The suffragette movement in Britain was led from London. The Women’s Social and Political Union, founded by Emmeline Pankhurst in Manchester in 1903, moved its headquarters to London in 1906 and mounted an increasingly militant campaign for women’s right to vote. Their slogan — Deeds not Words — became one of the most powerful in the history of political protest.
Militancy and London
Suffragettes chained themselves to railings in Downing Street and Westminster. They smashed windows along Oxford Street and Bond Street. They set fire to postboxes and letter-bombed the home of Chancellor of the Exchequer David Lloyd George. Over a thousand were imprisoned, hundreds went on hunger strike.
Emily Davison and the Derby
Emily Wilding Davison, a militant suffragette, ran onto the track at the Epsom Derby in June 1913 and was struck by the King’s horse, suffering fatal injuries. Whether she intended to die is still debated by historians. Her funeral procession through London drew massive crowds and became one of the great acts of political theatre in British history.
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