91-1032: Lillian Margaret Metge (née Grubb; 22 June 1871 – 10 May 1954) was an Anglo-Irish suffragette and women's rights campaigner. She founded the Lisburn Suffrage Society, which she left to become a militant activist, leading on an explosion at the Anglican Lisburn Cathedral in Ireland. She was imprisoned briefly, and awarded a Women's Social and Political Union Hunger Strike medal . She continued her campaign, albeit peacefully, during and after World War I. Born Lillian Margaret Grubb in Belfast, Ireland on 22 June 1871 her parents were linen merchant Richard Cambridge Grubb of Cahir Abbey, County Tipperary and Killeaton House, County Antrim and his wife, Harriet Richardson. She had two brothers, Cameron and Richard. The latter of whom became
182-549: A first-day cover and postage stamp released by Australia Post in March 1975. The colours have since been adopted by government bodies such as the National Women's Advisory Council and organisations such as Women's Electoral Lobby and other women's services such as domestic violence refuges and are much in evidence each year on International Women's day . The colours of green and heliotrope (purple) were commissioned into
273-511: A 92-hour hunger strike, and for fear of her becoming a martyr, the Home Secretary Herbert Gladstone decided to release her early on medical grounds. Dunlop's strategy was adopted by other suffragettes who were incarcerated. It became common practice for suffragettes to refuse food in protest for not being designated as political prisoners, and as a result they would be released after a few days and could return to
364-456: A WSPU meeting at which Garrud spoke. As suffragettes speaking in public increasingly found themselves the target of violence and attempted assaults, learning jujitsu was a way for women to defend themselves against angry hecklers. Inciting incidents included Black Friday , during which a deputation of 300 suffragettes were physically prevented by police from entering the House of Commons , sparking
455-417: A considerable amount of force. The process was painful, and after the practice was observed and studied by several physicians, it was deemed to cause both short-term damage to the circulatory system , digestive system and nervous system and long-term damage to the physical and mental health of the suffragettes. The first suffragette to be forcibly-fed was Evaline Hilda Burkitt , who, between 1909 and 1914
546-558: A designation, suffragettes would be placed in the First Division as opposed to the Second or Third Division of the prison system, and as political prisoners would be granted certain freedoms and liberties not allotted to other prison divisions, such as being allowed frequent visits and being allowed to write books or articles. Because of a lack of consistency between the different courts, suffragettes would not necessarily be placed in
637-709: A dishonour to the vision in which she believed. In May 1913, she was part of the large group of women who charged at King George V outside Buckingham Palace and were reportedly beaten by the police. In July 1913, she was at the Belfast trial of Dorothy Evans and Madge Muir, and then was arrested herself for throwing stones at the court windows. Metge helped look after Evans, released early on 26 July for health reasons, during Evans's hunger strike in Tullamore prison. Metge, on one occasion, possibly bought 'green and white' shoes for her fellow Irish suffragette, Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington . On 31 July 1914, Metge, carried out
728-663: A martyr to the cause. However, recent analysis of the film of the event suggests that she was merely trying to attach a scarf to the horse, and the suicide theory seems unlikely as she was carrying a return train ticket from Epsom and had holiday plans with her sister in the near future. In the early 20th century until the outbreak of World War I , approximately one thousand suffragettes were imprisoned in Britain. Most early incarcerations were for public order offences and failure to pay outstanding fines. While incarcerated, suffragettes lobbied to be considered political prisoners; with such
819-636: A meeting at her home in Manchester to form a breakaway group, the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU). From the outset, the WSPU was determined to move away from the staid campaign methods of NUWSS and instead take more positive action: It was on October 10, 1903 that I invited a number of women to my house in Nelson Street, Manchester, for purposes of organisation. We voted to call our new society
910-483: A muddy trail straight to the rear of Metge's house. Metge and her co-conspirators were arrested at 8 am the next day, but had to have police protection as they were taken into custody, as bottles, stones and mud was thrown and the house windows were broken. Any local sympathy was further lost when the government stated they would raise local (tax) rates to cover the cost of repairing the Cathedral's damage. Metge and
