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WSPU was formed
The WSPU was formed in Emmeline Pankhurst's home after a group of women decided to lobby political parties to take some practical action to gain the right to vote for women. They adopted the motto 'Deeds not Words'. -
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WSPU History
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Members demand to know if Women's Suffrage was part of the Government's official policy
Annie Kenney and Christabel Pankhurst questioned Sir Edward Gray and Winston Churchill their opinion on Women's rights. When they recieved no answer then revealed a banner reading "WILL YOU GIVE VOTES FOR WOMEN?". Both women were asserested and placed in prison after refusing to pay their large fines. -
Emmeline Pankhurst recorded her aim
Emmeline Pankhurst stated the "Vote For Women" banners would appear at public meetings wherever a prospective member of the government was to speak. -
Campaign extended
The WSPU took their 'Votes For Women' campaign to London. -
First Suffrage Procession
The first suffrage procession was held when 400 women marched to a meeting at Caxton Hall, London. -
Hon. WIlliam Randar Cremer spoke against the Goverment's reolution
Member of Parlianment and chairman of the independant party, Keir Hardie, managed to have a Women's suffrage Resolution discussed in the House of Commons. The Resolution was 'that in the opinion of this House it is desirable that sex should cease to be a bar to the exercise of the Parliamentary franchise'. The Member for Shoreditch, Haggerston, the Hon. WIlliam Randall Cremer rose to speak against this. -
'Women's Parliament'
By February 1907, the WSPU campaign included a 'Women's Parliament'. Aware they had been barred from participating in and House of Commons debate, the women gathered in Caxton Hall to discuss the King's Speech. -
Imprisonment
In the first few moths of 1907, 130 women were sent to prison for trying to carry a resolution from Caxton Hall to the Prime Minister in the house of Commons -
Protest
A small delegation of women gathered in Downing STreet to demand interviews with Cabinet Ministers as they arrived for the first Cabinet Council of the season. As the police began to drag the women away, two protesters, Miss New and Nurse Olivia Smith, chained themselves to the railings outside the Prime Minister's front door. -
Newspaper report
The Daily Mirror reported on the tactics of two members, Miss McLellan and Miss Soloman, used to try and see Mr Asquith. These women became 'human letters' by despatching themselves from the East Strand Post Office and setting off to Downing Street with a 'card' bearing the words 'To the Right Hon. H. H. Asquith, 10 Downing Street'. The women were not successful, and returned to the post office -
House of Commons
The Conciliation Bill was introduced into the House of Commons. If successful, it would have secured the parliamentery franchise for about a million women 'possessed of a household qualification'. -
WSPU's 'Black Friday'
Police and 'well-dressed roughs' used extreme violence to break up the women's march to Downing Street. 'The Women were treated with the greatest brutality. They were pushed about in all directions and thrown down by the police. Their arms were twisted until almost broken. Their thumbs were forcibly bent back, and they were tortured in other nameless ways that made one feel sick at the sight.' (Mr Mansell-Moullin, Daily Mirror, 22 November 1910) -
Cat and Mouse Act.
The Government passed what was known as the Cat and Mouse Act., In effect this Act allowed the government to force women whose health was damaged abd required medical treatment, to serve their full prison sentence. -
World War One
With the outbreak of World War One, the sufragettes militancy ended, as they began to focus more on the war efforts. Many women took on the jobs of those men fighting.
