The Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) was the leading militant organisation

campaigning for Women's suffrage in Great Britain, 19031917. Its membership and policies were
tightly controlled by Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughters Christabel and Sylvia (although Sylvia
broke away). It was best known for hunger strikes (and forced feeding), for breaking windows in
prominent buildings, and for night-time arson of unoccupied houses and churches.
Contents
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1 Formation

2 Early campaigning

3 Campaigning develops

4 Campaigning becomes more militant

5 WSPU during the First World War

6 Impact

7 Notable members of WSPU

8 See also

9 References

10 Further reading

11 External links

Formation[edit]
The WSPU was founded at the Pankhurst family home in Manchester on 10 October 1903 by six
women, including Emmeline and Sylvia Pankhurst, who soon emerged as the group's leaders. The
WSPU had split from the non-militant National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies, disappointed at
the lack of success its tactics of persuading politicians through meetings had found. [1]
The founders decided to form a women-only organisation, which would campaign for social reforms,
largely in conjunction with the Independent Labour Party. They would also campaign for an
extension of women's suffrage, believing that this was central to sexual equality. To illustrate their
more militant stance, they adopted the slogan "Deeds, not words". [1] By 1913 the WSPU appointed
the fiercely militant feminist Norah Dacre Fox (later known as Norah Elam) as General Secretary.

Dacre Fox operated as a highly effective propagandist delivering rousing speeches at the WSPU
weekly meetings and writing many of Christabel Pankhurst's speeches.[2]

Early campaigning[edit]
In 1905, the group convinced the Member of Parliament Bamford Slack to introduce a women's
suffrage bill, which was ultimately talked out, but the publicity spurred rapid expansion of the group.
The WSPU changed tactics following the failure of the bill; they focused on attacking
whichever political party was in government and refused to support any legislation which did not
include enfranchisement for women. This translated into abandoning their initial commitment to also
supporting immediate social reforms.[1]
In 1906, the group began a series of demonstrations and lobbies of Parliament, leading to the arrest
and imprisonment of growing numbers of their members. An attempt to achieve equal franchise
gained national attention when an envoy of three hundred women, representing over
125,000 suffragettes argued for women's suffrage with the Prime Minister, Sir Henry CampbellBannerman. The Prime Minister agreed with their argument but "was obliged to do nothing at all
about it" and so urged the women to "go on pestering" and to exercise "the virtue of patience".
[3]

Some of the women Campbell-Bannerman advised to be patient had been working for women's

rights for as many as fifty years: his advice to "go on pestering" would prove quite unwise. His
thoughtless words infuriated the protesters and "by those foolish words the militant movement
became irrevocably established, and the stage of revolt began".[3] Commenting on the phenomenon,
Charles Hands, writing in the Daily Mail, for the first time described the WSPU's members
as suffragettes. In 1907 the organisation held the first of several of their "Women's Parliaments". [1]
The Labour Party then voted to support universal suffrage. This split them from the WSPU, which
had always accepted the property qualifications which already applied to women's participation in
local elections. Under Christabel's direction, the group began to more explicitly organise exclusively
among middle class women, and stated their opposition to all political parties. This led a small group
of prominent members to leave and form the Women's Freedom League.[1]

Campaigning develops[edit]

Portrait badge of Emmeline Pankhurst, c.1909 Sold in large numbers by the WSPU to raise funds for its
cause Museum of London

