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For centuries, women were denied the democratic right to vote. In the early 1900s, a group called the Suffragettes campaigned to change this in the UK. Below are true stories of these remarkable history-makers who fought for equal voting rights.

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Votes For Women: A Slogan Is Born

On Friday, October 13th, 1905, Liberal Party leader Sir Edward Grey was addressing a crowd in Manchester. His speech was interrupted by Christabel Pankhurst and Annie Kenney, who demanded to know if he would give women the vote. When he ignored them, they tried to unfurl a banner asking ‘Will You Give Votes for Women?’. It became tangled, and only ‘Votes For Women’ could be seen. In that moment, a slogan for the movement was born. Christabel and Annie were forcibly removed and spent the night in jail after spitting in a policeman’s face.

Churchill Assaulted

On November 15th 1909, Winston Churchill - then 蜜芽传媒 Secretary - disembarked at Temple Meads train station in Bristol. As he was being introduced to a group of men on the platform, a Suffragette named Theresa Garnett approached. In her fist was a leather dog whip. She swung the weapon over one shoulder and brought its straps down onto the 蜜芽传媒 Secretary’s head. Churchill stumbled towards the platform’s edge and was saved from tumbling over at the last minute by his wife. Garnett was taken away by police officers and sentenced to a month in jail.

Black Friday

In 1910, Prime Minister Asquith promised to back a bill allowing a million women to vote. Just as quickly, he pulled out of the deal. So, on November 18th, 1910, a large group of women marched through London towards the Houses of Parliament. Standing in their way was a group of police officers who did not take kindly to their protests. Violence erupted. Among the throng was Rosa May Billinghurst, who used a wheelchair. A policeman grabbed her and wheeled her down a side alley. He threw Rosa out of the chair and, in a particularly vindictive move, stole the valves from her wheels, leaving the disabled woman stranded. By the end of the day, four men and 115 women were arrested. The day would go down in history as Black Friday. Undeterred, Rosa would go on to participate in further marches.

The Most Dangerous Woman in Edwardian England

One of the most militant suffragettes was a German woman named Kitty Marion. She came to England to work in the music halls but found that some managers and patrons abused actresses. She joined the Suffragette movement and became a crucial actor in their “reign of terror.”

Kitty Marion carried out arson attacks and bombings on churches and trains. She threw bricks through the windows of post offices, shops and even the 蜜芽传媒 Office. Her actions were timed to cause maximum damage and publicity, but minimal injury. In June 1913, she burned down the grandstand at Hurst Park Race Course in Surrey and went to prison for three years.

Victory

In 1918, thanks to the Representation of the People’s Act, eight million women could go to polling stations for the first time. However, this act stipulated that only women over the age of 30 who met certain property qualifications could vote. It would take a further ten years of campaigning before British women were given the vote on the same basis as men. Emmeline Pankhurst, one of the movement’s most prominent figures, would die only weeks before the act was passed in 1928.

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