Sister Suffragette

[shance]

Run time: 01:51 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAGjccJnvqU   Posted on YouTube: January 18, 2007 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: August 16, 2007 By DU Member: shance Views on DU: 572

 
Worth the watch.

What they sacrificed, what they went through.

Well done ladies.

For those interested in the woman who jumped in front of the kings horse and was killed......here you go



Emily Davison, the daughter of Charles Davison and Margaret Davison, was born at Blackheath in 1872. Successful at school she won a place at Holloway College to study literature but two years later she was forced to leave after her recently widowed mother was unable to find the £20 a term fees. Emily found work as a schoolteacher in Worthing. Eventually she raised enough money to return to university education. After graduating from London University she obtained a post teaching the children of a family in Berkshire.

Emily joined the Women's Social and Political Union in 1906. She gradually became more and more involved in WSPU activities and in June 1908, was one of the chief stewards at a WSPU demonstration in London. The following year Emily gave up full-time teaching so that she could devote more of her time to the WSPU. Emily also became involved with the Workers' Educational Association.

In March 1909, Emily was arrested while attempting to hand a petition to the Prime Minister, Herbert Asquith. Emily was found guilty of causing a disturbance and sentenced to one-month imprisonment. Four months later she was in prison again for trying to get into a hall in London where David Lloyd George, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, was making a speech. Emily went on hunger strike and after five days she was released. In September 1909 she received a sentence of two months for stone throwing. Once again, she was released after going on hunger strike.

A few days after leaving prison, Emily Davison, Mary Leigh and Constance Lytton were caught throwing stones at a car taking David Lloyd George to a meeting in Newcastle. The stones were wrapped in Emily's favourite words: "Rebellion against tyrants is obedience to God." The women were found guilty and sentenced to one month's hard labour at Strangeways Gaol. The women went on hunger strike but this time the prison authorities decided to force-feed the women. In an attempt to avoid force-feeding, Emily used prison furniture to barricade the door of her prison cell. A prison officer climbed a ladder and after forcing the nozzle of a hosepipe through a window, filled up the cell with water. Emily was willing to die, but before the cell had been completely filled with water the door was broken down.

James Keir Hardie, the leader of the Labour Party, complained about the treatment of Emily Davison in the House of Commons. The general public appeared to agree that Davison had been badly treated. Emily decided took legal action against the men at Strangeways Gaol who had been responsible for the hosepipe incident. On 19th January 1910, Judge Parry pronounced in Emily's favour, awarding damages of forty shillings.

The scale of her militant acts increased and in December 1911 she was arrested for setting fire to pillar-boxes. She was sentenced to six months and during her spell in prison she went on two hunger strikes. Emily Davison was now convinced that women would not win the vote until the suffragette movement had a martyr. Emily took the decision to draw attention to the suffragette campaign by jumping down an iron staircase. Emily landed on wire-netting, 30 feet below. This prevented her death but she suffered severe spinal injuries.

Once she had recovered her health, Emily Davison began making plans to commit an act that would give the movement maximum publicity. In June, 1913, at the most important race of the year, the Derby, Emily ran out on the course and attempted to grab the bridle of Anmer, a horse owned by King George V. The horse hit Emily and the impact fractured her skull and she died without regaining consciousness.

Although many suffragettes endangered their lives by hunger strikes, Emily Davison was the only one who deliberately risked death. However, her actions did not have the desired impact on the general public. They appeared to be more concerned with the health of the horse and jockey and Davison was condemned as a mentally ill fanatic.

[DURHAM D]

1. Thanks for posting.

And let me add - A special thanks to my grandmother Ethel for being one of those women who participated and sacrificed.

I have never before said nor written same. I feel a little ashamed.