Women's Social and Political Union
The Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) was a political movement for women. They campaigned for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom (allowing women to vote) from 1903 to 1918.[1] They are sometimes called suffragettes.
| Women's Social and Political Union | |
|---|---|
 Annie Kenney (left) and Christabel Pankhurst, c. 1908 | |
| Abbreviation | WSPU |
| Formation | 10 October 1903 |
| Type | Women-only political movement |
| Purpose/focus | Votes for women |
| Motto | "Deeds, not words" |
| Headquarters |
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The Women's Social and Political Union were known for civil disobedience. They held marches, set fire to post boxes, smashed windows and broke the law to get into prison. When they were in prison, they would go on hunger strikes, meaning they would refuse to eat. The government would force-feed prisoners who went on hunger strikes. The government created the Prisoners (Temporary Discharge for Ill Health) Act 1913, or the Cat and Mouse Act, so suffragettes who were close to starving to death could be released.[2]
Notable members
- Mary Ann Aldham
- Janie Allan
- Doreen Allen
- Helen Archdale
- Ethel Ayres Purdie
- Barbara Ayrton
- Edith Marian Begbie
- Rosa May Billinghurst
- Teresa Billington-Greig
- Violet Bland
- Bettina Borrmann Wells
- Elsie Bowerman
- Janet Boyd
- Constance Bryer
- Lady Constance Bulwer-Lytton
- Evaline Hilda Burkitt
- Lucy Burns
- Eileen Mary Casey
- Joan Cather
- Georgina Fanny Cheffins
- Helen Millar Craggs
- Ellen Crocker
- Helen Cruickshank
- Louie Cullen
- Alice Davies
- Emily Davison
- Charlotte Despard
- Violet Mary Doudney
- Edith Downing
- Flora Drummond
- Sophia Duleep Singh
- Elsie Duval
- Norah Elam
- Dorothy Evans
- Kate Williams Evans
- Theresa Garnett
- Louisa Garrett Anderson
- Edith Margaret Garrud
- Katharine Gatty
- Mary Gawthorpe
- Katie Edith Gliddon
- Nellie Hall
- Cicely Hamilton
- Beatrice Harraden
- Edith How-Martyn
- Elsie Howey
- Ellen Isabel Jones
- Annie Kenney
- Edith Key
- Aeta Adelaide Lamb
- Mary Leigh
- Lilian Lenton
- Constance Lytton
- Mary Macarthur
- Florence Macfarlane
- Margaret Macfarlane
- Margaret McPhun
- Frances McPhun
- Margaret Mackworth, 2nd Viscountess Rhondda
- Christabel Marshall
- Kitty Marion
- Dora Marsden
- Lillian Metge
- Dora Montefiore
- Alice Morrissey
- Flora Murray
- Margaret Nevinson
- Edith New
- Adela Pankhurst
- Christabel Pankhurst
- Emmeline Pankhurst
- Sylvia Pankhurst
- Frances Parker
- Alice Paul
- Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence
- Ellen Pitfield
- Isabella Potbury
- Mary Richardson
- Edith Rigby
- Rona Robinson
- Mary Russell, Duchess of Bedford
- Bertha Ryland
- Amy Sanderson
- Arabella Scott
- Muriel Scott
- Genie Sheppard
- Alice Maud Shipley
- Dame Ethel Mary Smyth
- Harriet Shaw Weaver
- Evelyn Sharp
- Janie Terrero
- Dora Thewlis
- Catherine Tolson
- Helen Tolson
- Elsie and Mathilde Wolff Van Sandau
- Patricia Woodlock
- Gertrude Wilkinson
- Laura Ann Willson
- Laetitia Withall
- Olive Wharry
- Celia Wray
- Rose Emma Lamartine Yates
Women's Social And Political Union Media
62 Nelson Street, where the WSPU was formed
WSPU leaders Flora Drummond, Christabel Pankhurst, Annie Kenney, Emmeline Pankhurst, Charlotte Despard, with two others, 1906–1907
WSPU meeting, c. 1908. Emmeline Pankhurst stands (left) by the table on the platform.
Portrait badge of Emmeline Pankhurst, c. 1909, sold by the WSPU to raise funds
Flag of the Women's Social and Political Union. Purple represents loyalty and dignity, white for purity, and green for hope.
A suffragette being force-fed in Holloway Prison, London
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References
- ↑ "Start of the suffragette movement". UK Parliament. Retrieved 2020-06-01.
- ↑ Mary Davis, Sylvia Pankhurst (Pluto Press, 1999) ISBN 0-7453-1518-6
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