BRITAIN WSPU 1903-14 PART 1 Flashcards
When was the NUWSS established?
1897
Who led the NUWSS?
Millicent Fawcett
What did the NUWSS avoid with its campaigning?
Outdoor meetings; public appeals; by-election interfering
Why was there a growing consensus in the early 1900s that female suffrage would eventually be received?
Rise of the Independent Labour Party; Irish Home Rule movement
When was the WSPU formed?
1903
What is the time period in which most historians agree that the WSPU reinvigorated the cause of women’s suffrage?
1903-08
What is the time period in which historians are divided about the impact of the WSPU’s violence on the women’s movement?
1909-14
Who established the WSPU?
Emmeline Pankhurst
What was the initial membership of the WSPU like?
Small group of working-class women, mostly wives of ILP supporters
How many members did the WSPU consist of in the summer of 1905?
30
What was the WSPU’s motto?
‘Deeds, not words’
Why did the Pankhursts believe that a political movement was called for that would challenge the government?
Even a parliament of pro-women MPs would not enfranchise women
What were the moderate militant tactics did the WSPU initially decide to adopt?
Meeting disruptions; demonstrations; heckling
How was the militancy campaign of the WSPU initiated?
Christabel disrupted a speech by Sir Edward Grey at a public meeting
Who was Christabel accompanied by when she interrupted a speech for the first time?
Fellow WSPU member Annie Kenney
When did the WSPU decide to adopt moderate militant tactics?
1905
Which WSPU member made the decision to adopt moderate militant tactics?
Christabel
What did suffragette militancy take inspiration from?
Irish Home Rule movement
Who led the Irish Home Rule movement?
Charles Parnell
What approach had Parnell taken to promoting Irish Home Rule?
Didn’t target individual MPs but put pressure on the government
How had Parnell approached Liberal candidates?
Opposed all of them, even those in favour of Home Rule
When did the militant action of the WSPU increased?
1906-07
What is an example of the increased militancy of the suffragettes?
Chained themselves to the railings on Downing Street and to statues in the House of Commons’ lobby
When did a WSPU group break into the lobby of the HoC?
25 October 1906
How many suffragettes were arrested for breaking into the lobby of the HoC?
10
How was Christabel punished for interrupting the meeting of Sir Edward Grey?
Imprisoned
What was a powerful tool for the WSPU for creating sympathy with middle and upper class audiences?
Notion of socially elite women in jail as unjustly punished victims of a male-controlled state
Who is an example of a socially elite woman whose arrested caused public outrage?
Mrs Cobden Sanderson, daughter of renowned reform politician Richard Cobden
What did public outrage about the notion of socially elite women in jail expose?
Class divides
How did WSPU militancy help the NUWSS to build up its membership?
Won publicity for the women’s suffrage campaign
When did the NUWSS organise its own mass meeting?
1907
What did the NUWSS’ mass meeting become known as?
‘Mud March’
How many NUWSS supporters assembled at its mass meeting?
3000
When did the WSPU hold the first ‘Women’s Parliament’?
February 1907
What encourage the WSPU to move towards more violent forms of militancy?
Huge 1908 Hyde Park meeting failed to influence the government at all
Who won a landslide victory in the 1906 general election?
Liberal Party
What was the Liberal government most concerned with in 1908?
Radical social welfare reforms; Conservative-controlled HoL; Irish Home Rule; worsening national trade balance
When did Asquith replace Campbell-Bannerman as PM?
April 1908
How many women met at the mass Hyde Park meeting in June 1908?
250,000-500,000
When did the WSPU’s violent militancy begin?
Autumn of 1908
What did Christabel direct in response to Asquith’s refusal to acknowledge the mass support at the Hyde Park meeting?
Mass campaign of window-breaking
How long was Christabel sent to prison for window-breaking?
2 months
Why did the suffragettes adopt a campaign of violent militancy?
To convince the government and the public that orderly daily life could not continue while women were excluded from politics
Who became a popular target for much of the suffragette’s violent militancy?
Asquith
How was the PM targeted as part of the WSPU’s violent militancy?
Assaulted on a golf course and slates were thrown at his car
Why was Asquith sceptical about female suffrage?
Reasoned that representation within parliament was not a universal right, noting that children were not included
What did Asquith state that it would take for him to consider the question of female suffrage?
A clear demonstration that there was sufficient demand in the country
When did the WSPU begin its hunger strikes?