1001-460: A near-riot and allegations of both common and sexual assault. Members of the "Bodyguard" orchestrated the "escapes" of a number of fugitive suffragettes from police surveillance during 1913 and early 1914. They also participated in several violent actions against the police in defence of their leaders, notably including the "Battle of Glasgow" on 9 March 1914, when a group of about 30 Bodyguards brawled with about 50 police constables and detectives on
SECTION 10
#17327729447471092-466: A new coat of arms for Edge Hill University in Lancashire in 2006, symbolising the university's early commitment to the equality of women through its beginnings as a women-only college. During the 1960s, the memory of the suffragettes was kept alive in the public consciousness by portrayals in film, such as the character Mrs Winifred Banks in the 1964 Disney musical film Mary Poppins who sings
1183-486: A new view of what women were capable of. The war also caused a split in the British suffragette movement; the mainstream, represented by Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst's WSPU calling a ceasefire in their campaign for the duration of the war, while more radical suffragettes, represented by Sylvia Pankhurst 's Women's Suffrage Federation continued the struggle. Prominent British-Indian suffragette Sophia Duleep Singh ,
1274-620: A niche in the Temple of Fame which will last for all time". In 1929 a portrait of Emmeline Pankhurst was added to the National Portrait Gallery 's collection. In 1987 her former home at 62 Nelson Street, Manchester, the birthplace of the WSPU, and the adjoining Edwardian villa (no. 60) were opened as the Pankhurst Centre , a women-only space and museum dedicated to the suffragette movement. Christabel Pankhurst
1365-400: A plan to bomb the Anglican Lisburn Cathedral , with a Miss D. Carson, Maud Wickham, and Dorothy Evans. An explosion waking the town in the dead of night. An Ulster Volunteer Force quartermaster's wife, Lillian Spender, initially thought it was a big gun, later when she found out it was suffragettes she said 'suffragettes – the brutes!' and called Metge a 'mad militant'. The dynamite blew out
1456-459: A reporter writing in the Daily Mail coined the term suffragette for the WSPU, derived from suffragist (any person advocating for voting rights), in order to belittle the women advocating women's suffrage. The militants embraced the new name, even adopting it for use as the title of the newspaper published by the WSPU. Women had won the right to vote in several countries by the end of
1547-539: A result. Suffragettes were not recognised as political prisoners , and many of them staged hunger strikes while they were imprisoned. The first woman to refuse food was Marion Wallace Dunlop , a militant suffragette who was sentenced to a month in Holloway for vandalism in July 1909. Without consulting suffragette leaders such as Pankhurst, Dunlop refused food in protest at being denied political prisoner status. After
1638-486: A stomach pump. Force-feeding had previously been practised in Britain but its use had been exclusively for patients in hospitals who were too unwell to eat or swallow food. Despite the practice being deemed safe by medical practitioners for sick patients, it posed health issues for the healthy suffragettes. The process of tube-feeding was strenuous without the consent of the hunger strikers, who were typically strapped down and force-fed via stomach or nostril tube, often with
1729-477: A term of derision by the journalist Charles E. Hands in the London Daily Mail to describe activists in the movement for women's suffrage , in particular members of the WSPU. But the women he intended to ridicule embraced the term, saying "suffraGETtes" (hardening the 'g'), implying not only that they wanted the vote, but that they intended to 'get' it. The non-militant suffragists found favour in
1820-506: A veterinary surgeon. She was born into a wealthy family who made their fortunes from the linen industry. She married in 1892, becoming the second wife of Captain Robert Henry Metge who was an MP for Meath and also a magistrate. Robert and Lillian Metge had two daughters, Lillian Gwendoline Cole Metge (known as "Gwendoline") and Dorothy Elise Cole Metge. Robert Metge died on 19 September 1900 before Lillian became involved in
1911-629: A watch with attachment for explosion, but was clumsily fitted. If it had exploded when the streets were crowded a number of people would probably have been injured. There are reports in the Parliamentary Papers which include lists of the 'incendiary devices', explosions, artwork destruction (including an axe attack upon a painting of The Duke of Wellington in the National Gallery ), arson attacks, window-breaking, postbox burning and telegraph cable cutting, that took place during
SECTION 20
#17327729447472002-707: Is buried in Deansgrange Cemetery , Dublin. Suffragette A suffragette was a member of an activist women's organisation in the early 20th century who, under the banner "Votes for Women", fought for the right to vote in public elections in the United Kingdom . The term refers in particular to members of the British Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), a women-only movement founded in 1903 by Emmeline Pankhurst , which engaged in direct action and civil disobedience . In 1906,
