The narratives of the individuals record their role within a demonstration whereas this page will provide an overview of the protest.
Using contemporaneous newspaper reports, the events that unfurled, the numbers arrested etc will be described. As far as possible, the account will include a list of those arrested with links to their biographies as they are completed.
October 23 1906: A Perfect Riot
Ahead of the opening of Parliament on 23rd October 1906, ten thousand people gathered in Hyde Park, reported the Daily Mirror, signifying their support of the enfranchisement of women. Others gathered in Finsbury Park and Battersea with the same aim. As the Members of Parliament gathered for the opening of the Autumn session a group of protesters managed to gain entry to the outer lobby of the Central Hall.
Several climbed on to a window sill behind the statue of Lord Iddesleigh, while another draped a suffrage flag from the pediment. Cries of 'We are slaves, Votes for Women, Down with the tyrants' filled the hall. Attempts to eject the trespassers led to a scene of 'great disorder' reported the Evening News as shouts of 'We will have votes. You men dare not give us justice' rang out. Only after police reinforcements were summonsed was it possible to remove the protestors from the precincts of the Houses of Parliament. One woman was picked up and carried screaming out of the hall. The culprits, four in number, and six others who were protesting outside, were taken to Cannon Row police station. By the time they were released on bail of £10 an enormous crowd had gathered along the Embankment. Flanked by police, those released from custody addressed the throng.
The following day, ten women attended Rochester Row Westminster police court charged with being guilty of insulting and threatening language likely to lead to a breach of the peace. Ahead of the hearing, one woman remarked to the press that she was astonished at the charge of insulting or threatening language.
Those charged were:
Mrs Cobden Sanderson Mrs Pethick Lawrence Mrs Montefiore Teresa Billington Annie Kenney Adela Pankhurst Mary Gawthorpe Minnie Baldock Miss Miller Edith Howe Martyn
It was widely reported that Charlotte Despard was one of those arrested but if so, she was not charged.
While the women waiting for the hearing to start, they busied themselves handing out suffragette literature to the crowd which had gathered. The police attended to give evidence but the defendants elected not to cross examine them. Mrs Cobden Sanderson, in her defence, stated her guilt as the oldest protestor but declined to acknowledge the authority of the court in the absence of the right to vote. Her fellow defendants added their support to the lack of authority of the court.
The magistrate, Horace Smith, pronounced the women guilty imposing a fine of £5. One defendant immediately unfurled a suffrage flag shouting that their statements had not been heard. Two, it was reported, clung to the rail of the dock in defiance and the police carried them from the court. The protests continued outside the court leading to the arrest of Sylvia Pankhurst who had attended to support her sister, Adela. Sylvia was arrested and charged with disorderly behaviour. Brought before the court in the afternoon Sylvia was fined twenty shillings or fourteen days in prison.
The original ten defendants refused to pay the £5 fine and were then ordered to go to prison for two months.
Daily Mirror 24 October 1906
Morning Leader 24 October 1906
December 3 1906:
The 3rd December 1906 saw an attempt to hold a suffrage demonstration in Old Palace Yard at the Houses of Parliament. The contingent was led by Charlotte Despard. Alice Milne, who the Civil and Military Gazette, 9th December 1906, named as one of the ringleaders was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct. Found guilty Alice was sentenced to a fine of ten shillings or seven days in prison. Alice elected to follow her predecessors to Holloway prison. Charlotte, sister of the establishment figure, Sir John French, reportedly begged to be arrested. When her pleas fell on deaf ears she retorted that the police 'were afraid because she had an influential friend.'
December 13 1906:
A group of suffragettes, including a contingent from Manchester led by Jennie Baines, again attempted to gain entry to the House of Commons. Well-prepared they arrived with a box to stand on to address any crowd they garnered and a photographer to capture the moment. The police were ready as they had heard rumours circulating of the suffragettes intentions. As the attempt to hold a meeting began the police swooped in arresting the culprits. However, the suffragettes had hatched a plan to attempt entry while the police were distracted with what they believed to be the central event. So as the first arrests took place another group of suffragettes launched themselves towards the door. The quick thinking policeman on duty slammed the door but undeterred the suffragettes repeatedly hurled themselves against it.