June 1909
What undermined the propaganda effect of the force-feedings?
Temporary Discharge for the Ill-Health Act 1913
What was the Temporary Discharge for the Ill-Health Act more commonly referred to as?
Cat-and-Mouse Act
When was the most notorious act of suffragette militancy?
‘Black Friday’ 18 November 1910
Who did Emmeline declare was the enemy after ‘Black Friday’?
Liberal Party
How did the WSPU change its tactics after ‘Black Friday’?
Tried to avoid street protests, favouring acts of property destruction
When did suffragette militancy become even more extreme?
1911
What tactics did the WSPU use in 1912?
Targeted artworks; set fire to pillar boxes; continued its relentless programme of window smashing
When was the suffragette campaign at its most militant?
1913
What are examples of the suffragette militancy in 1913?
13 paintings in Manchester Art Gallery were hacked apart; streetlights, golf greens and train carriages were damaged
When did the NUWSS begin campaigning for women’s suffrage?
1897
Which ex-WSPU member believed that suffragette militancy was purely for publicity?
Teresa Billington-Greig
Why did the WSPU believe that violence was the only way forward for the campaign?
Government had refused to act in response to peaceful protest of 1905-08
When were the NUWSS and WSPU essentially wigs of the same movement?
1903-09
When was growth of the fame suffrage movement slow?
1903-05
How did the WSPU grow after they began using militant tactics?
3 branches in 1906 to 122 branches by 1911
When did membership of the WSPU expand massively?
1906-10
Why is it hard to gauge how many women participated in the WSPU?
It did not maintain formal membership
When did Annie Kenney join the WSPU?
1905
Why was Kenney an important addition to the WSPU?
Added a much needed working class element to the WSPU’s leadership
When did Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence and her husband join the WSPU?
1906
Why were Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence and her husband an important addition to the WSPU?
Added much financial and organisation skill
What did Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence become in the WSPU?
Treasurer
What did Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence’s husband do for the WSPU?
Organised its staff; established its newspaper, ‘Votes for Women’
What was the WSPU’s leadership organised into by 1906?
Unelected Central Committee
Who was the secretary of the WSPU in 1906?
Sylvia Pankhurst
What body assisted the WSPU’s Central Committee in 1906?
Subcommittee- made up mainly of friends and family of the Pankhursts
What did the WSPU’s Central Committee do?
Controlled all WSPU publications, finances and paid appointments
How many WSPU branches were there in London in 1911?
64
How many WSPU branches were there elsewhere in England in 1911?
58
Which regional WSPU branch clashed with the London WSPU?
Liverpool- very working-class organisation
What was the membership of the WSPU like in 1903?
Mainly northern working-class women, with connections to the ILP
Why did Christabel move the WSPU’s base from Manchester to London?
Increasing disillusionment with ILP; secure popular support outside of Manchester
Why Adela Pankhurst encouraged by her mother to emigrate to Australia?
She held alienating socialist views
Why did the WSPU perpetually struggle to secure the support of working-class men?
Many in Labour feared women would vote Conservative/Liberal; women’s admission to workplace would drive wages down
When did the Labour Party reject women’s suffrage?
1907
When did the NUWSS grow rapidly?
1902-06- increased from 17 to 31 branches
What is an example of the NUWSS, rather than the WSPU, putting in the political leg work for the movement?
Made sure the 1906 Liberal government included a majority of sympathetic members
Which organisation also orchestrated militant acts throughout the 1900s?
Women’s Freedom League (WFL)
Which organisation had Emmeline been involved with before the WSPU?
Women’s Franchise League
What made Emmeline an effective leader?
Magnetic; influential speaker; unique POV
Why was Christabel a heroic figure for many?
Dazzlingly clever; strong-willed; attractive
How many churches were attacked between 1913-14 for the CoE’s prejudices against women?
50
What were Emmeline and Christabel eager to run the WSPU like?
An army
How many splits took place in the WSPU?
7
When did 1/5 of the WSPU’s members leave to forge a more working-class, pro-Labour movement?
1907
When were the Pethick-Lawrences banned from the WSPU?
1912
Who led the WSPU split of 1907?
Charlotte Despard and Teresa Billington-Greig
Why did the 1907 split occur?
Billington-Greig had drafted a constitution at the WSPU’s annual conference, attempting to make the WSPU more democratic
