JULY TO OCTOBER, 1908
GREAT DEMONSTRATIONS IN THE PROVINCES. MR. LLOYD GEORGE ACCUSES WOMEN
OF BEING PAID TO INTERRUPT HIM. ARREST OF THE THREE LEADERS AND THE
FIFTH WOMEN'S PARLIAMENT.
Meanwhile, in spite of the fact that the Union had thought it necessary
to again resort to militant tactics the campaign of great provincial
demonstrations was proceeded with, and included gatherings of 100,000
people in Shipley Glen, Bradford, on May 31st, 15,000 at Heaton Park,
Manchester, on July 19th, of 100,000 on Woodhouse Moor, Leeds, on July
26th, of many thousands, also, on the Durdham Downs Clifton, near
Bristol, on September 19th, in Nottingham Forest, on July 18th, at
Huddersfield, on September 27th, at Rawtenstall, on September 3rd, and
in the Market Square Leicester on July 30th.
During these months, by-elections had been fought in Pembrokeshire,
Haggerston and Newcastle. At the first of these the Liberal majority
was reduced. At the second a Liberal majority of 1,401 was turned to a
Conservative majority of 1,143. At Newcastle, the Suffragettes swept
all before them, and, when Mrs. Pankhurst announced to a great meeting
on the Town Moor that five of the released prisoners were shortly to
arrive, an immense procession was formed to do them honour, and the
railway authorities placed the entrance usually reserved for Royalty at
the disposal of the Suffragettes. Almost the whole population turned
out to cheer the women. There seemed no doubt the Government nominee
would be defeated, and so it proved, for a Liberal majority of no
fewer than 6,481 votes was turned into a majority of 2,143 for the
Conservatives.
After the poll, Mr. Renwick, the successful candidate said: "I must
express admiration for those who have addressed meetings on behalf of
Women's Suffrage. They have taught us a lesson as to how to speak and
conduct a campaign. I am sure we all wish that they may realise their
hopes." The defeated Liberal candidate also expressed the hope that the
women would be voting at the next election.
Meanwhile, at almost every meeting addressed by a Cabinet Minister
throughout the length and breadth of the land, the Suffragettes had
been in evidence, and when they had been unable to secure admission to
the halls, they had held meetings outside.
At some of Mr. Lloyd George's meetings the women hecklers were treated
with special brutality, and this was certainly increased by the
exclamations of the Cabinet Minister on the platform. He called his
interrupters "sorry specimens of womanhood," and added, "I think a
gag ought to be tried." So calculated to aggravate the already savage
behaviour of the stewards were his remarks, that quite a storm of
protest was raised and Mr. Lloyd George found it necessary to write to
the _Times_, saying:
Owing to the constant interruptions to which I was subjected, it
was doubtless difficult for me to make myself clearly and fully
understood, and the difficulty which I found in speaking was no doubt
shared by the Press in reporting. Under these circumstances I am not
surprised that some misunderstanding may have arisen, and I appeal to
the courtesy of your columns to remove it.
Nevertheless, when he spoke at Swansea, his remarks were even more
unguarded, and he urged on the stewards with such cries as, "By and by
we shall have to order sacks for them, and the first to interrupt shall
disappear," and "fling them ruthlessly out." At that there were shouts
of laughter from Liberals on the platform mingled with cries of "frog
march them!" Then he taunted the women. "I wonder how much she has been
paid for coming here," he called as one was being dragged away. His
supporters responded with cheers and shouts of "Tory money," and he
added "I am sorry to say this business is becoming a profession."
On hearing of this remark, Mrs. Pethick Lawrence wrote to Mr. Lloyd
George as Treasurer of the Women's Social and Political Union to
protest against his suggestion that the women who interrupted Cabinet
Ministers did so as a "profession." In doing so she forwarded him a
copy of our Annual Report. He replied by repeating his insinuations
and calling attention to the fact that the Report showed considerable
sums of money to have been dispensed in "salaries," "travelling
expenses," and "special board and lodging." Mrs. Lawrence then stated
that whilst, like every other political organisation, the Women's
Social and Political Union had its paid staff and organisers and that
whilst these organisers were occasionally present at Cabinet Ministers'
meetings, the protests were almost entirely made by members of the
Union who gave their time and work freely. Thus, of the thirty women
who had interrupted Mr. George at the Queen's Hall on July 28th and had
been ejected, twenty-nine had never at any time been in receipt of any
salary from the Union, and of the five women who had taken part in the
protest made at Swansea, four had never been in receipt of any salary
from the Union and the fifth was not receiving any salary at the time.
