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124-538: The almost completed house was damaged in February 1913 in a bomb attack by the Women's Social and Political Union . The house was completed, and occupied by Lloyd George until around 1919. Pinfold Manor became a Grade II listed building in 1990. The two-storey house is constructed from silver-grey bricks, with red brick dressings at the corners around windows, and a roof of red clay tiles. The main entrance front faces to

248-714: A hunger strike . The house was repaired, and Lloyd George moved in. He relocated around 1919, first moving to The Firs (now Upper Court) near Cobham , and then from 1921 he resided at Bron-y-de in Churt with his secretary and mistress, later his second wife, Frances Stevenson . Pinfold Manor became a Grade II listed building in January 1990. It was on sale in 2010 priced at £2.5 million. 51°16′50″N 0°14′37″W  /  51.28066°N 0.24351°W  / 51.28066; -0.24351 Women%27s Social and Political Union The Women's Social and Political Union ( WSPU )

372-411: A phosphorus suffragette letter bomb addressed to Asquith. On 19 February, there was a suffragette bomb attack on Lloyd George's house, Pinfold Manor , with two bombs planted perhaps by Emily Davison . Only one of the bombs functioned but the building was seriously damaged, although nobody was injured. The explosion occurred shortly before the arrival of workmen at the house, and the crude nature of

496-469: A " reign of terror ". Group members heckled politicians, held demonstrations and marches, broke the law to force arrests, broke windows in prominent buildings, set fire to or introduced chemicals into postboxes thus injuring several postal workers, and committed a series of arsons that killed at least five people and injured at least 24. When imprisoned, the group's members engaged in hunger strikes and were subject to force-feeding . Emmeline Pankhurst said

620-456: A bill in parliament which would introduce women's suffrage, but the bill actually did worse than previous attempts when it was voted on, something which much of the press blamed on the increasingly violent tactics of the suffragettes. The impact of the WSPU's violent attacks drove many members of the general public away from supporting the cause, and some members of the WSPU itself were also alienated by

744-534: A bombing and arson campaign between the years 1912 and 1914. The campaign was instigated by the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) , and was a part of their wider campaign for women's suffrage . The campaign, led by key WSPU figures such as Emmeline Pankhurst , targeted infrastructure , government, churches and the general public, and saw the use of improvised explosive devices , arson , letter bombs , assassination attempts and other forms of direct action and violence. At least four people were killed in

868-415: A bystander was assaulted with a whip at Aberdeen railway station by Emily Davison , as she believed the man was politician David Lloyd George in disguise. On 17 December, railway signals at Potters Bar were tied together and disabled by suffragettes with the intention of endangering train journeys. The increasing number of arson attacks and acts of criminal damage was criticised by some members of

992-514: A campaign in which doctors such as Flora Murray and Elizabeth Gould Bell treated the imprisoned suffragettes. A special medal, the Hunger Strike Medal , like a military honour was designed by Sylvia Pankhurst and awarded 'for Valour' to women who had been on hunger strike/force-fed. Differences over direct action contributed to splits in the organisation. Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence, who with her husband Frederick edited Votes for Women ,

1116-482: A fire was purposely started at Portsmouth dockyard on 20 December 1913, in which 2 men were killed after it spread through the industrial area. In the midst of the firestorm, a battlecruiser, HMS Queen Mary , had to be towed to safety to avoid the flames. Then, two days before Christmas , several postal workers in Nottingham were severely burned after more suffragette letter bombs caused mail bags to ignite. By

1240-576: A limited number of propertied and married women the vote was carried on its first reading in the House of Commons, but then shelved by Prime Minister Asquith. In protest, on 18 November Emmeline Pankhurst led 300 women from a pre-arranged meeting at the Caxton Hall in a march on Parliament where they were met and roughly handled by the police. Under continued pressure from the WSPU, the Liberal government re-introduced

1364-469: A newspaper comment: "Mrs Pankhurst will of course be followed blindly by a number of the younger and more hot-blooded members of the Union”. Members of the group included Irene Dallas , Grace Roe , Jessie Kenney , Elsie Howey , Vera Wentworth and Mary Home. Sylvia Pankhurst and her East London Federation were expelled early in 1914. They had argued for an explicitly socialist organisation, aligned with

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1488-699: A political meeting there in June 1913, the house of the man who had thrown them out was burned down. In response to such actions, angry mobs often attacked WSPU meetings, such as in May 1913 when 1,000 people attacked a WSPU meeting in Doncaster. In retaliation, suffragettes burned down more properties in the local area. In early June 1913, a series of fires purposely started in rural areas in Bradford killed at least two men, as well as several horses. The acts were officially "claimed" by

1612-619: A public meeting at Cory Hall, Cardiff , saying: "We have blown up the Chancellor of the Exchequer's house … to wake him up". After this admission, she was arrested for the first time. She was tried at the Old Bailey in April 1913 on charges of conspiracy to commit property damage, convicted, and sentenced to three years of penal service . She was held at Holloway Prison , but released after starting

1736-700: A response to police raids on WSPU offices. Relatives of politicians also saw their houses attacked: the Mill House near Liphook , Hampshire was burned because the owner was Reginald McKenna 's brother Theodore, while a bomb was set off in a house in Moor Hall Green , Birmingham , as the property was owned by Arthur Chamberlain, brother of Conservative politician Joseph Chamberlain (father to future Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain ). Houses were also attacked in Doncaster . After some suffragettes were thrown out of

1860-606: A setting of words by Florence Macaulay to the tune of " La Marseillaise ". In that month the anthem was changed to " The March of the Women ", newly composed by Ethel Smyth with words by Cicely Hamilton . On 13 October 1908, Emmeline Pankhurst together with Christabel Pankhurst and Flora Drummond organised a rush on the House of Commons . 60,000 people gathered in Parliament Square and attempts were made by suffragettes to break through

