• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • About
    • First Time Here?
    • Archive
    • London Blogs
  • Blog
  • Travel
    • London Theater Tickets
    • Shopping
    • Tips
    • Tours
    • Transport
    • Maps
    • Parks
    • Resources
    • Restaurants
    • Top 10 London
  • Culture
    • Art
    • Buildings
    • Food
    • London Books
    • Movies
    • Museums
    • Music
    • Pubs
  • Londonism
    • Reviews
    • Fun London
    • Iconic London
    • Life in London
    • London Realities
    • Moving to London
    • Politics
  • The Tube
  • London History
    • Great London Buildings
    • Great Londoners
  • Contact
  • Guidebooks
    • 101 London Travel Tips – Guidebook
    • 101 Free Things to do in London

Londontopia

The Website for People Who Love London

You are here: Home / History / The Suffragettes of London

The Suffragettes of London

Sep 17, 2020 By John Rabon

It’s said that well-behaved women rarely make history.  In this day in age, it seems as true as ever that any progress made is done by passionate activists, and the suffragettes were no different.  Now, before we move any deeper into this subject, we must make an important distinction between suffragettes and suffragists.  Suffragists, for the most part, where dedicated to peaceful means of gaining the right to vote for women.  The suffragists were succeeded by the suffragettes, who were tired of asking for the right to vote and began demanding it through acts of civil disobedience and even violence.

The suffragettes saw their origins in London in 1903 when matriarch Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughters Christabel and Sylvia started the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) in Manchester.  In 1906, they moved the organization’s headquarters to London.  With the campaign slogan of “Deeds not Words”, the Pankhursts and their fellow suffragettes took to the capital’s streets in their green, white, and violet colors (GWV: Give Women Votes) to advocate for their cause directly to those in power.  They became an all-too-familiar site outside Whitehall and Parliament for the next several years until the first suffrage bill was passed in 1918.

From the headquarters at 4 Clement’s Inn in the Strand, the WSPU began to increase its influence.   Members of the WSPU began a campaign of violence that included smashing store windows and chaining themselves to railings to bring about a faster resolution of their goals.  In 1913, Christabel Pankhurst advocated for the use of explosives in their fight, and the organization’s acts turned to disrupting key industries and infrastructure including cutting telegraph cables and bombing or setting post boxes on fire.  Christabel, however, was adamant that no person was to be physically harmed.  In 1914, Mary Richardson entered the National Gallery and slashed the “Rokeby Venus” by Valazquez.  Henry Gordon Selfridge, perhaps in earnest solidarity or to keep his business intact, often flew the Suffragette flag above Selfridges and carried clothing items in their colors.

The violent acts by the SPU and others persuaded Parliament to take action—by having the suffragettes arrested.  Most were sent to HMP Holloway, then the largest women’s prison in the United Kingdom.  The suffragettes began hunger strikes to continue their activism and as a result were cruelly force-fed to keep them alive, though it had a detrimental effect on their health that helped sway more of the public to their cause in sympathy.  Hoping to curb this, Parliament passed the Cat and Mouse Act in 1913 to release the suffragettes when the cycle of starvation and force-feeding damaged their health, but would almost immediately rearrest them once they recovered.  The suffragettes also bombed the prison in 1913 to protest the treatment of their members.

Processions and demonstrations in London were regular events for the suffragette movement.  One of the first, organized by the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies, in 1907 saw participation from 40 organizations and 3,000 women who marched from Hyde Park to Exeter Hall in the rain and mud, earning it the nickname “The Mud March”.  In 1911 with the coronation of King George V, the WSPU organized its own coronation parade that included 60,000 women marching to a rally at the Royal Albert Hall in all manner of historical and national costumes.

The beginning of World War I halted much of the militancy of the suffragette movement as efforts were turned instead to supporting the war effort.  Suffrage found new allies in Parliament beginning in 1916, and by 1918, the right to vote was extended to women over the age of 30 who were householders, wives of householders, or owners of property.  In 1928, the Representation of the People (Equal Franchise) Act extended the right to vote to all women over the age of 21.

John Rabon
Author: John Rabon

John is a regular writer for Anglotopia and its sister websites. He is currently engaged in finding a way to move books slightly to the left without the embarrassment of being walked in on by Eddie Izzard. For any comments, questions, or complaints, please contact the Lord Mayor of London, Boris Johnson's haircut.

close

Free London News

Get the latest news on London history, culture, travel, exhibitions, and more right in your inbox!

Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

Share this:

  • Print
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Reddit
  • Pocket

Filed Under: History

Subscribe to Our Free London Updates

Free London News

Get the latest news on London history, culture, travel, exhibitions, and more right in your inbox!

Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

About John Rabon

John is a regular writer for Anglotopia and its sister websites. He is currently engaged in finding a way to move books slightly to the left without the embarrassment of being walked in on by Eddie Izzard. For any comments, questions, or complaints, please contact the Lord Mayor of London, Boris Johnson's haircut.

Primary Sidebar

Subscribe to Our Free London Updates

Free London News

Get the latest news on London history, culture, travel, exhibitions, and more right in your inbox!

Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

Get the Anglotopia/Londontopia App

Our Advertisers

If you are a mobile gamer, you may want to take a look at UK’s new mobile casinos and slots reviewed by NewCasinoUK.