2093-471: The Manchester Guardian : Friends of the women suffrage movement are entitled to reckon the great demonstration at Heaton Park yesterday, arranged by the Women's Social and Political Union, as somewhat of a triumph. With fine weather as an ally the women suffragists were able to bring together an immense body of people. These people were not all sympathisers with the object, and much service to
2184-670: The Contemporary Review , in which she said: It surely will not be denied that women have, and ought to have, opinions of their own on subjects of public interest, and on the events which arise as the world wends on its way. But if it be granted that women may, without offence, hold political opinions, on what ground can the right be withheld of giving the same expression or effect to their opinions as that enjoyed by their male neighbours? Two further petitions were presented to parliament in May 1867 and Mill also proposed an amendment to
2275-785: The Irish Women's Suffrage Federation (IWSF) movement's newsletter, the Irish Citizen . In 1913, Metge represented the IWSF at the International Women's Congress , held in Budapest . In 1913, the IWSF considered whether it would be a militant group. In April 1914, Metge left both IWSF and the Lisburn society over some 'administrative' issues, and made a speech stating her intent to be militant, as to do otherwise would be
2366-541: The Manx women a determination to secure the franchise, and on 31 January 1881, women on the island who owned property in their own right were given the vote. In Manchester, the Women's Suffrage Committee had been formed in 1867 to work with the Independent Labour Party (ILP) to secure votes for women, but, although the local ILP were very supportive, nationally the party were more interested in securing
2457-560: The "fighting line". After a public backlash regarding the prison status of suffragettes, the rules of the divisions were amended. In March 1910, Rule 243A was introduced by the Home Secretary Winston Churchill , allowing prisoners in the Second and Third Divisions to be allowed certain privileges of the First Division, provided they were not convicted of a serious offence, effectively ending hunger strikes for two years. Hunger strikes began again when Pankhurst
2548-527: The 'votes for women' campaign, which WSPU had said was being stood down due to imminent war (as World War I was about to break out) and all court actions against suffragettes stopped and the women already imprisoned were released. but Metge's release was also conditional on her taking no further activism. Metge pursued peaceful campaigning for women's rights during the War, writing for the Citizen and working with
2639-612: The 1867 Reform Act to give women the same political rights as men, but the amendment was treated with derision and defeated by 196 votes to 73. The Manchester Society for Women's suffrage was formed in January 1867, when Jacob Bright , Rev. S. A. Steinthal, Mrs. Gloyne, Max Kyllman and Elizabeth Wolstenholme met at the house of Louis Borchardt . Lydia Becker was made Secretary of the Society in February 1867 and Richard Pankhurst
2730-417: The 19th century; in 1893, New Zealand became the first self-governing country to grant the vote to all women over the age of 21. When by 1903 women in Britain had not been enfranchised , Pankhurst decided that women had to "do the work ourselves"; the WSPU motto became "deeds, not words". The suffragettes heckled politicians, tried to storm parliament, were attacked and sexually assaulted during battles with
2821-481: The 700-year-old Coronation Chair , only caused minor damage. Places that wealthy people, typically men, frequented were also burnt and destroyed whilst left unattended so that there was little risk to life, including cricket pavilions, horse-racing pavilions, churches, castles and the second homes of the wealthy. They also burnt the slogan "Votes for Women" into the grass of golf courses. Pinfold Manor in Surrey, which
Lillian Metge - Misplaced Pages Continue
2912-454: The Cat and Mouse Act, the WSPU instituted a secret society of women known as the "Bodyguard" whose role was to physically protect Emmeline Pankhurst and other prominent suffragettes from arrest and assault. Known members included Katherine Willoughby Marshall , Leonora Cohen and Gertrude Harding ; Edith Margaret Garrud was their jujitsu trainer. The origin of the "Bodyguard" can be traced to
3003-472: The Enfranchisement of Women . Becker was inspired to help gather signatures around Manchester and to join the newly formed Manchester committee. Mill presented the petition to Parliament in 1866, by which time the supporters had gathered 1499 signatures, including those of Florence Nightingale , Harriet Martineau , Josephine Butler and Mary Somerville . In March 1867, Becker wrote an article for
3094-404: The First Division and could be placed in the Second or Third Division, which enjoyed fewer liberties. This cause was taken up by the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), a large organisation in Britain, that lobbied for women's suffrage led by militant suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst. The WSPU campaigned to get imprisoned suffragettes recognised as political prisoners. However, this campaign