1984-489: A suffragette "army", known as the "People's Training Corps". A detective reported attending a meeting in which 300 young girls and women gathered ready to be trained, supposedly with the eventual aim of proceeding in force to Downing Street to forcibly imprison ministers until they conceded women's suffrage. The group were nicknamed "Mrs Pankhurst's Army". In August 1914 the First World War began, which effectively led

2108-400: A suffragette assaulted future Prime Minister Winston Churchill with a horse whip on the platform at Bristol railway station . Other militant suffragette groups were active: the Women's Freedom League attacked ballot boxes at the 1909 Bermondsey by-election with acid, blinding the returning officer in one eye and causing severe burns to the Liberal agent's neck. However, before 1911,

2232-587: A suffragette bomb narrowly failed to breach the Stratford-upon-Avon Canal in Yardley Wood , Birmingham . Since there was no lock for 11 miles, a breach would have emptied all this section's water into the populated valley below, which likely would have caused a loss of life. The next day, a suffragette named Harry Hewitt pulled out a revolver at the Ascot Gold Cup horseracing event, entering

2356-413: A wider audience, had to face hostile audiences and learn how to deal with interruptions. The most successful speakers, therefore, had to acquire a quick wit and learn to "always to get the best of a joke, and to join in the laughter with the audience even if the joke was against" them. Suffragette Annie Kenney recalls an elderly man continuously jeering “if you were my wife I’d give you poison" throughout

2480-644: The Ballater to Braemar road, also attracted press attention. On 25 October, Hugh Franklin set fire to his train carriage as it pulled into Harrow station . He was subsequently arrested and charged with endangering the safety of passengers. Then, on 28 November, post boxes were booby trapped across Great Britain, starting a 5-day long pillar box sabotage campaign, with dangerous chemicals being poured into some boxes. In London, meanwhile, many letters ignited while in transit at post offices, and paraffin and lit matches were also put in pillar boxes. On 29 November,

2604-666: The Chancellor of the Exchequer , David Lloyd George , and the prime minister Asquith, but they all exploded in post offices, post boxes or in mailbags while in transit across the country. In the following weeks, further attacks on letters and mailboxes occurred in cities such as Coventry , London, Edinburgh , Northampton , and York , and in Aberdeen , thick black ink was used to obliterate addresses in postal boxes. On 6 February five postmen were burned, four severely, in Dundee when handling

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2728-656: The Independent Labour Party (ILP), founded in 1893 by Scottish former miner Keir Hardie , a family friend. (Hardie later founded the Labour Party .) Emmeline Pankhurst had increasingly felt that the ILP was not there for women. On 9 October 1903, she invited a group of ILP women to meet at her home the next day, telling them: "Women, we must do the work ourselves. We must have an independent women's movement. Come to my house tomorrow and we will arrange it!" Membership of

2852-605: The Independent Labour Party , and focused on working-class collective action rather than individual attacks on property. They renamed themselves the East London Federation of Suffragettes (ELFS) and launched a newspaper, the Women's Dreadnought . On the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, Christabel Pankhurst was living in Paris, in order to run the organisation without fear of arrest. Her autocratic control enabled her, over

2976-601: The United Kingdom and in the United States . A number of historians have also classified the campaign as one involving terrorist acts, such as C. J. Bearman, Rachel Monaghan and feminist historians Fern Riddell and Cheryl Jorgensen-Earp. Multiple suffrage societies formed across Britain during the Victorian era , all campaigning for women's suffrage - with only certain men being able to vote in parliamentary elections at

3100-569: The Women's Freedom League , also opposed the violence publicly. The counter-terrorist Special Branch of London's Metropolitan Police , which had been set up during the earlier Fenian dynamite campaign of 1881–1885, bore responsibility for dealing with the campaign. Special Branch officers were employed to cover WSPU meetings and demonstrations in order to pre-empt offences, provide public order intelligence and to record inflammatory speeches. WSPU leaders had been followed by Special Branch officers from 1907 onwards, and Emmeline Pankhurst herself

3224-508: The 1930s, soon after all women over the age of 21 had received the vote under the Representation of the People Act of 1928 , some historians asserted that militancy had evidently succeeded. The Suffragette Fellowship, which compiled the sources on the movement that were often used by later historians, also decided in this decade that they were not going to mention any of the bombings in any of

3348-474: The 5000 strong police cordon. Thirty-seven arrests were made, ten people were taken to hospital. On 29 June 1909, WSPU activists Ada Wright and Sarah Carwin were arrested for breaking government windows. They were sentenced to a month in prison. After breaking every window in their cells, in a protest they went on a hunger strike, following the pioneering strike of Marion Wallace Dunlop . They were released after six days. In 1910 Conciliation Bill , giving

3472-545: The British public". The WSPU also reported each of its attacks in its newspaper The Suffragette under the headline "Reign of Terror". The authorities talked of arson and bomb attacks as terrorism, and contemporary newspapers in the UK and in the United States also made use of the term "Suffragette Terrorism" to report on WSPU attacks. One instance of this was after the bombing attack on David Lloyd George's house in February 1913, when

3596-575: The Conciliation Bill the following year. Exasperated by the continued opposition and by the bill's limitations, on 21 November 1911, the WSPU carried out an "official" window smash along Whitehall and Fleet Street. Its target included the offices of the Daily Mail and the Daily News and the official residences or homes of leading Liberal politicians. 160 suffragettes were arrested. The Conciliation Bill

3720-546: The Malicious Damages Act of 1861, found guilty and received various sentences. In the same month, April 1913, Dorothy Evans , posted as an organiser to the north of Ireland, was arrested in Belfast on explosive charges. Together with local activist Midge Muir, she created uproar in court demanding to know why the gun-running Ulster Unionist James Craig was not appearing on the same charges. In June 1913 Emily Davison