The eyes of all Suffragettes were now fixed upon the opening of
Parliament for the autumn session, which was to take place on
October 12th. The Prime Minister was again asked that facilities
should be given for the House of Commons to proceed with the Women's
Enfranchisement Bill, but he again refused and the W. S. P. U. then
determined that a fifth Parliament of Women must be called together
on October 13th, and that a deputation from it must again seek an
interview with the Prime Minister. It was thought desirable that, as on
the last occasion, the general public should be present, both that they
might see what actually happened between the women and the authorities,
and also that it might be shown to the Government that many thousands
of men and women were prepared to support the Suffragettes and to
answer to their call. Knowing well the difficulty of bringing anything
prominently before the public in these modern days of crowded interests
except with the aid of the advertisement afforded by notices in the
Press, and knowing also that in this epoch of Press sensationalism
that nothing, even if it be as serious as a struggle between life and
death, is reported except when it is new, the Committee of the Union
cast about in their minds for some racy and attractive means of
drawing public attention to the forthcoming deputation. At last the
phrase, "Help the Suffragettes to rush the House of Commons" was hit
upon, because of its double suggestion and echo of the oft heard but
almost always ridiculously unfounded complaint that legislation is
being "rushed" through our too talkative and dilatory Parliament. The
words were at once embodied in a handbill of which the accompanying
illustration is a facsimile.
Meanwhile another body of agitators who had become impatient with
the Government's treatment of their own particular question, were
preparing to take similar steps. Even in the early summer, there had
been signs that the forthcoming winter was to be one of exceptional
hardship for the working classes, and the Labour Members of Parliament
had then begun to urge upon the President of the Local Government
Board the need for making extensive preparations for helping the great
numbers of persons whom they foresaw would fall out of employment.
The distress that had been foreshadowed was now upon the country, a
feeling of general discontent prevailed, and rumours of all sorts
of wild doings were beginning to spread. Bodies of unemployed came
marching up to London from the provincial towns and held meetings on
the Embankment and Tower Hill at which it was announced that there
was to be a great gathering of the unemployed in Parliament Square on
Monday, October 12th, and that an attempt was then to be made to see
the Prime Minister, the President of the Local Government Board and the
President of the Board of Trade. On Sunday, October 4th, a meeting for
the unemployed was held under the auspices of the Social Democratic
Federation in Trafalgar Square, and some very inflammatory speeches
were delivered.[29] The words of Mr. Will Thorne, M.P. for West Ham,
were milder than those of some others. In the course of his remarks he
said:
Next Tuesday the Suffragettes admit that they are going to "rush" the
House. There is nothing there. If you want to "rush" anything, you
rush where there is something to be rushed; not the House. I say that
if you are in earnest, the first thing that you ought to do is to
rush the bakers' shops. You ought to rush every bally bakers' shop in
London rather than starve. I suppose it means that a few of you will
get locked up. You would be better off in prison.
He added that until the unemployed struck "the fear of man" into the
hearts of the Government, the Government would do nothing for them.
After the unemployed meeting was over, there was some disorder in the
neighbourhood of Charing Cross and two or three men were arrested.
On Sunday, October 11th, the Women's Social and Political Union held
a meeting in Trafalgar Square at which Mrs. Pankhurst, Christabel
Pankhurst, and Mrs. Drummond spoke from the plinth of the Nelson
column, whilst the police who were present in great numbers, took notes
of all that was said.
On Monday, October 12th, came the day of the unemployed demonstration,
but, though much had been feared and expected of it, little happened.
Small groups of unemployed began to arrive in the Square at an early
hour, but a pacificatory attitude was adopted by the authorities and
though the police kept the crowd moving in the thoroughfares they did
not prevent the assemblage of a number of people in the centre of the
green in front of Westminster Abbey. Many of the men were allowed to
enter the House, where Mr. John Burns assured them that within a few
days the Prime Minister would make a pronouncement in the House of
Commons pledging the Government to provide some measure of relief.
[Illustration:
WOMEN'S SOCIAL AND POLITICAL UNION,
4, CLEMENT'S INN.
VOTES FOR WOMEN
MEN & WOMEN
HELP THE SUFFRAGETTES
TO RUSH
THE HOUSE OF COMMONS
ON
TUESDAY Evening, 13th October,
At 7.30.
Printed by St. Clements Press, Ltd., Newspaper Buildings, Portugal
Street, W.C.]
