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Mr Silverman - History > How far were individual women reponsible for the WSPU's success before 1914? > Flashcards

How far were individual women reponsible for the WSPU's success before 1914? Flashcards

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1
Q

Name the 4 most significant women who contributed to the WSPU’s success before 1914

A
  • Emmeline & Christabel Pankhurst
  • Sylvia Pankhurst
  • Emily Davison
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2
Q

What did Emmeline Pankhurst provide for the movement

A
  • A magnetism that attracted many dedicated women to the movement, through her influential speaking
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3
Q

What convinced Christabel to begin militancy

A
  • After a meeting of unemployed men had to be dispersed by the police and was branded a riot in March 1905,
  • an unemployment bill previously abandoned by the government was reintroduced and passed
  • Militant disturbances, it seemed, could shake the government into action
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4
Q

What act of militancy did Christabel inspire
1905

A
  • In November 1905, Christabel disrupted a public meeting, before spitting on a policeman to ensure she was arrested
  • Both Emmeline and Liberal politician Winston Churchill tried to pay a fine for Christabel to avoid imprisonment, but she refused
  • Christabel therefore recognised that imprisonment could be a valuable tool to secure public sympathy, inspiring other young women to do the same
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5
Q

What act of militancy did Christabel inspire
1912

A
  • Several acts of arson
  • In particular on Churches, believing the CofE upheld political prejudices against women
  • Between 1913-14, around 50 churches were attacked
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6
Q

How did the WSPU’s alliances change in 1906

A
  • The WSPU moved away from the ILP, which was very much an initiative of Christabel & Emmeline Pankhurst
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7
Q

Why did Emmeline & Christabel alter the movement from 1906

A
  • Christabel was sure that Labour and the Liberals were both unwilling to support women’s votes,
  • but thought that the Conservative Party would introduce suffrage for propertied women to gain an electoral advantage over the Liberals, as it had done in 2nd Reform Act
  • In 1907, Christabel was in contact with the Conservative leader Arthur Balfour, who doubted women wanted the vote
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8
Q

In what direction did Emmeline & Christabel alter the movement from 1906

A

A shift to the right on the part of the WSPU

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9
Q

What can be suggested from the Pankhurst’s leadership in 1906

A
  • devisive & opportunistic
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10
Q

How did Emmeline & Christabel justify their undemocratic organisation

A
  • while autocratic, Christabel and Emmeline provided many women with inspirational characters
  • ruling by charm; winning genuine devotion from their followers
  • a more democratic style of government was unsuitable to a militant organisation like the WSPU, which practised illegal activities
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11
Q

Evidence their leadership was successful

What did Emmeline & Christabel achieve as leaders

A
  • Moulded the WSPU into an effective political force.
  • Christabel was central to the adoption of militant tactics that brought the question of female suffrage to the forefront of British politics
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12
Q

Evidence their leadership was successful

What arguments did Emmeline put forward to win sympathy from female audiences

A
  • Women had a unique point of view that required political representation
  • She did not claim that women and men were equal, but that women required specific consideration in law making that could only be ensured through female suffrage
  • This resonated with mothers and wives
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13
Q

Evidence their leadership was successful

What was the attitude of most WSPU supporters towards Emmeline & Christabel

A

In particular won the suppport of wealthy middle & upper class women

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14
Q

Evidence their leadership was successful

What was the impact of the move towards the Conservatives after 1906

A
  • The move to the Conservatives and the emphasis on extending the franchise to propertied women can be seen as a pragmatic move by Emmeline and Christabel,
  • making the principle of women’s votes easier to achieve
  • A broad appeal for votes for all women would have been difficult to sell to parliament
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15
Q

Evidence their leadership was not successful

Pankhursts leadership

A
  • The Pankhursts’ leadership aroused several splits and alienated many WSPU members, as well as outsiders to the organisation,
  • Emmeline and Christabel were responsible for the increasingly violent tactics that shocked observers after 1908.
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16
Q

Describe the style of Emmeline & Christabel’s leadership

A
  • Eager to run the WSPU like an army, with an autocratic style
  • Indeed, they felt that as they engaged in militant behaviour and illegal forms of protest, an almost militaristic system of authority was required
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17
Q

Evidence their leadership was not successful

For what underlying reason did Charlotte Despard & Teresa Billington-Greig leave the WSPU

A
  • Arguably, their inability to compromise or concede to any opinions other than their own weakened the movement
  • In 1907, disillusioned with the undemocratic nature of the WSPU, Charlotte Despard and Teresa Billington-Greig left to form the WFL
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18
Q

Evidence their leadership was not successful

After what explicit event did Billington-Greig leave the WSPU

A
  • 1907 - after Billington-Greig had drafted a constitution at the WSPU’s annual conference, attempting to make the WSPU more democratic
  • Christabel and Emmeline were horrified at the proposal and removed Billington-Greig from the WSPU’s leadership
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19
Q

Evidence their leadership was not successful

How many members did Charlotte Despard & Teresa Billington-Greig take with them

A
  • 1/5 of the WSPU’s members
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20
Q

Evidence their leadership was not successful

What did Charlotte Despard & Teresa Billington-Greig form

A

The WFL, a more working-class, pro-Labour movement.