3844-510: The Prime Minister, Sir  Henry Campbell-Bannerman . The Prime Minister agreed with their argument but "was obliged to do nothing at all about it" and so urged the women to "go on pestering" and to exercise "the virtue of patience". Some of the women Campbell-Bannerman advised to be patient had been working for women's rights for as many as fifty years: his advice to "go on pestering" would prove quite unwise. His thoughtless words infuriated

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3968-422: The WSPU believed that more radical action was needed to get the government to listen to the campaign for women's rights. From 1905 the WSPU's activities became increasingly militant and its members were increasingly willing to break the law by inflicting damage upon property and people. WSPU supporters raided Parliament, physically assaulted politicians and smashed windows at government premises. In one instance,

4092-522: The WSPU founded the Woman's Press, which oversaw publishing and propaganda for the organisation, and marketed a range of products from 1908 featuring the WSPU's name or colours. The woman's Press in London and WSPU chains throughout the UK operated stores selling WSPU products. A board game named Suffragetto was published circa 1908. Until January 1911, the WSPU's official anthem was " The Women's Marseillaise ",

4216-446: The WSPU leadership, and was specifically designed to terrorise the government and the general public to change their opinions on women's suffrage under threat of acts of violence. In a speech, leader Emmeline Pankhurst declared " guerrilla warfare ". The suffragettes invented the letter bomb , a device intended to kill or injure the recipient, and an increasing number began to be posted. On 29 January, several letter bombs were sent to

4340-508: The WSPU made only sporadic use of violence, and it was directed almost exclusively at the government and civil servants . Emily Davison , a suffragette who later became infamous after she was killed by the King's horse at the 1913 Epsom Derby , launched several sole attacks in London in December 1911, but these attacks were uncommon for the time. On 8 December 1911, Davison attempted to set fire to

4464-411: The WSPU members. This was not an isolated event, as attacks on individuals' houses often saw angry responses, such as in Doncaster in May 1913 when a 1,000 strong mob descended upon a WSPU meeting after several residential properties were burned down in the area. After one attack on Bristol University 's sports pavilion on 23 October 1913, undergraduates avenged the attack by raiding the WSPU office in

4588-469: The WSPU was open to women only – men could not become members. It also had no party affiliation. In 1905, the group convinced the Liberal MP Bamford Slack to introduce a women's suffrage bill; it was ultimately talked out , but the publicity spurred rapid expansion of the group. The WSPU changed tactics following the failure of the bill; they focused on attacking whichever political party

4712-569: The WSPU, and in October 1912 two long-standing supporters of the suffragette cause, Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence and Frederick Pethick-Lawrence , were expelled from the Union for voicing their objections to such activities. In November 1912, a car thought to be carrying the Prime Minister Lloyd-George was attacked by a woman jumping on the running board and hitting the window with a stone. By

4836-528: 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. Also in 1906, the group began a series of demonstrations and lobbies of Parliament, leading to the arrest and imprisonment of growing numbers of their members. An attempt to achieve equal franchise gained national attention when an envoy of 300 women, representing over 125,000 suffragettes, argued for women's suffrage with

4960-666: The Westminster Abbey bombing, a second suffragette bomb was discovered before it could explode in St Paul's Cathedral . Annie Kenney also attempted a second bombing of the Church of St John the Evangelist in Smith Square , Westminster on 12 July, placing a bomb underneath a pew during a sermon before leaving. However, the bomb was spotted by a member of the congregation, and Kenney, who

5084-473: The Women's Social Political Union (SWSPU) and the Independent Women's Social and Political Union (IWSPU), led by Charlotte Marsh , and including Edith Rigby and Dorothy Evans . The WSPU faded from public attention and was dissolved in 1917, with Christabel and Emmeline Pankhurst founding the Women's Party . Between 1905 and 1914 suffrage drama and theatre forums became increasingly utilised by

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5208-496: The aim of gaining votes for women still unrealised by the outbreak of war in 1914, the WSPU had failed to create the kind of "national crisis" which might have forced the government into concessions. Historian Brian Harrison has also stated that opponents to women's suffrage believed the militant campaign had benefited them, since it had largely alienated public opinion and placed the suffrage question beyond parliamentary consideration. In May 1913 another attempt had been made to pass

5332-596: The angle between the main entrance front and the service wing. Shortly after 6am on 19 February 1913, the almost completed house was bombed by militant suffragettes from the Women's Social and Political Union . Two bombs were planted: one failed to explode, but the detonation of the second bomb caused significant damage to the house. The bombers were not identified, but Sylvia Pankhurst named Emily Davison in her memoirs, and it has been suggested that Norah Smyth or Olive Hockin may also have been involved. That evening, Emmeline Pankhurst claimed responsibility at

5456-478: The anticipated breach did not take place. Some attacks were voluntarily aborted before they were carried out. In March 1913, a suffragette plot to kidnap Home Secretary Reginald McKenna was discussed in the House of Commons and in the press. It was reported that suffragettes were contemplating kidnapping one or more cabinet ministers and subjecting them to force-feeding . According to Special Branch detectives, there were also WSPU plans in 1913 to create

5580-611: The arguments that militancy succeeded, with Purvis arguing that assertions about the counter-productiveness of militancy deny or diminish the achievements of Pankhurst. However, Purvis's arguments have been challenged by Bearman. Revisionist historians such as Harrison and Martin Pugh have also attempted to draw greater attention to the role of the non-militants, such as those in the anti-violence National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) (known as "suffragists"), and emphasised their understated role in gaining votes for women. During

5704-502: The attacks, and at least 24 were injured (including two suffragettes). The campaign was halted at the outbreak of war in August 1914 without having brought about votes for women, as suffragettes pledged to pause the campaign to aid the war effort. Both suffragettes and the authorities of the time described the arson and bomb attacks as a terrorist campaign. Contemporary press reports also referred to attacks as "terrorist" incidents in both

