Postcard : Advertising for town hall meeting. [1911]
Women's Social and Political Union (Great Britain)
Photographic postcard of suffragettes posting advertisements for the Women's Social and Political Union town hall meeting held on October 27, 1911, and handing out "Votes for Women" newspapers.
[1911]
Postcard : Bristol "Varsity Students Revenge." The wrecked suffragettes headquarters. [1913]
Demonstration
University of Bristol
Women's Social and Political Union (Great Britain)
Photographic postcard of the a large crowd gathered on the street in front of the Women's Social and Political Union headquarters in Queens Road.
In 1912, the WSPU began a massive campaign of destruction around London, smashing windows, vandalizing works of art, cutting telephone wires, and more.
On October 23, 1913, the Bristol University sports pavilion was burned down and suffragette literature was found nearby, with a note demanding the release from prison of a suffragette who had been arrested in London. Bristol student took revenge by trashing the WSPU shop, and setting fire to a pile of books, newspapers, and leaflets on the street outside.
[1913]
Postcard : Band of the Women's Social & Political Union. [Circa 1909-1910]
Leigh, Mary, c.1855
Fife and drum corps
Marching bands
Women's Social and Political Union (Great Britain)
Photographic postcard of the fife and drum marching band, founded in 1909, which often accompanied the organization's processions and demonstrations. The band was created to publicize the Women's Exhibition at the Prince's Skating Rink. WSPU member, Mary Leigh (far left) was the Drum Major.
London : Merchant's Portrait
[Circa 1909-1910]
Postcard : Hyde Park demonstration. Sunday, June 21, 1908. Mrs. Pankhurst, Mrs. Wolstenholme Elmy. 1908
Demonstration
Elmy, E. C. Wolstenholme (Elizabeth C. Wolstenholme)
Hyde Park (London, England)
Pankhurst, Emmeline, 1858-1928
Women's Social and Political Union (Great Britain)
Photographic postcard of Emmeline Pankhurst and Elizabeth Clark Wolstenholme Elmy at a Hyde Park Demonstration.
Emmeline Pankhurst was the leader of the Women's Social and Political Union. Elizabeth Wolstenholme Elmy, age 75, was a member of the WSPU.
This is a photograph of the first large WSPU demonstration, advertised as a "monster meeting." Suffragettes from all over the country attended and marched in seven processions through the capital to the rally in Hyde Park where they could hear over seventy speakers at twenty different platforms. Wolstenholme Elmy was the leader of one of the processions.
London : Sandle Brothers
1908
Postcard : Mrs. Pankhurst arrested in Victoria Street. February 13, 1908.
Arrest
England--London
Holloway (London, England)
Pankhurst, Emmeline, 1858-1928
Women's Social and Political Union (Great Britain)
Photographic postcard of the arrest of Emmeline Pankhurst on the charge of obstructing a policeman while on a deputation to the House of Commons. The next day she received a sentence of six weeks in Holloway prison. The deputation to the Commons followed a meeting at Caxton Hall, where the Suffragettes learned that no mention of women's suffrage was to be made in the King's Speech. Mrs. Pankhurst can be seen here carrying a scroll of paper on which was written the resolution of the meeting. She was also limping, following an injury sustained the previous month (at a Devon by-election) in an altercation with Liberal party supporters. (Museum of London)
London : Photocrom Co., Ltd.
1908
Postcard : The late E.W. Davison. [Circa 1913]
Davison, Emily Wilding, 1872-1913
Holloway (London, England)
Women's Social and Political Union (Great Britain)
Postcard with photographic portrait of Emily Wilding Davison wearing her Holloway Badge. Davidson gave up her teaching post to become a career militant. She joined the Women's Social and Political Union in 1906. She served nine prison sentences, and endured many sessions of force-feeding, for a wide range of offences including obstruction, stone throwing, window smashing, setting fire to pillar-boxes, and assaulting a Baptist minister whom she mistook for the Liberal Cabinet Minister David Lloyd George. She also hid in the House of Commons broom cupboard on census night in 1911.
In the 1913 Derby she ran out on to the racetrack and attempted to stop the king's horse, Anmer. She received serious head injuries and died four days later at Epsom Cottage Hospital, surrounded by a suffragette guard of honour and purple, white and green flags. (Museum of London)
London : F. Kehrhahn & Co.
[Circa 1913]
Postcard : Mrs. Mary Leigh. [Circa 1905-1914]
Leigh, Mary, c.1855
Women's Social and Political Union (Great Britain)
Postcard with photographic portrait of Mary Leigh, National Women's Social and Political Union, with the organization's address.
Mary Leigh was a member of the Women's Social and Political Union by 1907. She and Edith New became the first suffragette window smashers. Leigh served three prison sentences for her suffragette activities, and endured many episodes of forcible feeding. In 1909 she became drum-major of the WSPU drum and fife band, which often accompanied suffragette processions and demonstrations. (Museum of London)
Women's Social and Political Union (Great Britain)
[Circa 1905-1914]
Postcard : Miss Charlotte Marsh. [Circa 1909]
Marsh, Charlotte, 1887-1961
Women's Social and Political Union (Great Britain)
Postcard with photographic portrait of Charlotte Marsh, organizer, National Women's Social and Political Union, with the organization's address.
Charlotte Marsh joined the Women's Social and Political Union in 1907. She did not, however, become active in the movement until 1908 when she finished her training as a sanitary inspector. During her first WSPU deputation to Parliament Square in June 1908 Charlotte was arrested for obstruction and imprisoned in Holloway for one month. The following year she became WSPU organiser in Yorkshire. (Museum of London)
Women's Social and Political Union (Great Britain)
[Circa 1909]
Postcard : Lady Constance Lytton. [1909]
Lytton, Lady Constance, 1869-1923
Women's Social and Political Union (Great Britain)
Postcard with photographic portrait of Lady Constance Lytton, Women's Social and Political Union, with the organization's address.
Constance Lytton joined the WSPU in 1908. She served four prison sentences. Born into an aristocratic family, Lytton was dismayed at the special treatment she received from the authorities owing to her family connections. When arrested in Liverpool while disguised as a working class woman 'Jane Warton', she was sentenced to hard labour and forcibly fed when going on hunger strike. This exposed the worse treatment to which working class prisoners were subject. Lytton later suffered a stroke owing to her prison experiences. (Museum of London)
Lafayette Ltd.
[1909]
Postcard : Mrs. [Rosamund] Massy. [Circa 1909]
Massy, Rosamund, 1870-1947
Women's Social and Political Union (Great Britain)
Photographic portrait postcard of Rosamund Massy, National Women's Social and Political Union, with the organization's address.
Rosamund Massy was the daughter of Lady Knyvett, also a member of the WSPU. Massy became a WSPU organiser and campaigned during many by-elections. She was imprisoned several times for her suffragette activities. (Museum of London)
Martin, Rita (photographer)
Women's Social and Political Union (Great Britain)
London : Photochrom Co., Ltd.
[Circa 1909]