3185-640: The Home Office passed the Prisoners (Temporary Discharge for Ill Health) Act 1913 , or the Cat and Mouse Act as it was commonly known. The act made the hunger strikes legal, in that a suffragette would be temporarily released from prison when their health began to diminish, only to be readmitted when she regained her health to finish her sentence. The act enabled the British Government to be absolved of any blame resulting from death or harm due to
3276-855: The Irish Suffrage and British Women's Social and Political Union leaders. She led a Women's Freedom League campaign in the North East of England, launched at the Bigg Market in Newcastle , bringing Ada Broughton as keynote speaker, on the issue of Temperance , when the law (known as the Hartlepool restriction) stopped 'the sober sex' drinking in bars but would not consider total prohibition . Dorothy Evans also talked at Gosforth and I.L.P. on 'the duty of civil disobedience', and they had newly-released Emily Davison collecting for
3367-497: The Pethick-Lawrences were arrested, tried and sentenced to nine months' imprisonment. On their release, the Pethick-Lawrences began to speak out publicly against the window-smashing campaign, arguing that it would lose support for the cause, and eventually they were expelled from the WSPU. Having lost control of Votes for Women the WSPU began to publish their own newspaper under the title The Suffragette . The campaign
3458-678: The WSPU and to raise money for the treatment of her son, Harry, who was gravely ill. By this time the suffragettes' tactics of civil disorder were being used by American militants Alice Paul and Lucy Burns , both of whom had campaigned with the WSPU in London. As in the UK, the suffrage movement in America was divided into two disparate groups, with the National American Woman Suffrage Association representing
3549-591: The WSPU at the other end. The unveiling of this dual memorial was performed on 13 July 1959 by the Lord Chancellor, Lord Kilmuir . The Pankhurst's name and image and those of 58 other women's suffrage supporters are etched on the plinth of the statue of Millicent Fawcett in Parliament Square , London that was unveiled in 2018. In 1903, the Australian suffragist Vida Goldstein adopted
3640-562: The WSPU colours for her campaign for the Senate in 1910 but got them slightly wrong since she thought that they were purple, green and lavender. Goldstein had visited England in 1911 at the behest of the WSPU. Her speeches around the country drew huge crowds and her tour was touted as "the biggest thing that has happened in the women movement for sometime in England". The correct colours were used for her campaign for Kooyong in 1913 and also for
3731-577: The WSPU grew it became fashionable for women to identify with the cause by wearing the colours, often discreetly in a small piece of jewellery or by carrying a heart-shaped vesta case and in December 1908 the London jewellers, Mappin & Webb , issued a catalogue of suffragette jewellery in time for the Christmas season. Sylvia Pankhurst said at the time: "Many suffragists spend more money on clothes than they can comfortably afford, rather than run
Lillian Metge - Misplaced Pages Continue
3822-647: The Women , the 2015 graphic novel trilogy Suffrajitsu: Mrs. Pankhurst's Amazons and the 2015 film Suffragette . In recognition of having meetings at the Royal Albert Hall in London, the Suffragettes were inducted into the Hall's Walk of Fame in 2018, making them one of the first eleven recipients of a star on the walk, joining Eric Clapton , Winston Churchill , Muhammad Ali and Albert Einstein , among others who were viewed as "key players" in
3913-422: The Women's Social and Political Union, partly to emphasise its democracy, and partly to define its object as political rather than propagandist. We resolved to limit our membership exclusively to women, to keep ourselves absolutely free from party affiliation, and to be satisfied with nothing but action on our question. 'Deeds, not words' was to be our permanent motto. The term "suffragette" was first used in 1906 as
4004-702: The building's history. In February 2019, female Democrat members of the US Congress dressed predominantly in white when attending President Trump's State of the Union address. The choice of one of the colours associated with the suffragettes was to signify the women's solidarity. HM Prison Crumlin Road Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include
4095-500: The cause must have been rendered by merely collecting so many people and talking over the subject with them. The organisation, too, was creditable to the promoters...The police were few and inconspicuous. The speakers went by special [tram]car to the Bury Old Road entrance, and were escorted by a few police to several platforms. Here the escorts waited till the speaking was over, and then accompanied their respective charges back to