Immediately following the WSPU/WFL split, in autumn 1907, Frederick and Emmeline Pethick
Lawrence founded the WSPU's own newspaper, Votes for Women. The Pethick Lawrences, who
were part of the leadership of the WSPU until 1912, edited the newspaper and supported it
financially in the early years.
In 1908 the WSPU adopted purple, white, and green as its official colours. These colours were
chosen by Emmeline Pethick Lawrence because "Purple...stands for the royal blood that flows in the
veins of every suffragette...white stands for purity in private and public life...green is the colour of
hope and the emblem of spring".[4] June 1908 saw the first major public use of these colours when
the WSPU held a 300,000-strong "Women's Sunday" rally in Hyde Park.
In February 1907 the WSPU founded the Woman's Press, which oversaw publishing and
propaganda for the organisation, and marketed a range of products from 1908 featuring the WSPU's
name or colours. The woman's Press in London and WSPU chains throughout the UK operated
stores selling WSPU products.[5] Until January 1911, the WSPU's official anthem was "The Women's
Marseillaise",[6] a setting of words by Florence Macaulay to the tune of "La Marseillaise".[7] In that
month the anthem was changed to "The March of the Women",[6] newly composed by Ethel
Smyth with words by Cicely Hamilton.[8]

Campaigning becomes more militant[edit]

In opposition to the continuing and repeated imprisonment of many of their members, the WSPU
introduced the prisonhunger strike to Britain, and the authorities' policy of force feeding won the
suffragettes great sympathy from the public. The government later passed the Prisoners (Temporary
Discharge for Ill Health) Act 1913 (more commonly known as the "Cat and Mouse Act"), which
allowed the release of suffragettes who were close to death due to malnourishment. Officers,

however, could re-imprison them again once they were healthy. This was an attempt to avoid forcefeeding.[1] In response, the WSPU organised an all-women security team known as the Bodyguard,
whose role was to protect fugitive suffragettes from re-imprisonment.
A new suffrage bill was introduced in 1910, but growing impatient, the WSPU launched a heightened
campaign of protest in 1912 on the basis of targeting propertyand avoiding violence against any
person. Initially this involved smashing shop windows, but ultimately escalated to burning stately
homes and bombing public buildings including Westminster Abbey. It also famously led to the death
of Emily Davison as she was trampled by the King's horse, Anmer, (over which she was attempting
to drape a suffragette banner) at the Epsom Derby in 1913.
Included in the many militant acts performed were the night-time arson of unoccupied houses
(including that of Chancellor of the Exchequer David Lloyd George) and churches. It smashed
windows of upscale shops and government offices. It cut telephone lines, spit at police and
politicians, cut or burned pro-suffrage slogans into stadium turf, [9] sending letter bombs, destroying
greenhouses at Kew gardens, chaining themselves to railings and blowing up houses. A doctor was
attacked with a rhino whip and in one case suffragettes rushed the House of Commons. On
18 July 1912, Mary Leigh threw a hatchet at Prime Minister Herbert Henry Asquith. On
10 March 1914 suffragette Mary Richardson (known as one of the most militant activists, also called
"Slasher" Richardson) walked into the National Gallery and attacked Diego Velzquez's Rokeby
Venus with a meat cleaver. In 1913 suffragette militancy caused 54,000 worth of damage, 36,000
of which occurred in April alone.[citation needed]
The organisation also suffered divisions. The editors of Votes for Women, Frederick and Emmeline
Pethick Lawrence, were expelled in 1912, causing the WSPU to launch a new journal, The
Suffragette, edited by Christabel Pankhurst. The East London Federation of mostly working
class women and led by Sylvia Pankhurst was expelled in 1914.[1]

WSPU during the First World War[edit]

On the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, Christabel Pankhurst was living in Paris, in order to
run the organisation without fear of arrest. Her autocratic control enabled her, over the objections
of Kitty Marion and others,[9] to declare soon after war broke out that the WSPU should abandon its
campaigns in favour of anationalistic stance, supporting the British government in the war. The
WSPU stopped publishing The Suffragette, and in April 1915 it launched a new journal,Britannia.
While the majority of WSPU members supported the war, a small number formed the Suffragettes of
the Women's Social Political Union (SWSPU) and the Independent Women's Social and Political
Union (IWSPU). The WSPU faded from public attention and was dissolved in 1917, with Christabel
and Emmeline Pankhurst founding the Women's Party.[1]

Impact[edit]

The militant campaign had some positive effects in terms of attracting enormous publicity, and
forcing the moderates to better organize themselves