to spread. Some guessed the reason for the \Voman's suicidal action. The police, vvho had discovered the purple, green and vvhite colours sewn inside her coat, knew vvhy she had done it. They prepared to protect her from an angry n1ob who had lost money betting on Anrner. At Epsom Cottage Hospital, where she was taken, they v;ere forced to place a guard to keep out intruders. One word was soon on everyone's lips, 'Suffragette!' rrhe friend ,,vho had been sitting near by ,vas selling copies of a nevvspaper called 'T he Suffragette'. Consequently some angry gentlemen chased her all the \vay back to Epsom raihvay station, where she ,vas hidden by a porter. Other nan1cs were mentioned, too. Son1e spoke of the \iVSPU, the Won1en's Social and Political Union; its colours were those inside the lady's coat. Others referred to a ~1rs Pankhurst. In the late evening the ne,vspapers carried the name of the lady herself and when she died on the following Sunday this nan1e entered history. I t ,,va Emily vVilding Davison. 8 Possibly you knov; who the suffragettes were. They were
The list of books you might like