4186-609: The courtesy of expounding their views without interruption, the audience were outraged, and when the women unfurled a "Votes for Women" banner they were both arrested for a technical assault on a policeman. When Pankhurst and Kenney appeared in court they both refused to pay the fine imposed, preferring to go to prison to gain publicity for their cause. In July 1908 the WSPU hosted a large demonstration in Heaton Park , near Manchester with speakers on 13 separate platforms including Emmeline, Christabel and Adela Pankhurst. According to
4277-572: The first woman to be elected an MP was Constance Markievicz but, in line with Sinn Féin abstentionist policy, she declined to take her seat in the British House of Commons. The first woman to do so was Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor , following a by-election in November 1919. In the autumn of 1913, Emmeline Pankhurst had sailed to the US to embark on a lecture tour to publicise the message of
4368-538: The flag of the Women's Peace Army, which she established during World War I to oppose conscription. During International Women's Year in 1975 the BBC series about the suffragettes, Shoulder to Shoulder , was screened across Australia and Elizabeth Reid , Women's Adviser to Prime Minister Gough Whitlam directed that the WSPU colours be used for the International Women's Year symbol. They were also used for
4459-588: The franchise for working-class men and refused to make women's suffrage a priority. In 1897, the Manchester Women's Suffrage committee had merged with the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) but Emmeline Pankhurst, who was a member of the original Manchester committee, and her eldest daughter Christabel had become impatient with the ILP, and on 10 October 1903, Emmeline Pankhurst held
4550-400: The hunger-strikers. In September 1909, the Home Office became unwilling to release hunger-striking suffragettes before their sentence was served. Suffragettes became a liability because, if they were to die in custody, the prison would be responsible for their death. Prisons began the practice of force-feeding the hunger strikers through a tube, most commonly via a nostril or stomach tube or
4641-526: The king 's horse at the 1913 Epsom Derby , made headlines around the world. The WSPU campaign had varying levels of support from within the suffragette movement; breakaway groups formed, and within the WSPU itself not all members supported the direct action. The suffragette campaign was suspended when World War I broke out in 1914. After the war, the Representation of the People Act 1918 gave
SECTION 50
#17327729447474732-595: The methods of the suffragettes harmed the Liberal Party but failed to advance women's suffrage. When the Pankhursts decided to stop their militancy at the start of the war and enthusiastically support the war effort, the movement split and their leadership role ended. Suffrage came four years later, but the feminist movement in Britain permanently abandoned the militant tactics that had made the suffragettes famous. After Emmeline Pankhurst's death in 1928, money
4823-534: The militant suffragette activities. Gwendoline Metge committed suicide in 1920. By 1921, Metge had been living in Seymour Street, Lisburn, then in Shrewsbury briefly, then Dublin, where she died on 10 May 1954. Metge's personality was described as 'tall straight backed and stern'. Metge became interested in pressing for the right to vote as neither her financial status nor education was enough, as she
4914-421: The more militant campaign and the International Women's Suffrage Alliance taking a more cautious and pragmatic approach Although the publicity surrounding Pankhurst's visit and the militant tactics used by her followers gave a welcome boost to the campaign, the majority of women in the US preferred the more respected label of "suffragist" to the title "suffragette" adopted by the militants. Many suffragists at
5005-450: The most militant years, from 1910 to 1914. Both suffragettes and police spoke of a "Reign of Terror"; newspaper headlines referred to "Suffragette Terrorism". One suffragette, Emily Davison , died under the King 's horse, Anmer, at The Derby on 4 June 1913. It is debated whether she was trying to pull down the horse, attach a suffragette scarf or banner to it, or commit suicide to become
5096-479: The most serious outrage yet perpetrated by the Suffragettes": Policemen discovered inside the railings of the Bank of England a bomb timed to explode at midnight. It contained 3oz of powerful explosive, some metal, and a number of hairpins – the last named constituent no doubt to make known the source of the intended sensation. The bomb was similar to that used in the attempt to blow up Oxted Railway Station. It contained
5187-477: The oldest stained glass chancel window in the Church of Ireland Cathedral, which outraged some local people. The police had initially gone to the gasworks, thinking that had blown up, but then at the cathedral they found the damage to the window, and suffragette leaflets lying about among the broken glass and rubble. Metge was a suspect, due to her known militant position, and also as the women's footprints had made
