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WORLD WAR I proved the seismic turning point in the campaign for women’s suffrage in Britain. However, serious groundwork had been laid by the Suffragette movement in the years leading up to the Great War, particularly a century ago – in 1912 and 1913 – as their tactics became increasingly confrontational and controversial.
Campaigns calling for women to have voting rights began in the mid-19th century in response to the Great Reform Act which blocked women from voting. Millicent Garrett Fawcett launched her peaceful campaign for women’s rights in the 1860s, but the women’s suffrage campaign became more radical with the founding of the Women’s Social and Political Union in 1903 by Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughters Christabel and Sylvia.
Tactics employed by the suffragettes included lobbying campaigns targeting politicians and acts of civil disobedience such as mass protests, arson and disrupting political party meetings. Suffragettes who were arrested in connection with their campaign began holding hunger strikes in prison, but were forcibly fed. Here is an extract from an account suffragette Emily Wilding Davison wrote in 1912 of her force feeding experiences:
(Document via parliament.uk)
In February 1913, Emmeline Pankhurst was sentenced to three years after claiming responsibility for a bomb attack on a house being built for the then-Chancellor of the Exchequer David Lloyd George. No one was injured in the explosion, and Pankhurst was released early after going on hunger strike. According to a Manchester Guardian report at the time, Pankhurst said:
If they torture me with force-feeding, that cannot last very long; they cannot keep me alive very long; and they will have to let me die or let me go. If I drop out of the fight hundreds will take my place.
Photo of broken windows at Lloyd George’s house following the bomb attack. (PA Archive)
Two months after the attack on Lloyd George’s house, the Prisoners Temporary Discharge for Health Act was hurriedly passed through parliament. Under this legislation, hunger striking suffragettes in custody were monitored and released when they became seriously ill or weak, but could be re-arrested again once their health improved. However, the legislation – popularly known as the ‘Cat and Mouse Act’ – was counter-productive in failing to bolster public support against the suffragette movement.
Public awareness of the suffragette campaign was further heightened by a tragic event several weeks later. On 4 June 1913, Emily Wilding Davison stepped out in front of King George V’s horse during the Epsom Derby and died from her injuries a few days later.
(YouTube/britishpathe)
In photos: The Suffragette movement in 1912 and 1913:
WWI
The Suffragette campaign for voting rights was essentially suspended during World War I and the war saw a significant social shift in the numbers of women from different classes working in traditionally male-dominated roles to produce weapons and food.
Legislation empowering women to vote, run for office and take their seat in parliament was finally enacted in 1918. However, this legislation still restricted women voting with the inclusion of a clause requiring a minimum qualifying age of thirty for a woman to be allowed vote. Equal terms with male voters were enacted ten years later with the Representation of the People (Equal Franchise Act) 1928.
The first woman elected to the House of Commons was the Irish revolutionary Constance Markievicz, who refused to take up her seat in accordance with her party Sinn Féin’s boycott of the British parliament.
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More than welcome…
@Pete Lee: Why would we protest, the Trump administration has been nothing but kind to Ireland.
People might not like Trump, but he hasn’t done anything other than sour relations.
Not very political, but hardly dictator-ish.
@Pete Lee: yes our simpering government can’t wait to kiss his bum.
@Cynical: Other than locking thousands of children up in concentration camps without charge in appalling conditions, he’s a great guy. Crimes against humanity notwithstanding.
@seamus mcdermott: If you read this, it seems to have been a serious issue in the US long before he got a chance to try and stick his fingers in it. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/08/magazine/the-shame-of-americas-family-detention-camps.html
Honestly, other than threatening people he’s going to do something, please tell me what has he actually done?
I’m not a Trump supporter, I just think people waste way too much energy following updates on whether he picked his left nostril or right one.
So tolerant liberals who celebrate diversity can’t tolerate someone with diverse views. Instead of demonstrating against Mike Pence’s visit, shouldn’t they be demonstrating how tolerant they are by welcoming him?
@Henry Gaynor: they are. They’re breaking out their glitter balls. Shiny, happy people. I bet Mike even has a pair of flares in his closet.
@jamesdecay: He could bring a plane load of Mexican migrants with him and they could get a right old salsa going. The demonstrators could bring them home for the night afterwards. Isn’t that what often happens at discos?
@Henry Gaynor: in fairness, I haven’t been to a disco in a long, long time. But that sounds the makings of a plan. Or at least a good hooley anyway
@Henry Gaynor: what the hell are you talking about? …
Fantastic news, we need more progressive politicians like Mike.
@Mick paisley: Progressive you say?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Pence#Criticism_and_controversy
@Greg Ward: that’s the trouble with social media. It’s impossible to tell from a post, the difference between the angry, funny and the gobshide.
@Paul Furey: Jasus Paul calm down will ya!
@Ananya Sharma: And there you go, you perceived he wasn’t calm, I perceived nothing like that!
@Greg Ward: it can be hard to tell sometimes. Maybe we should adopt the /s used on reddit.
@Paul Furey: Mick’s comment was very obviously sarcasm.
@Mick paisley: why would we need progressives, they are a pack of nut jobs. They are the new fascists.
@Burn_the_Witch: Blatant. Certain users should need an ‘N’ badge until such subtitles are recognised.
Where were this lot when our parliament was (incredibly) shut down to accommodate Nancy Pelosi…who had just legalised abortion UP TO BIRTH in New York??
But I guess that this shower are the ones who allowed the same up to birth abortion to belegalisedhere last year.
Yes you did…or did you not bother to find out what your yes vote would mean.
@Ismise Máire: I don’t know really. I guess they were at home happy that the dáil was celebrated someone who fights for women’s rights over the perceived “rights” of religious nutbags. That’s my guess.
