AT the turn of the last century there were attacks on property and other violence by members of the Suffragette movement or Women’s Social and Political Union.

In the late 1880s Suffragist groups of peaceful men and women were formed seeking better working conditions. When Emmeline Pankhurst and her two daughters joined they wanted “deeds not words” and the Suffragette movement was born. At one time their newspaper, Votes for Women, had a circulation of 40,000 copies per week. However, Queen Victoria and Florence Nightingale opposed female suffrage.

Our speaker, Claire Williams, became interested in them when she discovered that Emily Wilding Davison, who died after throwing herself in the path of the King’s horse at the 1912 Epsom Derby, was her great cousin. Emily was probably endeavouring to pin a poster onto the horse’s saddle for publicity. Claire described the suffering, imprisonment, and public denigration these women endured.

Violent demonstrations ended with the outbreak of war in l914. Many women became “munitionettes” who worked in factories producing bullets and shells for the troops. By 1918 some women gained the vote and this was gradually extended. Was it the suffragettes or the women’s war work that earned them the vote?

The next meeting will be on Wednesday, April 9 at 2.15pm at Morgan’s Vale and Woodfalls Village Hall. This is the annual meeting of the Institute and will be followed by a musical quiz.