5278-582: The others were taken to Crumlin Road Prison and went on hunger strike . Metge was awarded a Hunger Strike Medal "for Valour" by the WSPU , with its green white and purple ribbon, and a date on the bar of 10 August 1914. Metge's Hunger Strike Medal is now held in the Lisburn Museum. At Metge's and the others' trial, as well as the police finding the footsteps trail and a linen handkerchief from
5369-409: The parcel. In 1911 suffragette organisations urged women and supporters of women's enfranchisement to boycott the 1911 census . Some wrote "Votes for Women" or other slogans on their census returns and others evaded the census by hiding overnight. Most famously, Emily Wilding Davison hid in the House of Commons overnight so that she could be enumerated in Parliament. 1912 was a turning point for
5460-427: The police, and at one stage 13 policemen were involved in holding the four women back, as an apple was thrown at the Crown Prosecutor, Mr Moorhead, who said the throw 'wasn't bad ... for a woman'. Metge demanded to be released saying 'there is one law for women and another for men. A woman could not get justice here'. Despite the strong evidence, the women were never sentenced as the UK Home Secretary had intervened in
5551-446: The police, chained themselves to railings, smashed windows, carried out a nationwide bombing and arson campaign , and faced anger and ridicule in the media. When imprisoned they went on hunger strike , not eating for days or even a week, to which the government responded by force-feeding them. The first suffragette to be force fed was Evaline Hilda Burkitt . The death of one suffragette, Emily Wilding Davison , when she ran in front of
SECTION 60
#17327729447475642-473: The press, as they were not hoping to get the franchise through 'violence, crime, arson and open rebellion'. At a political meeting in Manchester in 1905, Christabel Pankhurst and millworker, Annie Kenney , disrupted speeches by prominent Liberals Winston Churchill and Sir Edward Grey , asking where Churchill and Grey stood with regards to women's political rights. At a time when political meetings were only attended by men and speakers were expected to be given
5733-448: The risk of being considered outré, and doing harm to the cause". In 1909 the WSPU presented specially commissioned pieces of jewellery to leading suffragettes, Emmeline Pankhurst and Louise Eates . The suffragettes also used other methods to publicise and raise money for the cause and from 1909, the " Pank-a-Squith " board game was sold by the WSPU. The name was derived from Pankhurst and the surname of Prime Minister H. H. Asquith , who
5824-457: The scene, further evidence was presented, including four sets of muddy boots and damp coats with spent fuse matches in their pockets at Metge's house. A local shopkeeper gave evidence that Mrs Metge had asked to buy dynamite a few months previously saying it was 'to blow up a tree in her garden'. As at other suffragette court appearances, the women on trial did not co-operate with the court, shouting out, making long speeches for their cause, pushing
5915-493: The self-starvation of the striker and ensured that the suffragettes would be too ill and too weak to participate in demonstrative activities while not in custody. Most women continued hunger striking when they were readmitted to prison following their leave. After the Act was introduced, force-feeding on a large scale was stopped and only women convicted of more serious crimes and considered likely to repeat their offences if released were force-fed. In early 1913 and in response to
6006-416: The society formed a committee to draft a petition and gather signatures, which Mill agreed to present to Parliament once they had gathered 100 signatures. In October 1866, amateur scientist Lydia Becker attended a meeting of the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science held in Manchester and heard one of the organisors of the petition, Barbara Bodichon , read a paper entitled Reasons for
6097-414: The song " Sister Suffragette " and Maggie DuBois in the 1965 film The Great Race . In 1974 the BBC TV series Shoulder to Shoulder portraying events in the British militant suffrage movement and concentrating on the lives of members of the Pankhurst family, was shown around the world. And in the 21st century the story of the suffragettes was brought to a new generation in the BBC television series Up
6188-449: The special car. There was little need, apparently, for the escort. Even the opponents of the suffrage claim who made themselves heard were perfectly friendly towards the speakers, and the only crowding about them as they left was that of curiosity on the part of those who wished to have a good look at the missioners in the cause. Stung by the stereotypical image of the strong minded woman in masculine clothes created by newspaper cartoonists,
6279-694: The stage of St Andrew's Hall in Glasgow. The fight was witnessed by an audience of some 4500 people. At the commencement of World War I, the suffragette movement in Britain moved away from suffrage activities and focused on the war effort, and as a result, hunger strikes largely stopped. In August 1914, the British Government released all prisoners who had been incarcerated for suffrage activities on an amnesty, with Pankhurst ending all militant suffrage activities soon after. The suffragettes' focus on war work turned public opinion in favour of their eventual partial enfranchisement in 1918. Women eagerly volunteered to take on many traditional male roles – leading to