Jennie shouted out 'Votes for Women. We are here to demand justice, liberty and freedom.' Thomas Simmonds, a clerk to Frederick Pethick Lawrence, attempted to make a speech. As the police attempted to drag him away, a group of women successfully surrounded him but in so doing pinned a policeman against a wall. A Mrs Knight fainted and the gathering crowd protested at the police inspector's refusal to get her some water. Eventually, the police formed a cordon pushing the women away form the Parliamentary precincts. Mrs Knight was placed in a cab and dispatched to hospital. Nearly two hours after the protest commenced it was over.
Five women and one man were arrested: Bessie Armstrong Lily Johnson Elizabeth Davies Sarah Morrissey August MacDougall Thomas B Simmonds
Those arrested were taken to Cannon Row police station were Mary Gawthorpe and Irene Miller visited them to check on their well being.
Those arrested were brought before the Westminster police court the following morning. Charged with obstruction all were found guilty and fined £1 or fourteen days in prison.
All elected to go to prison.
December 17 1906:
Around one hundred and fifty women, many who had travelled to London, gathered in the environs of the House of Commons after 8.30pm. The Daily Mirror reported, as it had in respect of the second December raid, that many of the women carried babies in their arms. When Big Ben struck 9pm, six women who had been sitting quietly in pairs in the outer lobby rose to their feet. The police were caught completely unawares. One women shouted out 'Votes for Women.' She was immediately removed, only for another to take up the cry.
The crowd outside tried to push their way in and prevent the six women being ejected. The police slowly successfully pushed the crowd towards Whitehall. Eleven were arrested and taken to Canon Row police station: Mary Keeting Hill Mary Steele Emma Hillier Mary Smith Jennie Baines Patricia Woodlock Laura Richardson Elizabeth Wells Ada Chatterton Annie G Fisher Olivia Smith
Perhaps because of the proximity to Christmas, few gathered to witness the proceedings which one newspaper, Midlands Daily Telegraph, 18 December 1906, put down to a decrease in the interest shown by the public in the suffragettes. The charges were obstruction, disorderly conduct and resisting the police. The prosecution pointed out that with the festive season around the corner any refusal to pay an imposed fine would mean a spell in prison over the holidays.
Found guilty, the sentence was a fine of twenty shillings or fourteen days in prison. All indicated their intention of going to prison. Mary Keeting Hill's fine was paid by a relative but as will be seen below this action appears to have incentivised her try again.
December 20 1906:
Thursday, 2oth December, saw another attempt to enter the House of Commons leading to the arrest of five protestors:
Flora Drummond Ivy Hepple Anna Miller Fraser Mary Keeting Hill Martha Jones
Ivy had obtained entry to the outer lobby by claiming she wished to see George Agnew, the Member of Parliament for Salford West. Once there she and another, jumped on to a bench shouting 'Votes for Women,' 'Justice for Women.' Ivy was carried from the outer hall along with her companion.
The following morning, their cases came before the Westminster police court in Rochester Row. For the first time, the magistrate was Curtis Brown, who would as the years went on hear many suffragette prosecutions. Charlotte Despard attended to show her support to the arrestees. The charge against all five was disorderly conduct and resisting the police.
Flora and Ivy were fined twenty shillings of fourteen days in prison.
Mary Keeting Hill, who had appeared before the court only a few days before for the events of December 17, was fined forty shillings or twenty-one days in prison in light of her reoffending. Her first fine was settled by her brother. Her husband declined to follow suit as Mary 'would strongly object' as he explained to the press that arrangements had been made for their children over Christmas. The final two were fined twenty shillings or fourteen days.
All five defendants elected to go to prison.
February 9 1907:
Three days before the opening of Parliament, the NWUSS planned a march from the band-stand at Hyde Park through Piccadilly, Lower Regent Street, Pall Mall East, Trafalgar Square, the Strand to Exeter Hall which stood on the north side of the Strand opposite the Savoy Hotel. The WSPU were not invited to attend for fear of alienating the NWUSS supporters.