5828-471: The attacks, with some newspapers such as the Gloucester Journal and Liverpool Echo running dedicated columns on the latest "outrages". Despite the outbreak of violence, at the start of January 1913 suffragettes still believed that it was possible to achieve the vote for women by constitutional means. A "Franchise Bill" was proposed to the House of Commons in the winter session of 1912–13, and it

5952-444: The authorities". On 14 April, the former home of MP Arthur Du Cros was burned down. Du Cros had consistently voted against the enfranchisement of women, which was why he had been chosen as a target. The immediate aftermath of the destruction of Du Cros's house was caught on film, with newsreel company Pathé filming the ruins while they were still smouldering. Some newspapers were also targeted by suffragettes: on 20 April there

6076-646: The beginning of the campaign in earnest: the homes of three anti-suffrage cabinet ministers were attacked, a powerful bomb was planted in the Home Secretary 's office and the Theatre Royal, Dublin , was set fire to and bombed while an audience attended a performance. One of the most dangerous attacks committed by the suffragettes, the attack on the Theatre Royal was carried out by Mary Leigh , Gladys Evans, Lizzie Baker and Mabel Capper , who attempted to set fire to

6200-498: The bomb at the time and the explosion caused a panic for the exits, but no serious injuries were reported. The bomb had been packed with nuts and bolts to act as shrapnel. Coincidentally, at the time of the explosion, the House of Commons only 100 yards away was debating how to deal with the violent tactics of the suffragettes. Many in the Commons heard the explosion and rushed to the scene to find out what had happened. Two days after

6324-505: The bomb injured one man, while others narrowly escaped without being harmed after being thrown to the ground by the force of the bomb. An arson attack on Aberuchill Castle , Comrie , Scotland on 4 February also nearly caused fatalities. The building was set on fire with the servants inside, and they narrowly escaped harm. The next month, another cabinet minister, Home Secretary Reginald McKenna , had his house set on fire in an arson attack. One common target for suffragette attacks

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6448-564: The bomb was intercepted by London postal workers. Suffragettes again attempted to assassinate Curtis-Bennett by pushing him off a cliff two days later at Margate , although he managed to escape. The railways continued to be the subject of significant attacks throughout May. On 10 May, a bomb was discovered in the waiting room at Liverpool Street Station , London, covered with iron nuts and bolts intended to maximise damage to property and cause serious injury to anyone in proximity. Four days later, another three suffragette bombs were discovered in

6572-429: The bomb-makers' arsenal . In one raid on the home of Jennie Baines , a half-made bomb, a fully made bomb and guns were found. Raids were also conducted against the offices of The Suffragette newspaper, and the printers were threatened with prosecution. Because of this, there were periods that the newspaper could not publish, but secret reserves were kept for the newspaper to publish as many issues as possible. At

6696-420: The building at the time. Then, on 18 December, suffragettes bombed a wall at Holloway Prison in protest of the imprisonment of an inmate inside. Many houses near the prison were damaged or had their windows blown out by the bombs, showering some children with glass while they slept in their beds. One of the perpetrators of the attack was injured by the blast. In one of the more serious suffragette attacks,

6820-523: The building during a packed lunchtime matinee attended by the Prime Minister , H. H. Asquith . A canister of gunpowder was left close to the stage and petrol and lit matches were thrown into the projection booth which contained highly combustible film reels. Earlier in the day, Mary Leigh hurled a hatchet towards Asquith, which narrowly missed him and instead cut the Irish MP John Redmond on

6944-584: The busy post office in Fleet Street by placing a burning cloth soaked in kerosene and contained in an envelope into the building, but the intended fire did not take hold. Six days later, Davison set fire to two pillar boxes in the City of London , before again attempting to set fire to a post office in Parliament Street , but she was arrested during the act and imprisoned. After 1911, suffragette violence

7068-449: The campaign cost the British economy between £1 and £2 million in 1913 to 1914 alone (approximately £130–£240 million today). There was an average of 21 bombing and arson incidents per month in 1913, and 15 per month in 1914, with there being an arson or bombing attack in every month between February 1913 and August 1914. Bearman calculates that there was a total of at least 337 arson and bombing attacks between 1913 and 1914, but states that

7192-448: The campaign, the WSPU described its own bombing and arson attacks as terrorism , with suffragettes declaring themselves to be "terrorists" in 1913. Christabel Pankhurst also increasingly used the word "terrorism" to describe the WSPU's actions during the campaign, and stated that the WSPU's greater "rebellion" was a form of terrorism. Emmeline Pankhurst stated that the suffragettes committed violent acts because they wanted to "terrorise

7316-401: The cathedral had it exploded. Meanwhile, suffragette action continued to cause injury to postal workers, with three London postmen being injured after coming into contact with noxious chemicals that had been poured into pillar boxes. On 14 May, a letter bomb was sent to allegedly anti-women's suffrage magistrate Sir Henry Curtis-Bennett at Bow Street in an attempt to assassinate him, but

7440-526: The city. The "suffragists" of the largest women's suffrage society, the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies , led by Millicent Fawcett , were anti-violence, and during the campaign NUWSS propaganda and Fawcett herself increasingly differentiated between the militants of the WSPU and their own non-violent means. The NUWSS also publicly distanced themselves from the violence and direct action of suffragettes. The other major women's suffrage society,

7564-557: The cost of the property damage. Some WSPU militants, however, were prepared to go beyond outrages against property. On 18 July 1912, in Dublin Mary Leigh threw a hatchet that narrowly missed the head of the visiting prime minister H. H. Asquith . On 29 January 1913, several letter bombs were sent to the Chancellor of the Exchequer , David Lloyd George , and the prime minister Asquith, but they all exploded in post offices, post boxes or in mailbags while in transit across

