Timeline of Suffragette Actions
It’s time to get active. We’re taking our inspiration from the Suffragettes. Why not use one of these dates below and organise your own anniversary action? Get in touch before you act and we’ll send out a press release for you. Send in your pictures and we’ll put them on the site.
1903, October 10
Inaugural meeting of the Women’s Social and Political Union
1904, May 12
Mrs Pankhurst holds a protest meeting outside the Houses of Parliament following the talking out of a Women’s Suffrage Bill.
1905, Oct 13
Christabel Pankhurst and Annie Kenney disrupt a Liberal Party meeting in the Manchester Free Trade Hall. They’re thrown out and subsequently imprisoned.
1906, April 25
Suffragettes protest in the Ladies’ Gallery in Parliament after Keir Hardie’s introduction of a women’s suffrage resolution is ridiculed by other Members.
1906, May 19
First great women’s suffrage demonstration. The Prime Minister, Sir Henry Campbell Bannerman, receives a deputation of three hundred and speaks of opposition to women’s suffrage within the cabinet.
1906, October 23
Protest in Lobby of House of Commons on opening of Parliament.
1908, January 17
While suffragettes chained to railings create a diversion, Mrs Drummond attempts to get into a Cabinet Council meeting at 10 Downing Street.
1908, February 11-13
Suffragettes try to reach the House by a Trojan Horse method.
1908, June 21
Demonstration in Hyde Park. Attendance estimated at over half a million people.
1908 , June 30
Huge crowds watch Suffragettes being turned away as they attempt to enter the Houses of Parliament. Two women break windows of 10 Downing Street in protest.
1908, October 13
Rush of Parliament. 60,000 people rally in Parliament Square before groups of suffragettes try to force their way past police line. 37 people were arrested. One woman - Keir Hardie’s secretary, Mrs Travers Symons - managed to enter the floor of the House while debate was in progress. She said a few words before being taken out.
1908, October 28
Two Women’s Freedom League members chain themselves to the grille of the Ladies’ Gallery in the House of Commons. Officials only manage to remove them by wrenching the grille out of the surrounding stonework, and the House is temporarily closed to strangers.
1908, October
Start of an organised campaign of heckling cabinet ministers.
1909, June 29
Petition taken to Parliament by Mrs Pankhurst & 8 other well-known women. The deputation is rejected and a highly organised manoeuvre follows. Windows of Government offices are broken and 108 arrests are made. In the police court the women claim that the action is justified by the Bill of Rights.
1909, July
Hunger strikes begin for imprisoned Suffragettes.
1909, September 17
In Birmingham Suffragettes shower down stones from the roof of a hall where Prime Minister Asquith is due to speak.
1910, June 18
10,000 Suffragettes march in a 2-mile long procession from the Embankment to the Albert Hall. Public sympathetic.
1910, November 18
Black Friday. Suffragettes try to gain assurance from the Prime Minister of a future for the Conciliation Bill. He refuses to meet their deputations and in subsequent attempts to reach the House of Commons the Suffragettes meet with violence and brutality from police and plain-clothes men. Several women are seriously injured and two later die as an immediate result of their treatment. 119 arrests are made, but charges are withdrawn the next day by the direct instruction of Churchill.
1911, April 2
Boycott of National Census. All-night activities organised by groups who are absent from home at the time of enumeration.
1911, June 17
All suffrage societies unite in a procession of 40,000 supporters.
1911, November 21
Mrs Pethwick Lawrence attempts to lead a deputation to the House of Commons from the Caxton Hall but all ways are blocked by police. An organised stone-throwing raid on the windows of shops and Government offices follows involving 223 arrests.
1912, March 1
Mass window smashing in the West End. After persistent warnings which gain no response from the government, the Suffragettes announce that they intend to use ‘the argument of the stone’, and give notice of a demonstration on March 4. Unannounced, a manoeuvre led by Mrs Pankhurst is carried out on March 1. Mrs Pankhurst arrested.
1912, March 4
A further outbreak of window smashing takes place.
1912, June 22
Large numbers of Suffragettes in Holloway are fed by force. Mrs Pankhurst prevents authorities from feeding her, while other Suffragettes barricade their cells and Emily Wilding Davison throws herself over the prison staircase.
1912, June 18
A hatchet is thrown into Prime Minister Asquith’s carriage on the occasion of his official visit to Dublin. Suffragette attempt to fire the Theatre Royal where Asquith is speaking.
1912, Nov 9
Post-box damage begins, with widespread attacks throughout November and December. Corrosive fluid, ink and other dark substances and jam are poured through post-boxes, including ones around the Bank of England and the Downing Street Pillar Box.
1913, Jan/ Feb
Golf greens are ruined and telegraph wires are cut.
1913, February 12
Burning of the Regent’s Park refreshment kiosk is the first incident in a continuous programme of Suffragette damage to empty buildings.
1913, February 19
Lloyd George’s newly built house at Walton Heath is damaged by a bomb. Mrs Pankhurst arrested and accepts full responsibility.
1913, April 3
Mrs Pankhurst sentenced to 3 years’ penal servitude.
1913, April 3
4 houses are fired at Hampstead Garden Suburb. 3 women damage the glass of 13 pictures in the Manchester Art Gallert. An empty railway carriage is wrecked by a bomb explosion at Stockport.
1913, April 4
A mansion near Chorley Wood is completely destroyed by fire. A bomb explodes at Oxted Station.
1913, April 5
Burning of Ayr Racecourse stand.
1913, April 6
A house at Potter’s Bar is fired. Mansion destroyed at Norwich.
1913, April 7
Fire attempt at Cardiff Racecourse, fire in another house at Hampstead Garden Suburb. Suffragettes charge an ancient cannon in the ruins of Dudley Castle and cause a shattering explosion.
1913, April 8
“Release Mrs Pankhurst” cut into the turf at Duthie Park in 12 foot high letters.
1913, April 9
Haystack worth £100 destroyed near Nottingham.
1913, April 12
Mrs Pankhurst released
1913, June 4
Emily Wilding Davison stops the King’s horse and is seriously injured. She dies on June 8th.
1913, August 3
Protest chanting begins in churches. Suffragettes interrupt the Litany at St Paul’s with prayers for Mrs Pankhurst.
1913, September 13
Suffragettes interrupt performance of Androcles and the Lion to make analogies between their position and that of the Christian martyrs. Interruptions are later made at other plays.
1914, March 10
Mary Richardson slashes the Rokeby Venus. Public galleries are temporarily closed.
1914, May 21
Mass Suffragette deputation goes to Buckingham Palace. After a fierce confrontation with the police, an organised window-smashing campaign takes place.
1914, August 10
Six days after world war is declared all Suffragette prisoners are unconditionally released. Mrs Pankhurst suspends militancy and calls on her followers to help defend the country.