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21
Q

Evidence their leadership was not successful

How many splits were there in the WSPU

A

7

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22
Q

Evidence their leadership was not successful

What happened to the Pethick Lawrences in October 1912

A
  • After quarrelling over the recent escalation of violence, Emmeline persuaded the the Pethick-Lawrence couple to take a break in Canada.
  • On returning to England, they found that they had been banned from the WSPU altogether
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23
Q

Evidence their leadership was not successful

What did Christabel bear responsibility for

A
  • increasingly violent tactics that shocked observers after 1908
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24
Q

Evidence their leadership was not successful

Why did Christabel’s influence change after 1912

A
  • Christabel’s role in the WSPU diminished when she fled to France to avoid imprisonment
  • From Paris, she orchestrated the WSPU through regular meetings with Annie Kenney
  • In particular, it was from Paris that Christabel directed the WSPU’s arson campaign
25
Q

Evidence their leadership was not successful

Why did Emmeline’s influence change after 1913

A
  • In 1913, Emmeline was sentenced to three years’ penal servitude for threatening to blow up Lloyd George’s house
  • Emmeline’s constant imprisonments, with the cycle of starvations, force-feedings, releases and re-arrests ruined her health, leaving her much weakened
26
Q

Summarise why Emmeline & Christabel limited the WSPU’s success

A
  • The problem was that the WSPU’s autocratic nature was limited and inflexible
  • When votes for women was not on the government’s agenda, militant tactics won the support the movement so badly needed
  • However, Emmeline and Christabel lacked ideas over how to influence government when it was seriously considering extending the franchise to women between 1909 and 1914
27
Q

With the Liberal government’s repressive response to violence and Christabel’s absence, the WSPU’s leadership was somewhat undermined by …

A

1914

28
Q

What did Sylvia Pankhurst do when the WSPU severed ties with labour

A
  • Sylvia remained close to Labour and worked to promote women’s suffrage among working-class audiences
  • She was a socialist & quickly grew tired of the WSPU’s increasingly, socially elite composition
  • She believed that the move away from Labour was typical of Christabel’s ‘incipient Toryism’
  • She kept close links with Labour and remained a very close friend of Keir Hardie, the ILP’s leader
29
Q

What did Sylvia do in 1911

A
  • In 1911, she published The Suffragette: The History of the Women’s Militant Suffrage Movement, 1905-1910
  • This was a work of propaganda intended to win support for the movement,
  • outlining the actions of the WSPU,
  • emphasising the sacrifice suffragettes made through militancy
30
Q

Evidence their leadership was successful

What happened to Sylvia in 1913

A
  • In spring 1913, she was arrested three times, going on hunger strike on the third occasion
  • She was arrested again in July, but after the introduction of the Cat-and-Mouse Act was released and then rearrested several times.
  • Sylvia recognised the political value of imprisonment and force-feedings.
31
Q

Evidence their leadership was not successful

What was Sylvia’s attitude towards increasing millitancy after 1908

A
  • Although she did not approve of the escalating militancy after 1908,
  • Sylvia was regularly in and out of prison for acts of militancy
  • She failed to persuade Emmeline and Christabel to moderate the WSPU’s militant tactics
32
Q

Evidence their leadership was successful

What did Sylvia continue to do after 1906

A
  • Devoted herself completely to working for the WSPU as its secretary
  • She designed banners, gifts and flags for the movement, which were sold in the WSPU shop that she ran
  • Sylvia was arrested later in 1906 for disrupting a court case
33
Q

When was Sylvia permenantly excluded from the WSPU

A
  • In 1913, the political differences between Sylvia and her mother and older sister,
  • meant Sylvia left the WSPU after quarrelling with her mother,
  • & founded the East London Federation of Suffragettes - ELFS
34
Q

Who was campaigning within the ELFS

A
  • This consisted of working-class women, male members
  • & was a democratically organised, & socialist society
35
Q

Emily Davison

What has recent historical research emphasised about militant action

A
  • The role of individual, autonomous militant protesters
  • It has been suggested that much window breaking and violent behaviour was not directed by the WSPU,
  • but performed on individual members’ private initiative
  • It is doubtful the Pankhursts had much control over such action
36
Q

When did Emily Davison join the WSPU

A
  • After working as a teacher and studying at the University of Oxford,
  • she joined the WSPU in 1906,
  • & quit her job in 1908 to campaign full-time for the vote
37
Q

Emily Davison was a particularly ………. campaigner

A
  • violent
38
Q

What type of militant activities did Emily Davison undertake

A
  • stone throwing
  • arson
  • underwent force-feedings in prison and was arrested several times
39
Q

What militant activity did Emily Davison undertake in 1911

A
  • During the 1911 census, she hid in the chapel beneath the Houses of Parliament the night before registration, so that she could appear as residing in the ‘House of Commons’
40
Q

What militant activity did Emily Davison undertake in 1912

A
  • In 1912, she spent six months in Holloway Prison for arson before falling down a staircase to win relief from the force-feedings
41
Q