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7688-457: The country. Between February and March 1913, railway signal wires were purposely cut on lines across the country endangering train journeys. On 19 February 1913, as part of a wider suffragette bombing and arson campaign , a bomb was set off in Pinfold Manor , the country home of the Chancellor of the Exchequer , Lloyd George , which brought down ceilings and cracked walls. On the evening of

7812-467: The course of her speech, to which she replied "yes, and if I were your wife I’d take it," diffusing threats and making her antagonist appear laughable. Holton, Sandra Stanley (2002). Suffrage Days: Stories From the Women's Suffrage Movement . London and New York: Routledge. p. 253. Suffragette bombing and arson campaign Suffragettes in Great Britain and Ireland orchestrated

7936-516: The day after Emmeline Pankhurst was sentenced to 3 years in prison for her role in the bombing of Lloyd George's house, a suffragette bomb was discovered in the street outside the Bank of England . It was defused before it could detonate in what was then one of the busiest public streets in the capital, which likely prevented many casualties. The remains of the device are now on display at the City of London Police Museum in London. A few days later, grass

8060-454: The ear. The four suffragettes who carried out the attack on the Theatre Royal were subsequently charged with offences likely to endanger life. Arson attacks continued for the rest of 1912. Also vandalism attacks such as the damage to the royal Balmoral golf course having hole flags replaced with purple suffragette slogans against the Cabinet ministers, and vandalism to the memorial fountain on

8184-453: The east under two tile-hung gables. A third gabled bay to the east is faced in silver grey and red brick, with a large casement windows with side sashes on each floor. The east front has a gabled wing at the south end and a canted chimney stack. A single storey extension at the north end was added after 1912. There is little to note in the interiors, apart from the fireplaces in the study, dining room and one bedroom. The staircase rises in

8308-602: The eastbound train and the other on the westbound train. One of the bombs was discovered before it exploded at Battersea when the railway porter spotted smoke in a previously crowded third-class carriage. Later in the day, as the Waterloo train pulled into Kingston, the third-class carriage exploded and caught fire. The rest of the carriages were full of passengers at the time, but they managed to escape without serious injury. The bombs had been packed with lumps of jagged metal, bullets and scraps of lead . The London Underground

8432-408: The end of the suffragette bombing and arson campaign. After Britain joined the war, the WSPU took the decision to suspend their own campaigning. Leader Emmeline Pankhurst instructed suffragettes to stop their violent actions and support the government in the conflict against Germany . From this point forward, suffragettes instead largely channelled their energies into supporting the war effort. By

8556-521: The end of the year, The Times newspaper reported that there had been 39 recorded suffragette bombing attacks across the country. Arson and bombing attacks continued into 1914. One of the first attacks of the year took place on 7 January, when a dynamite bomb was thrown over the wall of the Harewood Army Barracks in Leeds , which was being used for police training at the time. The explosion of

8680-489: The end of the year, 240 people had been sent to prison for militant suffragette activities. Christabel Pankhurst set up a new weekly WSPU newspaper at this time named The Suffragette . The newspaper began devoting double-page spreads to reporting the bomb and arson attacks that were now regularly occurring around the country. This became the method by which the organisation claimed responsibility for each attack. The independent press also began to publish weekly round-ups of

8804-553: The escalation of violence, which led to splits in the organisation and the formation of groups such as the East London Federation of Suffragettes in 1914. Bearman has asserted that contemporary opinion overwhelmingly was of the view that WSPU violence had shelved the question of women's suffrage until the organization "came to its senses or had disappeared from the scene". At the time it was largely only suffragettes themselves that argued their campaign had been effective. In

8928-471: The general public, with some actions inciting violent responses in return. A month after the bombing attack on Lloyd George's house in February 1913, a WSPU rally was held in Hyde Park , London, but the meeting quickly degenerated into a riot as members of the public became violent towards the women. Clods of earth were thrown and some of the women manhandled, with many shouting "incendiary" or "shopbreakers" at

9052-628: The government later passed the Prisoners (Temporary Discharge for Ill Health) Act 1913 . More commonly known as the "Cat and Mouse Act", this allowed the release of suffragettes, close to death due to malnourishment, and their re-arrest once health was restored. The WSPU fought back: their all-women security team known as the Bodyguard, trained in ju-jitsu by Edith Margaret Garrud and led by Gertrude Harding , protected temporarily released suffragettes from arrest and recommital. The WSPU also coordinated

9176-485: The group began to more explicitly organise exclusively among middle-class women, and stated their opposition to all political parties. This led a small group of prominent members to leave and form the Women's Freedom League . Immediately following the WSPU/WFL split, in autumn 1907, Frederick and Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence founded the WSPU's own newspaper, Votes for Women . The Pethick-Lawrences, who were part of

9300-484: The group's goal was "to make England and every department of English life insecure and unsafe". The Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) was founded as an independent women's movement on 10 October 1903 at 62 Nelson Street, Manchester , home of the Pankhurst family. Emmeline Pankhurst , along with two of her daughters, Christabel and Sylvia , and her husband, Richard , before his death in 1898, had been active in

9424-516: The incident Emmeline Pankhurst claimed responsibility, announcing at a public meeting in Cardiff , we have “blown up the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s house”. Pankhurst was willing to be arrested for the incident saying “I have advised, I have incited, I have conspired”; and that if she was arrested for the incident she would prove that the “punishment unjustly imposed upon women who have no voice in making

9548-602: The inspiration for the suffragettes' attacks came from the earlier Fenian dynamite campaign of 1881 to 1885. Although more sophisticated explosive devices were used by suffragettes, inspiration was taken from this campaign's tactic of targeting symbolic locations, such as the Bank of England and St Paul's Cathedral . In May 1913, the Ashley Road Public School in Aberdeen had its roof destroyed by fire, with arson materials and The Suffragist newspaper found. Amongst