During the week that had passed, the last before their demonstration,
the Suffragettes had been working strenuously. The "rush" handbills
had been circulated broadcast, a "Votes for Women" kite had floated
constantly over the House of Commons, and a steam launch, decorated
with banners and posters announcing the deputation had steamed up
and down the river. Everything had gone on without let or hindrance
and new recruits, anxious to take part in the demonstration had been
eagerly presenting themselves. Yet from day to day there grew the
knowledge that the authorities were lying in wait to take some sudden
step against the Union and the women began to notice that the police
were shadowing all the prominent members of the Committee and were
constantly hanging about the offices at Clement's Inn. The blow came in
the shape of the following document, a copy of which was served upon
Mrs. Pankhurst, Mrs. Drummond, and Christabel Pankhurst about midday on
Monday, October 12th:
Information has been laid this day by the Commissioner of Police for
that you, in the month of October, in the year 1908, were guilty of
conduct likely to provoke a breach of the peace by initiating and
causing to be initiated, by publishing and causing to be published, a
certain handbill, calling upon and inciting the public to do a certain
wrongful and illegal act, viz., to rush the House of Commons at 7:30
P. M. on October 13th inst.
You are therefore hereby summoned to appear before the Court of
Summary Jurisdiction now sitting at the Bow Street Police Station
on Monday, October 12th, at the hour of 3:30, to answer to the said
information and to shew cause why you and each of you shall not be
ordered to find sureties of good behaviour.
(Signed) H. CURTIS BENNETT.
It was felt that the summons had been issued to withdraw public
attention from the deputation to Mr. Asquith which was to go from the
Caxton Hall next evening. Therefore it was decided to disregard it
for the present, but at the crowded At Home in the Queen's Hall that
afternoon the members of the Union were informed that it had been
received. The devotion and loyalty to leaders, always so strong in the
Union, was now at fever heat. Numbers of constables were posted at the
doors, official police reporters were present and it was momentarily
expected that the police would force their way on to the platform and
arrest the three. The excitement culminated when someone said that a
police inspector was entering the building. Then hundreds of women
leapt to their feet and cried out that the officers should not be
allowed to enter and that they would never let them take their leaders.
But this proved to be a false alarm, for it was only a messenger to
say that the summonses had been adjourned until the following morning.
Mrs. Pankhurst, Christabel and Mrs. Drummond decided not to give
themselves up till evening and they accordingly sent the following note
to the Court:
We shall not be at the offices at 4, Clement's Inn until six o'clock
to-day, but at that hour we shall all three be entirely at your
disposal.
This did not appease the authorities in any way and a warrant for their
arrest was immediately issued with an order to Inspector Jarvis to
execute it without delay. Having guessed that this might happen Mrs.
Drummond had quietly arranged to spend her last day of liberty with
friends whilst my mother and sister had merely made their way to one
of the upper flats in Clement's Inn, No. 119, which was rented by Mr.
and Mrs. Pethick Lawrence and to which a roof garden was attached. This
had scarcely been done when the police swooped down upon our offices to
demand the three, and on no information being forthcoming they remained
roaming about the passages and standing in the doorways, trying to get
information from postmen, porters and tradesmen, all day long.
At six o'clock, Mrs. Drummond returned, promptly to the moment, and
the two other prisoners walked calmly downstairs and into the offices.
Inspector Jarvis and a detective in plain clothes were already waiting
and, after the warrant for their arrest had been read out to them,
they were taken in a cab to Bow Street. The Court having risen, it
was impossible for the trial to be proceeded with that evening and
when they applied to be allowed out on bail until the next morning
their application was refused and they were hurried away to the
cells. The police court cells are about five feet wide by seven feet
long, exceedingly badly lit and furnished only with a wooden bench
attached to the wall and a sanitary convenience. There are neither
washing utensils nor bed of any kind, but each prisoner is given a
dark and dirty-looking rug in which to wrap herself during the night.
Mrs. Pankhurst at once claimed her right as an untried prisoner to
communicate with the outside world and immediately despatched telegrams
to several Members of Parliament. A weary hour or two went by. Then
the door of Mrs. Pankhurst's cell was thrown wide open, and the tall,
breezy presence of Mr. Murray, Liberal Member of Parliament for East
Aberdeenshire, appeared. He was horrified to find the three ladies in
these unpleasant surroundings and, promising to return soon, he hurried
to the Savoy Hotel, and there arranged for various comforts to be sent
in to the prison. Then he prevailed upon the authorities to allow the
three Suffragettes to take their evening meal together and, in an
incredibly short space of time, they were ushered into the matron's
room.
The bare little place with its dingy walls, its wooden chairs and two
deal tables, had been wonderfully transformed. Numbers of tall wax
candles had been lighted, the tables were laid with silver, flowers
and brightly coloured fruit, and three waiters were ready to serve the
prisoners with a most elaborate meal. At the same time, Mr. Murray,
with his face wreathed in smiles, was superintending the carrying in to
the cells of three comfortable beds. The management of the Savoy had
thrown themselves into the enterprise with the greatest eagerness and,
having acted throughout with almost overwhelming kindness and courtesy,
ended by refusing to charge anything at all for what they had provided.
As well may be imagined, the three comrades were in no haste to finish
the meal and return to the dark and solitary cells.