The weather was wet and cold but undeterred many marched including a contingent from Lancashire and Yorkshire. The number was reported by some of the press as two thousand, by others five thousand.
Daily News 11 February 1907
Many of the newspapers reported that the Manchester contingent were accompanied by their sweethearts who crammed themselves in to an electric cab waving sticks with suffragette colours from the windows. The press made much of the presence of women with titles. The Yorkshire Evening News observed 'the demonstration differed from previous ones in the social class of the women', naming Lady Frances Balfour and Lady Fetch. Despite the lack of collaboration with the WSPU, some turned up, Emmeline Pethick Lawrence, one of the Pankhurst daughters, Annie Kenney among them.
While the predominate banner was 'Votes for Women', others read 'Love of Country Leads,' 'Gentle but Resolute' or 'Willing and Able' to name a few. Once the procession reached Trafalgar Square, it stopped to hear speeches from Eva Gore Booth and Keir Hardie. At Exeter Hall, Israel Zangwill, a member of the Men's League for Women's Suffrage, spoke.
February 13 1907
Only three days later, Caxton Hall was filled to capacity to hear, among others, Emmeline Pankhurst speak. The assembled company resolved to denounce the Government for failing to mention the suffrage question in the King's speech, given at the opening of Parliament, and to call upon the House of Commons to insist the matter be given precedence. A deputation of women was selected to deliver the resolutions headed by Charlotte Despard. The deputation formed up outside and waited for the remainder of those in Caxton Hall to form up behind in the rows of four.
As they marched, the participants sang 'Glory, glory, hallelujah'. The police, tipped off about the plans, accompanied the demonstrators. As they approached Westminster Abbey, the order was given to break up the procession but the attempts to break them up into smaller groups failed as as quickly as the demonstrators were separated they reformed. Many carried umbrellas against the inclement weather and deployed these to great effect against the police attempts to move them on.
Police horse were stationed close the doors of the House of Commons but this did not deter the delegation, backed those behind them, from attempting again and again to get through. Charlotte was the first to be arrested, followed by five more. More arrests followed and these distracted the police enabling about fifteen women to renew the attempts to gain entrance. Four succeeded, shouting 'Votes for Women' at the members of Parliament passing by. The four were swiftly ejected.
The arrested were:
Bessie Drysdale Harriet Rozier Maude Fitzherbert Louisa Thompson Kathleen Rothwell Frances Rowe Alice Nobel Blanche Stevenson Edith Stevenson Lilian Armitage Annie Fielding Patricia Woodlock Annie Sykes Dovas? Spooner? Charlotte Despard Harley? Pattie Barrett Edith Whitworth Holnes? Rigg? Maggie Moffatt Ethel Gillett Lilian Gillett Marian King Kennedy? Ada Chatterton Lena Marsden Louisa Entwistle
? denote a discrepancy between newspaper reports and the amnesty record
Frederick Pethick Lawrence stood bail for all the women at £2 a piece. The charge for each was disorderly conduct.
By 8pm all had been bailed and most returned to Caxton Hall where many had again gathered. Christabel Pankhurst presided as Charlotte, Mary Gawthorpe, Emmeline Pankhurst and Ada Chatterton gave speeches. It was agreed to renew their efforts and the assembled company again marched on the Houses of Parliament. Thirty-one more were arrested:
Christabel Pankhurst Mary Smith Alice Morrissey Davies?
Sine Seruya Ellen Smith Margaret Smith Emma Sproson Mary Titterington Matilda Wood Van Sandan Julia Varley Thirza Wells Edith Whitworth Hannah Yates Helen Briddle Florence Bright Elizabeth Cooper John Edward Croft Alice Hawkins Mary Holland Marian Holmes May Hope Isabella Kearness Nellie Kennie Sarah Knight Adelaide Lamb Arthur Diarmid Catherine McDiarmd Marie Naylor Alice Noble Ellen Beaver Sylvia Pankhurst Edith Rigby Beatrice Sanderson