9672-540: The laws cannot be carried out”. On 3 April Pankhurst was sentenced to three years’ penal servitude for procuring and inciting women to commit "malicious injuries to property". The Temporary Discharge for Ill Health Bill was rushed through Parliament to ensure that Pankhurst, who had immediately gone on hunger strike, did not die in prison. In response to the bomb Lloyd George wrote an article in Nash's Magazine , entitled “Votes for Women and Organised Lunacy” where he argued that

9796-551: The leadership of the WSPU until 1912, edited the newspaper and supported it financially in the early years. Sylvia Pankhurst wrote a number of articles for the WSPU newspaper and, in 1911, published a piece on the history of the WSPU campaign. This included a detailed account of her experience during the Black Friday event in 1910. In 1908 the WSPU adopted purple, white, and green as its official colours. These colours were chosen by Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence because "Purple...stands for

9920-399: The month of May, 52 bombing and arson attacks had been carried out across the country by suffragettes. The most common target for suffragette attacks during the campaign was houses or residential properties belonging to politicians or members of the public. These attacks were justified by the WSPU on the grounds that the owners of the properties were invariably male, and so already possessed

10044-556: The more minor forms of militancy such as window-smashing and letter-burning". Bearman also notes that this figure does not include the extra costs inflicted by violent suffragette action, "such as extra police time, additional caretakers and night watchmen hired to protect property, and revenue lost when tourist attractions such as Haddon Hall and the State Apartments at Windsor Castle were closed for fear of suffragette attacks". With these additional considerations, Bearman asserts,

10168-658: The most militant activists, also called "Slasher" Richardson) walked into the National Gallery in London and attacked Diego Velázquez 's painting, Rokeby Venus with a meat cleaver. Her action stimulated a wave of attacks on artworks that would continue for five months. In June, militants had placed a bomb beneath the Coronation Chair in Westminster Abbey . Released following a hunger strike, in July 1914 Dorothy Evans

10292-507: The negative press around the movement and attempted to demonstrate in performance how these acts of violence only occur as a last resort. They attempted to transform the negative, yet popular perspective of these militant acts as being the actions of irrational, hysterical, ‘overly-emotional’ women and instead demonstrate how these protests were merely the only logical response to being denied a basic fundamental right. Suffragettes not only used theatre to their advantage, but they also employed

10416-421: The north, with a service wing at the east end, which was extended to the north and east soon after the initial construction was completed. The entrance is framed by red brick pilasters, with sash windows to either side under curved brick heads. The other main frontage faces the garden to the south. The red tiles of the roof run down to a single-storey loggia supported by square brick columns, which continues to

10540-523: The objections of Kitty Marion and others, to declare soon after war broke out that the WSPU should abandon its campaigns in favour of a nationalistic stance, supporting the British government in the war. The WSPU stopped publishing The Suffragette , and in April ;1915 it launched a new journal, Britannia . While the majority of WSPU members supported the war, a small number formed the Suffragettes of

10664-643: The other targets selected by suffragettes were sporting events: there was a failed attempt to burn down the grounds of the All England Lawn Tennis Club at Wimbledon , while a plot to burn down the grandstand of Crystal Palace F.C.'s football ground on the eve of the 1913 FA Cup Final was also foiled. During the year the grandstand of the Manor Ground football stadium in Plumstead was also burned down, costing £1,000 in damages. The destroyed ground

10788-461: The protesters and "by those foolish words the militant movement became irrevocably established, and the stage of revolt began". In 1907, the organisation held the first of several of their "Women's Parliaments". The Labour Party then voted to support universal suffrage . This split them from the WSPU, which had always accepted the property qualifications which already applied to women's participation in local elections. Under Christabel's direction,

10912-475: The public hall. After she was arrested, Rigby stated that she planted the bomb as she wanted "to show how easy it was to get explosives and put them in public places". On 8 August, a school in Sutton-in-Ashfield was bombed and burned down in protest while Lloyd George was visiting the town, with the bombs later being found to have represented a potentially serious threat to life had anyone been present in

11036-529: The racecourse and threw herself in front of the King 's personal horse, an incident which not only killed her but that seriously injured the jockey. On 19 July 1913, letter boxes were filled with noxious substances across Birmingham , seriously burning a postman when he opened one box. On the same day, Edith Rigby planted a pipe bomb at the Liverpool Cotton Exchange Building , which exploded in

11160-429: The royal blood that flows in the veins of every suffragette...white stands for purity in private and public life...green is the colour of hope and the emblem of spring". June 1908 saw the first major public use of these colours when the WSPU held a 300,000-strong " Women's Sunday " rally in Hyde Park . Sylvia Pankhurst designed the logo and created a number of leaflets, banners, and posters. In February 1907,

11284-536: The scene, or postcards scrawled with messages such as "Votes For Women", to claim responsibility for the attacks. The high explosive nitroglycerine was used for a number of suffragette bombs, and was likely produced by themselves in their own labs by sympathisers. The explosive is distinctly unstable, and nitroglycerine bombs could be detonated by as little as a sharp blow, making the bombs highly dangerous. During this time, elderly suffragette ladies had reportedly begun to apply for gun licenses, supposedly to "terrify

11408-466: The sources. This was partly in order to protect former suffragettes from prosecution, but was also an attempt to step away from the violent rhetoric and to change the cultural memory of the suffragette movement. Many official sources on suffragette violence are only now beginning to be released from archives . Some feminist historians and supporters of feminist icon Emmeline Pankhurst such as Sandra Stanley Horton and June Purvis have also renewed

11532-489: The suffragettes in their official newspaper, The Suffragette . Over the next few months, suffragette attacks continued to threaten death and injury. On 2 June, a suffragette bomb was discovered at the South Eastern District Post Office, London, containing enough nitroglycerine to blow up the entire building and kill the 200 people who worked there. A potentially serious event was avoided on 18 June when

