The suffragettes

- The suffragettes

Ready to travel back to a monumental moment in British history? Then check out our suffragettes facts and learn about the time when women fought for the right to vote..

- What is ‘suffrage’?

‘Suffrage‘ means the right to vote in political elections.
It is a sad fact that throughout history, there have been many restrictions placed on who can and can’t vote, based on things like age, gender, race, education, wealth and social status. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, men in the UK had the right to vote but women did not. Many people – including women – didn’t believe that women should be able to vote. Even Queen Victoria called the fight for women’s rights a “mad, wicked folly” – despite being a powerful woman herself!

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- The suffragist movement

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In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many women started to campaign for women’s rights. The focus of their attention? The right to vote. This became known as the suffragist movement.
During this time, two main political groups formed, the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies and the Women’s Social and Political Union.
These groups came to be known by two different nicknames, invented by some newspapers who sought to ridicule them; the Suffragists and the Suffragettes.
The two groups used very different tactics to draw attention to their cause but their message was very much the same. They wore the colours purple, white and green and made banners, badges and sashes with the words ‘Votes for Women‘ displayed on them.

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- A Suffragette procession through London, 1914.

- Who were the Suffragists?

The suffragists were members of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) and were lead by Millicent Garrett Fawcett during the height of the suffrage movement, 1890 – 1919.
They campaigned for votes for middle-class, property-owning women and believed in peaceful protest. Millicent thought that if the organisation was seen to be thoughtful, intelligent and law-abiding, that they would win the respect of Parliament and in time, be granted the vote.
By 1900, the Suffragists’ hard work was starting to make waves. Several Bills (a proposed law) in favour of women’s suffrage won support in Parliament, but not enough to pass… Yet!

- Millicent Garrett Fawcett, President of the NUWSS addresses her suffragists at a meeting in Hyde Park, 1913.

- Suffragettes and the law

Many protesting Suffragettes were arrested for law-breaking and many went to prison. In further protest, Suffragettes would go on hunger strike (stop eating) in prison. To stop them from becoming ill, they would often be held down and force-fed by prison staff in a particularly unpleasant procedure!
To prevent any Suffragettes on hunger strike from dying in prison, Parliament introduced the “Cat and Mouse” Act. This meant that hunger-strikers were temporarily released from prison until they recovered – before being re-arrested and locked up again!

- Imprisoned Suffragettes wave through the windows of Holloway Prison, London, in 1909. 

- Emmeline Pankhurst (centre) and her daughter, Christabel (third from the left), are welcomed by friends and supporters after their release from prison in 1908. 

In 1913, Suffragette Emily Wilding Davison stepped out in front of the King’s racehorse during a race at Epsom, and died a tragic death after being trampled on. Whilst no one knows for sure what Emily was hoping to do exactly, it’s believed she was trying to pin a banner of suffragette colours to the King’s horse.
Emily’s death and the cruel police treatment of the Suffragettes sparked public anger and gathered sympathy and support to the women’s cause.

Emily Davison, left, and jockey Herbert Jones fall to the ground after her collision with the King's horse, Anmer.