@Ismise Máire: I’m so happy that I voted Yes to Repeal the 8th and fully informed myself, watched and listened to all of the debates, heard the falsehoods of the ‘Pro-Life’ campaign which were easily dismissed, it was such an historic day and Ireland can be proud that the vast majority of her citizens voted in solidarity with our women.
@Ismise Máire: wow, the falsehoods are strong in this one.
@Ismise Máire: look. We had a referendum. You lost. The writing is on the wall for you.
@Mairead1990: what falsehoods Liam?
@Mairead1990: Where do you stand on a woman’s right to be born?
@Henry Gaynor: Hey, don’t be sexist, men too!!! And @Mairead1990 where do you stand on a man’s right to not pay maintenance? Would that be a fair comparison, or does the right to choose only affect women? I know it’s a crazy comparison, but it’s a crazy world, right?
It’s a Monday and Tuesday, do protesters not have jobs to go to.
@aidan mccormack: break out those disco pants, man. Sounds like you need a bop
@aidan mccormack: the only people who have this kind of time to protest are the unemployed perma protesters & employees of state funded advocacy/charity groups. Chinese diplomats do not receive the same animosity for some reason.
@Seamus Mac: think the same about protestors in Hong Kong?
@GrahamMManning: Protesters around the world face the same treatment as those in Hong Kong. Yellow vests were tear gassed in France, protesting war veterans were shot with live ammo in the US.
@GrahamMManning: I think the people in Hong Kong feel that what they are protesting against would have a negative impact on their lives and once implemented would be unchangeable. The Pence protesters are doing so because they don’t like the man’s views.
@GrahamMManning: no disco in hong kong
I don’t agree with Pence views but I do believe he is entitled to hold them. His principles and mine are radically different but my belief in tolerance and diversity means I cannot deny him his right to be different . Respect is a two way street …Pence is a guest of Ireland ., so any protest must be respectful , express a position but not insult a visitor. Leo handled this balance well in Washington ; we must all handle it equally well in a balanced respectful way here .
@peter finnegan: A tolerant liberal. Well done to you. Because it is right-thinking liberals who get to decide what speech is intolerant, the result, in practical terms, is that the ethic of tolerance provides no restraint on liberals at all. It is only a restraint on the actions, speech and, ultimately, thought of their political opponents.
For those on the other side, Catholics or conservatives or anyone who does not subscribe to the new liberal orthodoxy, they are no longer expected merely to tolerate those views with which they disagree, but to affirm and celebrate them – anything less is seen as bigotry etc. Meanwhile, secular liberals can be as intolerant as they like, verbally attacking people and their characters while almost never engaging with and debating their ideas.
@Burn_the_Witch: so you’re annoyed because you think he sounds patronizing? He sounds reasonable to me. But maybe I’m just another one of those god-awful liberals and I’m just demonstrating confirmation bias.
Good name though. Funny how the intolerant burned ‘witches’ in the Middle Ages because of fear, ignorance and a general intolerance of something different.
@jamesdecay: I wasn’t criticizing him at all. Just making a point about how unique he is. And ‘Burn the Witch’ is a song title that I used, nothing to do with politics or anything else except I like said song.
@jamesdecay: And far from being annoyed, I totally agree with everything the OP said. Sorry if my original comment confused you, I should have been clearer.
@Burn_the_Witch: all good
@jamesdecay: Thanks.
I dont want the taoiseachs partner/boyfriend representing me.
@Miller: then don’t vote for Leo and his mates next time. Surprisingly you don’t get to pick their partner
@Miller: You must know Leo’s partner.
@Miller: aw why?
@Miller: do you feel the same about Sabina Higgins? What’s the difference that one couple is gay and the other isn’t? Ridiculous comment but why am I surprised.
A disco?
@Briscoe Sundara: well when you’re protesting every week it gets kind of repetitive. Good to have a theme night to change it up a little!
I thought it couldn’t get any worse than Mr varadkar and all his buddies getting their photo op with Kylie minogue. How many leaders bring their partner and mammy and daddy to meet a world leader. It’s beyond cringeworthy.
@Leo Lalor: most leaders bring their partner to meet with fellow world leaders. I’m sure they would bring their parents too if they were still alive, remember many leaders are elderly and their parents may be sadly deceased. I can’t see the issue and I seriously doubt Mike Pence will see it either.
@Leo Lalor: mike pence bringing his family so what’s the issue
@Deirdre Fahey: we are paying millions towards his security
Mike Pence is part of an administration that is using its influence and soft power to end the criminalisation of homosexuality throughout the world.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/trump-administration-launches-global-effort-end-criminalization-homosexuality-n973081
Why don’t you start paying for your meals Leo.
@Diogenes: I wonder will beef be on the menu.
@Dave Doyle: Only if it’s Brazilian!
Bríd Smith and her cronies will no doubt be protesting against his visit she and her leftie lunnies represent everything I despise about this country.
@Bass demon: Colm o Gorman and his crew is
A “real of Ireland”, really? Pense is loadsa things, v few good, but ye went with he’s not imaginary? Not sure what that fact has to with us but ok.
@GrahamMManning: guess the word ‘friend’ is missing. Surprising. Not much escapes the razor-sharp spellcheckers at The Journal
Hospitals homeless poverty do I need to go on
…and ONE word about Palestine.
@Niall MacSweeney: please could you pass the Palestine! *cough I mean peas!.. I’ll get my coat
How things have changed in 20 years….
Hams…
Seeing its a “family lunch” I hope Leo is footing the bill
Side show. Government get the health system in order and enjoy your lunch but for Christ sake get to work.
So are the Irish taxpayers paying for his parents lunch?
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