Who instructed Emily Davison to take militant action

A
  • frequently acted without the WSPU’s instruction
42
Q

Evidence their leadership was successful

What happened to Davison in 1913

A
  • In June 1913, Davison was killed after colliding with the king’s horse at the Epsom Derby
  • It is unclear whether this was suicide or if she was attempting to attach a WSPU flag to the horse
  • Her motives remain a mystery
43
Q

Evidence their leadership was successful

How was Davison’s death used by the WSPU

A
  • The WSPU was eager to show she had martyred herself, so WSPU’s leaders seized on the propaganda opportunity Davison’s death presented
  • Her funeral was used by the WSPU as a unique publicity stunt, with thousands of suffragettes attending
  • This won the WSPU much public sympathy
44
Q

Evidence their leadership was not successful

Why does Davison’s death show that she worked independently

A
  • historians suggest she intended to return home after, having kept her return rail ticket,
  • & this lack of knowledge over her intentions shows how independently she worked
45
Q

Evidence their leadership was not successful

What does the example of Emily Davison highight about the leadership of Emmeline & Christabel

A
  • The actions of Davison provide a microcosm of wider questions about the role of Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst
  • While they undoubtedly inspired women to heroic deeds and created an organisation that cultivated militancy, they were logistically unable to control all their members
  • Not all militant activities were directed by the Pankhursts
  • Very often, the WSPU’s success relied on individual members outside of the Pankhurst family, such as Davison
46
Q

What was the role of Tersea Billington-Greig

A
  • One of the original leading WSPU speakers (and only non-Pankhurst)
  • She was worked closely with Keir-Hardie and the Labour Party
  • First suffragette to be sent to Holloway after being arrested for affray in June 1906.
  • She was an opponent of militancy who left the WSPU in 1907
  • One of three founders of the Women’s Freedom League (WFreL) which she later left, also over opposition to militancy after the failure of the conciliation bill
47
Q

What was the role of Leonora Cohen

A
  • Key activist - involved in stone throwing and carried out the attack on the crown jewels
  • Part of the delegation that met with Lloyd George and Sir Edward Grey in 1913
48
Q

What was the role of Charlotte Despard

A
  • Early WSPU member who left the WSPU as one of the three founders of the FreL in opposition to militancy
  • she was in favour of civil disobedience but not violence
  • Served two sentences in Holloway
49
Q

What was the role of Flora Drummond

A
  • Well-known WSP activist who received notoriety for a series of daring stunts
  • snuck into 10 Downing St,
  • sailed a boat up to the riverside terrace of parliament to harangue politicians,
  • spent several spells in prison including one whilst pregnant
  • & continued militant activity up until 1914
  • Part of the delegation that met with Lloyd George and Sir Edward Grey in 1913
50
Q

What was the role of Norah Elam

A
  • Became known in the later years of militancy, and adopted fairly extreme positions (later embracing fascism
  • Arrested multiple times in 1913/14
51
Q

What was the role of Edith Margaret Garrud

A
  • Self-defence trainer of the ‘bodyguards’ also known as the ‘jujitsuffragettes’ - set-up to resist re-arrest which was part of the Cat & Mouse Act
52
Q

What was the role of Alice Hawkins

A
  • Leading WSPU figure in the midlands
  • Part of the delegation that met with Lloyd George and Sir Edward Grey in 1913
53
Q

What was the role of Edith How-Martyn

A
  • Early WSPU member who left the WSPU as one of the three founders of the FreL in opposition to militancy (she was in favour of civil disobedience but not violence)
54
Q

What was the role of Annie Kenney

A
  • Heralded from a Northern, w/c background, she worked in a cotton mill until she became a paid organiser of the WSPU
  • She was sent to prison four times and took charge of London-based WSPU when Christabel Pankhurst was in exile
  • An important figure in ensuring appeal to (and representation of) w/c
  • Part of the delegation that met with Lloyd George and Sir Edward Grey in 1913
55
Q

What was the role of Adela Pankhurst

A
  • The younger Pankhurst sister, who was one of the key contributors to the early years of the WSPU and was heavily involved in earlier militancy - imprisoned for slapping a policeman she was one of the first hunger strikers
  • Never close to Christabel, she became increasingly critical of the WSPUs tactics and lack of support for socialist ideals and left/was expelled at around the same time as Sylvia.
  • She emigrated to Australia in 1914 (possibly banished by Emmeline)
56
Q

What was the role of Emmeline Penthwick Lawrence

A
  • Treasurer of the WSP, and her husband (Frederick) was a lawyer who defended many suffragettes in court
  • Both were arrested with Emmeline Pankhurst on conspiracy charges in March 1912 and sentenced to 8 months in prison, where both went on hunger strike and were forcibly fed
  • They provided a significant amount of financial and organisational support for the suffragettes but were expelled by Christabel in 1912 after they were openly critical of the WSPU’s leadership and tactics
  • (Christabel has always voiced concern over men’s involvement in the movement)
57
Q

What was the role of Elizabeth Wolstenholme

A
  • Friend of Emmeline Pankhurst and served on the executive committee but resigned over violence in 1913 fearing violence would result
58
Q
A

Mr Silverman - History (30 decks)

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