[Illustration: Reading the Warrant, October 13th, 1908]
Meanwhile there were stirring doings at Westminster. All police leave
had been stopped for the day in the whole of the metropolitan area, and
every mounted policeman had been called up to headquarters. Parliament
Square itself was cut off from the rest of London as though it were in
a state of siege, by double cordons of foot police, each of them five
deep, which were drawn up across all the streets leading to it. Within
these barriers the great area, usually thronged with vehicles of all
kinds and hurrying passers-by, was emptied of all but the few mounted
police who rode about in it, the ring of their horses' hoofs sounding
strangely sharp and loud, and an occasional wheeled vehicle carrying
some Member to the House of Commons.
Outside the massed ranks of police the whole population of London
seemed to have gathered. The newspapers said that it was just like
Mafeking night without the disorder. Members of Parliament came out
from time to time to watch the scene, amongst the spectators being Mr.
John Burns, Mr. Haldane, Mr. Walter Long and Mr. Lloyd George, who came
with his little daughter, a fair haired child of six years old. Soon
a deputation of eleven women with Miss Wallace Dunlop a descendant of
the great William Wallace, as their leader, marched out of the Caxton
Hall with Mrs. Lawrence's instructions to oppose with spiritual force
the physical force which the authorities had arrayed in such strength
against them, ringing in their ears.
A cheer from the waiting crowd greeted them as they gained the street,
and though some fifty constables attempted to bar their passage into
Victoria Street, the people swept them through. At last near the end of
Victoria Street, they were met by a body of police and the Inspector
in Charge asked Miss Wallace Dunlop that the deputation should wait
for a few moments in order that he might bring up some mounted police
to clear a way to the House of Commons. She agreed to wait until eight
o'clock but when that time came the Inspector returned and said the
deputation could not pass. Then, faithful to their trust, the little
band of women pressed bravely forward and commenced their hopelessly
unequal struggle with the police. In a moment their ranks were broken
and they were scattered hopelessly amongst the crowd of constables
and sightseers. Before long a number had been arrested and the others
were swept far away from their destination. When the news of the first
deputation's fate reached the Caxton Hall a second body of women
numbering some thirty or forty, marched out to take their place. Like
their predecessors, they too reached the top of Victoria Street where
the mounted police were still waiting. Then suddenly, Mrs. Leigh, a
slight agile figure in white, dashed forward from their midst and
threw herself into the mounted line, seizing a police horse by the
bridle with either hand. The horses reared and kicked furiously, the
constables closed upon her and she was flung to the ground. From
time to time several isolated women succeeded by strategy in getting
quite close to the House of Commons and one even found her way into one
of the underground passages used by Members of Parliament. In every
case they were captured by the police and either placed under arrest or
dragged away and pushed outside the guarding cordons into the crowd.
At last so fearful did the authorities become that the women might be
concealed at other strategic points that they proceeded to thoroughly
search every corner of Westminster Abbey and with their lanterns were
to be seen amongst the buttresses and pinnacles of St. Margaret's
Church, searching for Suffragettes. Yet with all their vigilance they
were circumvented, for one woman succeeded in outwitting everyone
and entered the sacred chamber itself. The lady in question was Mrs.
Margaret Travers Simons, Mr. Keir Hardie's Parliamentary Secretary,
who, whilst a believer in the Votes for Women Movement, had never taken
any active part in it. On her way to the House that evening she had
been deeply moved by the violent scenes. As she sat thinking of them
in the Lobby, and realising that the Suffragettes, struggle as they
might, would never reach the House, the thought suddenly flashed across
her mind that she herself had the power to make the appeal and protest
which was impossible to them. Seized by an irresistible impulse, she
sent in for Mr. T. H. W. Idris, the Liberal Member for Flint Boroughs,
and asked him to take her to look through a little window, known as
the "peep hole," which is situated on the left side of the glass doors
leading into the House of Commons, and to which Members of Parliament
had the privilege of taking their lady friends. He agreed, and, on
reaching the window, she mounted a seat, which is in front of it in
order that she might get a clear view of the chamber. After a moment or
two she descended and Mr. Idris turned towards the outer Lobby thinking
that she was about to accompany him. In that instant, she pushed open
the double glass doors and, before anyone could prevent her, darted
into the Chamber and rushed up the central aisle towards the Speaker's
chair, calling upon the House to "attend to the women's question!" She
was seized by one of the attendants at the Bar, a big, powerful man who
carried her back into the lobby, and in a very short space of time she
had been handed over to a police inspector, conducted out of the House
of Commons, and allowed to go free.
[Illustration: Mr. Curtis Bennett listening to Miss Pankhurst's speech
from the Dock, October, 1908]
Outside in the street the conflict still continued and went on until
midnight when it was found that ten persons had been injured and
treated at Westminster Hospital, and that twenty-one women and a number
of men had been arrested.
FOOTNOTES:
[29] My authorities in these cases are the report in the _Times_ and
the evidence given in the witness box at Bow Street.