WSPU 1903-1914 Part 1 Flashcards
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?
1903-8
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
What was the WSPU’s motto?
‘Deeds, not words’
What were the moderate militant tactics that 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 Pankhurst
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
When did the militant action of the WSPU increased?
1906-7
What is an example of the increased militancy of the suffragettes? (1906-7)
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 HofC?
25 October 1906
How many suffragettes were arrested for breaking into the lobby of the HofC?
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
How did WSPU militancy help the NUWSS to build up its membership?
Won publicity for the women’s suffrage campaign
What encouraged the WSPU to move towards more violent forms of militancy?
Herbert Asquith’s denial to female suffrage
How did WSPU members attempt to solve Asquith’s question of whether all women wanted the vote?
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?
250-500K
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
When did the WSPU’s violent militancy begin?
1909
Why did the suffragettes adopt a campaign of violent militancy?
Grew impatient at the lack of progress in what they saw as the most vital political question
Who became a popular target for much of the suffragette’s violent militancy?
Herbert Asquith
Why was Asquith sceptical about female suffrage?
He didn’t think all women wanted the vote
When did the WSPU begin its hunger strikes?
1909
When was the most notorious act of suffragette militancy?
18 November 1910
What happened on November 1910?
Government refused time to debate legislation for women suffrage. The WSPU responded by sending in 300 women into the HofC
When did suffragette militancy become even more extreme?
1911
What tactics did the WSPU use in 1912?
Targeted artworks and set fire to pillar boxes (post boxes)
When was the suffragette campaign at its most militant?
1913
What are examples of the suffragette militancy in 1913?
13 paintings hacked apart in Manchester
Golf greens & train carriages all damaged
How many members did the WSPU consist of in the summer of 1905?
30
How many members did the WSPU consist of by the end of 1914?
5000