11656-533: The third-class carriage of a crowded passenger train arriving from Waterloo at Kingston, made out of nitroglycerine. On 16 May, a second attempted bombing of the London Underground was foiled when a bomb was discovered at Westbourne Park tube station before it could explode. Another attack on the railways occurred on 27 May, when a suffragette bomb was thrown from an express train onto Reading station platform and exploded, but there were no injuries. During

11780-463: The time of the outbreak of war, the aim of achieving votes for women was still unrealised. Later in the war, the increasing focus of the WSPU and the Pankhurst leadership on supporting the war effort led to the creation of the Women's Party , a political party that continued to promote women's suffrage but that was primarily concerned with patriotic support for the war. The violence employed by suffragettes caused angry reactions amongst some members of

11904-441: The time, planting bombs was officially a hangable offence, and so suffragettes took special measures to avoid being caught by police when carrying out bombing attacks. At the conclusion of the campaign in August 1914, the attacks had, in total, cost approximately £700,000 in damages (equivalent to £84,850,000 in 2023), although according to historian C. J. Bearman this figure does not include "the damage done to works of art or

12028-451: The time. In the years leading up to the First World War , "suffragettes" had become the popular name for members of a new organisation, the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) . Founded in 1903 by Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughters, the Union was willing to carry out forms of direct action to achieve women's suffrage. This was indicated by the Union's adoption of the motto "deeds, not words". After decades of peaceful protest,

12152-427: The timer – a candle – meant that the likelihood of the bomb exploding while the men were present was high. WSPU Leader Emmeline Pankhurst was herself arrested in the aftermath for planning the attack on Lloyd George's house, and was later sentenced to three years in prison . Between February and March, railway signal wires were purposely cut on lines across the country, further endangering train journeys. Some of

12276-454: The track during the race and brandishing the gun and a suffragette flag as the competing horses approached. The leading horse collided with the man, causing serious head injuries to him and the jockey . Hewitt was later impounded in a psychiatric hospital . The incident was a copycat event inspired by the events of the Epsom Derby on 4 June 1913 , where Emily Davison had famously entered

12400-463: The train to avoid further damage. In doing so, he was badly burned on his arms, although he succeeded in disposing of the material. Another attempt to flood a populated area had also taken place on 7 May, when a bomb was placed next to Penistone Reservoir in Upper Windleden. If successful, the attack would have led to 138 million gallons of water emptying into the populated valleys below, although

12524-473: The true number could be well over 500. By the end of the campaign, more than 1,300 people had been arrested and imprisoned for suffragette violence across the United Kingdom. The extent to which suffragette militancy contributed to the eventual enfranchisement of women in 1918 has been debated by historians, although the consensus of historical opinion is that the militant campaign was not effective. With

12648-505: The use of a secret bomb disposal unit on Duck Island in St James's Park , London. The branch was also given extra staff in order to protect ministers and their families, who were increasingly being targeted. Prime Minister Asquith wrote that "even our children had to be vigilantly protected against the menace of abduction". Many arrests were also made at WSPU meetings, and raids were often conducted against WSPU offices, in an attempt to find

12772-478: The use of comedy. The Women's Social and Political Union was one of the first organisations to capitalise on comedic satirical writing and use it to outwit their opposition. It not only helped them diffuse hostility towards their organisation, but also helped them gain an audience. This use of satire allowed them to express their ideas and frustrations as well as combat gender prejudices in a safer way. Suffrage speakers, who often held open-air meetings in order to reach

12896-699: The vote. Since they already possessed the vote, suffragettes argued, the owners were responsible for the actions of the government since they were their electors. Houses were bombed or subjected to arson attacks around the country: in March 1913, fires raged at private homes across Surrey, and homes in Chorley Wood , Norwich , Potters Bar and Hampstead Garden were also set on fire. In Ilford , London, three residential streets had their fire alarm wires cut. Other prominent opponents of women's suffrage also saw their homes destroyed by fire and incendiary devices, sometimes as

13020-537: The women's movement. Around this same time, however, the WSPU also became increasingly associated with militancy, moving from marches, demonstrations, and other public performances to more avant-garde and inflammatory “acts of violence.” The organisation began using these shock tactics to demonstrate the seriousness and urgency of the cause. Their demonstrations included “window smashing, museum-painting slashing, arson, fuse box bombing, and telegraph line cutting,”—suffrage playwrights, in turn, began using their work to combat

13144-515: The “main obstacle to women getting the vote is militancy”. It had alienated those who would have supported them. The only way for women to get the vote is a new movement “absolutely divorced from stones and bombs and torches”. On the last day of April, the WSPU offices were raided by the police, and a number of women were arrested and taken to Bow Street. They were Flora Drummond, Harriett Roberta Kerr , Agnes Lake, Rachel Barrett , Laura Geraldine Lennox and Beatrice Sanders . All were charged under

13268-550: Was churches , as it was believed that the Church of England was complicit in reinforcing opposition to women's suffrage. Between 1913 and 1914, 32 churches were the subject of suffragette attacks. Several churches and cathedrals were bombed in 1914: on 5 April, the St Martins-in-the-Field church in Trafalgar Square , London, was bombed, blowing out the windows and showering passers-by with broken glass. A bomb

13392-466: Was a women-only political movement and leading militant organisation campaigning for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom founded in 1903. Known from 1906 as the suffragettes , its membership and policies were tightly controlled by Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughters Christabel and Sylvia . Sylvia was eventually expelled. The WSPU membership became known for civil disobedience and direct action . Emmeline Pankhurst described them as engaging in