6370-404: The states of Colorado and Idaho from 1893 and 1896 respectively. In 1865 John Stuart Mill was elected to Parliament on a platform that included votes for women, and in 1869 he published his essay in favour of equality of the sexes The Subjection of Women . Also in 1865, a women's discussion group, The Kensington Society , was formed. Following discussions on the subject of women's suffrage,
6461-496: The streets. The membership of the militant WSPU and the older NUWSS overlapped and were mutually supportive. However, a system of publicity, Ensor argues, had to continue to escalate to maintain its high visibility in the media. The hunger strikes and force-feeding did that, but the Pankhursts refused any advice and escalated their tactics. They turned to systematic disruption of Liberal Party meetings as well as physical violence in terms of damaging public buildings and arson. Searle says
6552-525: The suffragettes resolved to present a fashionable, feminine image when appearing in public. In 1908, the co-editor of the WSPU's Votes for Women newspaper, Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence , designed the suffragettes' colour scheme of purple for loyalty and dignity, white for purity, and green for hope. Fashionable London shops Selfridges and Liberty sold tricolour-striped ribbon for hats, rosettes, badges and belts, as well as coloured garments, underwear, handbags, shoes, slippers and toilet soap. As membership of
6643-458: The suffragettes, as they turned to using more militant tactics and began a window-smashing campaign. Some members of the WSPU, including Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence and her husband Frederick, disagreed with this strategy but Christabel Pankhurst ignored their objections. In response to this, the Government ordered the arrest of the WSPU leaders and, although Christabel Pankhurst escaped to France,
6734-753: The third daughter of the exiled Sikh Maharajah Duleep Singh , campaigned for support for the British Indian Army and lascars working in the Merchant Navy . She also joined a 10,000-woman protest march against the prohibition of a volunteer female force. Singh volunteered as a British Red Cross Voluntary Aid Detachment nurse, serving at an auxiliary military hospital in Isleworth from October 1915 to January 1917. The National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies , which had always employed "constitutional" methods, continued to lobby during
6825-458: The time, and some historians since, have argued that the actions of the militant suffragettes damaged their cause. Opponents at the time saw evidence that women were too emotional and could not think as logically as men. Historians generally argue that the first stage of the militant suffragette movement under the Pankhursts in 1906 had a dramatic mobilising effect on the suffrage movement. Women were thrilled and supportive of an actual revolt in
6916-517: The vote to women over the age of 30 who met certain property qualifications. Ten years later, women gained electoral equality with men when the Representation of the People (Equal Franchise) Act 1928 gave all women the right to vote at age 21. Although the Isle of Man (a British Crown dependency) had enfranchised women who owned property to vote in parliamentary ( Tynwald ) elections in 1881, New Zealand
7007-589: The war years and compromises were worked out between the NUWSS and the coalition government. On 6 February, the Representation of the People Act ;1918 was passed, enfranchising all men over 21 years of age and women over the age of 30 who met minimum property qualifications, gaining the right to vote for about 8.4 million women. In November 1918, the Parliament (Qualification of Women) Act 1918
7098-531: The women's suffrage cause. Some women were granted the right to vote after the War in 1918, and Metge gave up her activism in 1920 (not long after her daughter Gwendoline committed suicide). She moved from Lisburn to Shrewsbury for a while, then went to live in Dublin. Metge was left a gold watch in the will of Dorothy Evans, which had originally been given by 'Belfast suffragette friends', when Evans died in 1944. Metge herself died on 10 May 1954 in Dublin. She
7189-504: Was a woman, and she became involved in being active for women's rights. In Ulster, this interest among liberal middle-class women in social changes went across the Nationalist/Unionist divide and the aim for improvements across social classes. Despite that, there was a view among many Ulstermen that women were not able to manage the complex politics of Ulster and Home Rule and so should not be allowed to vote, and that it