Join the London Forum

  • Mudlarking
  • MY FAVOURITE PLACE IN LONDON
  • What's Your Favorite Place in London?
  • Paddington Station

London Guide

  • Ten Cheap Things You Can Do in London on a Budget
  • Ten London Exhibitions to Look Forward to in 2023
  • London’s Non-Free Museums: Your Guide to London’s Museums That Charge Admission
  • Trip Planning: Top 10 Exhibitions To Plan Your 2018 Trips to London Around
  • London Guide: Our Favorite Restaurants in London – London Restaurant Recommendations for Americans – What’s Your Favorite?

Connect With Us

  • Facebook
  • RSS Feed
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Support Londontopia

Search our Extensive Archive

Top 10 London

  • Ten Unusual Exhibits to See in London
  • London Pubs: Ten Thameside Pubs for a Pint and a View
  • Top 10 London: Ten More Things to Do Along the River Thames
  • Top 10 London: Top Ten Shopping Centers in London
  • Museums of London: Ten Overlooked London Museums
  • Top 10 London: Top Ten Things to See and Do in Haggerston
  • Top 10 London: Top Ten Things to See and Do in Haringey
  • Top 10 London: Top Ten Things to See and Do in Redbridge
  • Top 10 London: Top Ten Things to See and Do in Hillingdon
  • Top 10 London: Top Ten Things to Do in Canonbury

Recent Posts

  • More than 200 looks to feature in V&A exhibition on Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel
  • Souls Grown Deep like the Rivers: Black Artists from the American South at The Royal Academy
  • National Portrait Gallery to reopen with exhibition on pioneering color photographer
  • London Eye gets spring clean to mark start of the season
  • Natural History Museum named most visited indoor UK attraction again
  • The Ugly Duchess: Beauty and Satire in the Renaissance at the National Gallery
  • Gatwick returns to profit as air travel bounces back
  • Sir Mark Rylance brings role as Dr Semmelweis to West End
  • Shire horses prepare Tower of London moat for next wildflower display
  • In Video: Watch pianist Lang Lang perform at St Pancras station

Best Posts on Londontopia

  • 101 London Travel Tips
  • Top 100 London Attractions
  • How to Find the Cheapest Airfares to London
  • 10 Things NOT to do in London
  • Best London Guidebooks
  • 101 Free Things to do in London
  • London Lingo – A London Word Dictionary
  • Top 7 Tips for Doing London on the Cheap
  • Top 11 Myths American Believe about London
  • Guide to Eating in London
  • Best Times of Year to Travel to London
  • London Packing Tips
  • Top 11 Movies Set in London
  • Top Attractions off the Tourist Track
  • Top 5 Most Amazing London Hotels
  • Top 10 Hostels in London
  • Best Views in London Restuarants
  • London Taxi Ettiquette
  • Top 12 London Views
  • Great Fire of London
  • A Guide to Five of London’s Bridges
  • 10 Random Facts and Figures about Trafalgar Square
  • Top 100 British Slang Words

London Places to Explore

Bloomsbury Buckingham Palace Canary Wharf City of London Covent Garden Cutty Sark Greenwich Hampstead Hampton Court Palace Heathrow Houses of Parliament Hyde Park Imperial War Museum Islington Kensington Kensington Palace Leicester Square London London Eye London Transport Museum Museum of London National Gallery Notting Hill Piccadilly Circus Putney Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park Regent's Street Royal Academy Selfridges Somerset House Southbank Southwark St Pancras St Paul's Cathedral Tate Britain Tate Modern The City Tower Bridge Tower of London Trafalgar Square V&A Wandsworth West End Westminster Westminster Abbey

SIGN-UP FOR FREE LONDON WEEKLY UPDATES!

Please enter a valid email address
That address is already in use
The security code entered was incorrect
Thanks for signing up

Recent Videos

Walk Around London Virtually Right Now – Watched Walker is the YouTube Channel We All Need Right Now

Jason Hawkes Shares a Beautiful Video of London From Above That We All Need Right now

London Tube: You’ve Got to Watch This Amazing Mesmerizing Animation That Shows the Real Geography of the London Underground

Video: The Basics of Crossrail – London’s New Underground Line

London History: The Place Where Old London Double Decker Buses Went to Die

London Video: A Look at the Great Smog of London

10 Interesting Facts about the Hammersmith and City Line

Nearly half of Londoners have used Elizabeth line so far – survey

Tube and London bus fares to rise by nearly 6% from March

What is Crossrail 2 and What is Its Current Status?

London Alert: Strike by London Underground workers to go ahead after last-minute talks fail

London Mayor hails Elizabeth line as direct routes and Sunday services begin

Footer

About Londontopia

Londontopia is simply the website for people who love London. It was founded by Jonathan & Jackie Thomas from Anglotopia.net as a place to post articles solely focused on London and its environs. Keep up with all the latest London news at Londontopia! This site is geared towards people who love to visit London and our primary audience is North American but everyone is welcome!

When We’re in London Next

We don’t currently have any travel plans to London but hope to visit at some point in 2021.

  • SEO Backlinks
  • Travel Blog

SIGN-UP FOR FREE LONDON WEEKLY UPDATES!

Please enter a valid email address
That address is already in use
The security code entered was incorrect
Thanks for signing up

Copyright © 2023 Anglotopia, LLC · Website Developed by Anglotopia, LLC · Log in