13516-460: Was again arrested in Belfast. With a sister Hunger Strike Medalist , Lillian Metge , she was implicated in a series of arson attacks and the bombing of Lisburn Cathedral . In response to the continuing and repeated imprisonment of many of their members, the WSPU extended and supported prison hunger strikes . The authorities' policy of force feeding won the suffragettes public sympathy and induced

13640-479: Was already being trailed by special branch detectives , was arrested as she left. The congregation left in the church then was able to disarm the bomb before it exploded. A hospital was also targeted in Dundee on 22 May, with suffragettes burning down the building. Two planned assaults on public officials also occurred during the year: in March, the Medical Prisoner Commissioner for Scotland

13764-546: Was also discovered in the Metropolitan Tabernacle church in London, and in June, a bomb exploded at Westminster Abbey , damaging the Coronation Chair . The Abbey was busy with visitors at the time, and around 80–100 people were in the building when the bomb exploded. The device was most probably planted by a member of a group that had left the Abbey only moments before the explosion. Some were as close as 20 yards from

13888-583: Was also targeted: on 2 May a highly unstable nitroglycerine bomb was discovered on the platform at Piccadilly Circus tube station . Although it had the potential to harm many members of the public on the platform, the bomb was dealt with. On 11 April, the cricket pavilion at the Nevill Ground in Royal Tunbridge Wells was destroyed in a suffragette arson attack. At many of the attacks, copies of The Suffragette newspaper were intentionally left at

14012-615: Was an attempt to blow up the offices of the York Herald in York . One bomb that was found in Smeaton's Tower on Plymouth Hoe during April was found to have "Votes For Women. Death in Ten Minutes" written on it. On 8 May, a potassium nitrate bomb was discovered at St Paul's Cathedral at the start of a sermon. The bomb likely would have destroyed the historic bishop's throne and other parts of

14136-457: Was assaulted by suffragettes in public with horse whips , and on 3 June the medical officer for Holloway Prison , Dr. Forward, was also assaulted in a public street with whips. Another individual was injured in July when a suffragette letter bomb ignited a moving train in Salwick . After the bomb caused a train carriage to catch fire, the train's guard attempted to throw the burning materials off

14260-586: Was cut to display 'Release Mrs. Pankhurst' and the Palm-house greenhouse vandalised with ink in Aberdeen's Duthie Park . Railways were also the subject of bombing attacks. On 3 April, a bomb exploded next to a passing train in Manchester , nearly killing the driver when flying debris grazed him and narrowly missed his head. Six days later, two bombs were left on the Waterloo to Kingston line, with one being placed on

14384-428: Was debated in March 1912, and was defeated by 14 votes. The WSPU responded by organising a new and broader campaign of direct action. Once this got underway with the wholesale smashing of shop windows, the government ordered arrests of the leadership. Although they had disagreed with strategy, Frederick and Emmeline Pethwick-Lawrence , were sentenced to nine months imprisonment for conspiracy and successfully sued for

14508-494: Was directed increasingly at commercial concerns and then at the general public. This violence was encouraged by the leadership of the WSPU. In particular, the daughter of WSPU leader Emmeline Pankhurst , Christabel Pankhurst , took an active role in planning a self-described "reign of terror". Emmeline Pankhurst stated that the aim of the campaign was "to make England and every department of English life insecure and unsafe". In June and July 1912, five serious incidents signified

14632-451: Was drafted to allow a series of amendments which, if passed, would have introduced women's suffrage. However, after an initial debate on 24 January, the speaker of the house ruled the amendments out of order and the government was forced to abandon the Bill. In response, the WSPU stepped-up their bombing and arson campaign. The subsequent campaign was directed and in some cases orchestrated by

14756-641: Was expelled in 1912. Christabel Pankhurst launched a new WPSU journal, fully committed to the militant strategy, The Suffragette. The Pethick-Lawrences then joined Agnes Harben and others in starting the United Suffragists , which was open to women and men, militants and non-militants alike. Within the WPSU radical action was championed by the “Young Hot Bloods” or “YHB”. These were a group of younger unmarried women formed by Annie Kenney ’s sister Jessie and Adela Pankhurst in 1907. The group’s name derived from

14880-488: Was in government and refused to support any legislation which did not include enfranchisement of women. This translated into abandoning their initial commitment to also supporting immediate social reforms. The term "suffragette" was first used in 1906 as 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

15004-542: Was killed while attempting to drape a suffragette banner on the King's horse as it was racing in the Epsom Derby —an incident famously captured on film. On the evening of 9 March 1914 in Glasgow , about 40 militant suffragettes, including members of the Bodyguard team, brawled with several squads of police constables who were attempting to re-arrest Emmeline Pankhurst during a pro-suffrage rally at St. Andrew's Hall. The following day, suffragette Mary Richardson (known as one of

15128-420: Was often targeted was golf , and golf courses were often subjected to arson attacks. During some of these attacks Prime Minister Asquith would be physically assaulted while playing the sport. And some politician's private gardens were vandalised with plants pulled out or grass burned with acid and slogan ' Votes for Women ' left, including at the home of Aberdeen's Lord Provost , Adam Maitland. On 4 April,

15252-530: Was the home of then south London club Arsenal (known as Woolwich Arsenal until 1914), and the same year the financially-troubled club moved from south London to a new stadium in an area of north London, Highbury , where they still remain today . Suffragettes also attempted to burn the grandstands at the stadiums of Preston North End and Blackburn Rovers football clubs during the year. More traditionally masculine sports were specifically targeted in an attempt to protest against male dominance . One sport that

15376-464: Was trailed by officers from the branch. A separate suffragette section of the branch had been formed in 1909. During the campaign, attempts to attend WSPU meetings became increasingly difficult as officers were recognised and attacked. The attacks became so widespread that police had to invent new and never before attempted methods of counter-terrorism. These included the use of double agents , covert photo surveillance , public pleas for funding and

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