7280-538: Was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1936, and after her death in 1958 a permanent memorial was installed next to the statue of her mother. The memorial to Christabel Pankhurst consists of a low stone screen flanking her mother's statue with a bronze medallion plaque depicting her profile at one end of the screen paired with a second plaque depicting the "prison brooch" or "badge" of
7371-570: Was being built for the Chancellor of the Exchequer , David Lloyd George , was targeted with two bombs on 19 February 1913, only one of which exploded, causing significant damage; in her memoirs, Sylvia Pankhurst said that Emily Davison had carried out the attack. There were 250 arson or destruction attacks in a six-month period in 1913 and in April the newspapers reported "What might have been
7462-442: Was force-fed 292 times. Mary Richardson was recognized as the second suffragette to be force fed while imprisoned, describing her experience as "torture" and an "immoral assault." Some suffragettes who were force-fed developed pleurisy or pneumonia as a result of a misplaced tube. Women who had gone on hunger strike in prison received a Hunger Strike Medal from the WSPU on their release. In April 1913, Reginald McKenna of
7553-542: Was largely hated by the movement. The board game was set out in a spiral, and players were required to lead their suffragette figure from their home to parliament, past the obstacles faced from Prime Minister H. H. Asquith and the Liberal government. Also in 1909, suffragettes Daisy Solomon and Elspeth McClelland tried an innovative method of potentially obtaining a meeting with Asquith by sending themselves by Royal Mail courier post; however, Downing Street did not accept
7644-605: Was largely unsuccessful. Citing a fear that the suffragettes becoming political prisoners would make for easy martyrdom, and with thoughts from the courts and the Home Office that they were abusing the freedoms of the First Division to further the agenda of the WSPU, suffragettes were placed in the Second Division, and in some cases the Third Division, in prisons, with no special privileges granted to them as
7735-471: Was not a general demand, but just came from an active few. Some local women's groups were content with aiming for the same property requirements as men rather than for universal suffrage. Metge's own views on these matters were not clearly recorded. Metge founded the Lisburn Suffrage Society and was its president and secretary at different times. There were a number of Irish and Ulster suffrage groups, and attempts to unite their efforts. Metge wrote articles for
7826-539: Was one of the earliest members of the executive committee. An 1874 speaking event in Manchester organised by Becker, was attended by 14-year-old Emmeline Goulden , who was to become an ardent campaigner for women's rights, and later married Pankhurst becoming known as Emmeline Pankhurst . During the summer of 1880, Becker visited the Isle of Man to address five public meetings on the subject of women's suffrage to audiences mainly composed of women. These speeches instilled in
7917-463: Was passed, allowing women to be elected into parliament. The Representation of the People Act 1928 extended the voting franchise to all women over the age of 21, granting women the vote on the same terms that men had gained ten years earlier. The 1918 general election , the first general election to be held after the Representation of the People Act 1918 , was the first in which some women (property owners older than 30) could vote. At that election,
8008-490: Was raised to commission a statue, and on 6 March 1930 the statue in Victoria Tower Gardens was unveiled. A crowd of radicals, former suffragettes and national dignitaries gathered as former Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin presented the memorial to the public. In his address, Baldwin declared: "I say with no fear of contradiction, that whatever view posterity may take, Mrs. Pankhurst has won for herself
8099-585: Was the first self-governing country to grant all women the right to vote in 1893, when women over the age of 21 were permitted to vote in all parliamentary elections. Women in South Australia achieved the same right and became the first to obtain the right to stand for parliament in 1895. In the United States, women over the age of 21 were allowed to vote in the western territories of Wyoming from 1869 and Utah from 1870, as well as in
8190-548: Was then escalated, with the suffragettes chaining themselves to railings, setting fire to post box contents, smashing windows and eventually detonating bombs, as part of a wider bombing campaign . Some radical techniques used by the suffragettes were learned from Russian exiles from tsarism who had escaped to England. In 1914, at least seven churches were bombed or set on fire across the United Kingdom, including Westminster Abbey , where an explosion aimed at destroying
8281-412: Was transferred from the Second Division to the First Division, inciting the other suffragettes to demonstrate regarding their prison status. Militant suffragette demonstrations subsequently became more aggressive, and the British Government took action. Unwilling to release all the suffragettes refusing food in prison, in the autumn of 1909, the authorities began to adopt more drastic measures to manage
#746253