Suffragettes in Great Britain and Ireland orchestrated a bombing and arson campaign between the years 1912 and 1914. The campaign was instigated by the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), and was a part of their wider campaign for women's suffrage. The campaign, led by key WSPU figures such as Emmeline Pankhurst, targeted infrastructure, government, churches and the general public, and saw the use of improvised explosive devices, arson, letter bombs, assassination attempts and other forms of direct action and violence.
At least four people were killed in the attacks, and at least 24 were injured (including two suffragettes). The campaign was halted at the outbreak of war in August 1914 without having brought about votes for women, as suffragettes pledged to pause the campaign to aid the war effort.
Both suffragettes and the authorities of the time described the arson and bomb attacks as a terrorist campaign. Contemporaneous press reports also referred to attacks as terrorist incidents in both the United Kingdom and in the United States. Historians have also classified the campaign as one involving terrorist acts, such as C. J. Bearman, Rachel Monaghan and feminist historians Fern Riddell and Cheryl Jorgensen-Earp.
Background
Multiple suffrage societies formed across Britain during the Victorian era, all campaigning for women's suffrage - with only certain men being able to vote in parliamentary elections at the time. In the years leading up to the First World War, "suffragettes" had become the popular name for members of a new organisation, the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU). Founded in 1903 by Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughters, the Union used direct action to pursue women's suffrage. This was indicated by the Union's adoption of the motto "deeds, not words".
After decades of peaceful protest, the WSPU believed more radical action was needed to get the government to listen to the campaign for women's rights. From 1905 the WSPU's activities became increasingly militant and its members were increasingly willing to break the law by inflicting damage upon property and people. WSPU supporters raided Parliament, physically assaulted politicians and smashed the windows of government buildings. In one instance, a suffragette assaulted future prime minister Winston Churchill with a horse whip on the platform at Bristol railway station. However, before 1911, the WSPU made only sporadic use of violence, and it was directed almost exclusively at the government and civil servants. The WSPU was not the only militant suffragette group. The Women's Freedom League attacked ballot boxes at the 1909 Bermondsey by-election with acid, blinding the returning officer in one eye and causing severe burns to the Liberal agent's neck.The Times, 29 October 1909
Emily Davison, a suffragette who later became infamous after she was killed by the King's horse at the 1913 Epsom Derby, was responsible for several attacks in London in December 1911, but such attacks were uncommon for the time. On 8 December, Davison attempted to set fire to the busy post office in Fleet Street with a burning, kerosene-soaked cloth enclosed within an envelope, but the intended fire did not take hold. Six days later, Davison set fire to two pillar boxes in the City of London, before again attempting to set fire to a post office in Parliament Street, but was arrested during the act and imprisoned.
After 1911, suffragette violence was directed increasingly at commercial concerns and then at the general public. This violence was encouraged by the leadership of the WSPU. In particular, the daughter of WSPU leader Emmeline Pankhurst, Christabel Pankhurst, actively planned a self-described "reign of terror". Emmeline Pankhurst stated that the aim of the campaign was "to make England and every department of English life insecure and unsafe".
The campaign Start of the campaign In June and July 1912, five serious incidents signified the beginning of the campaign in earnest: the homes of three anti-suffrage cabinet ministers were attacked, a powerful bomb was planted in the Home Secretary's office and the Theatre Royal, Dublin, was set aflame and bombed while an audience attended a performance. One of the most dangerous attacks committed by the suffragettes, the attack on the Theatre Royal on 19 July, was carried out by Mary Leigh, Gladys Evans, Sarah Jane Baines under the pseudonym 'Lizzie Baker', and Mabel Capper, who attempted to set fire to the building during a packed lunchtime matinee attended by prime minister H. H. Asquith. A canister of gunpowder was left close to the stage and petrol and lit matches were thrown into the projection booth, which contained highly combustible film reels; it exploded as the audience, including Asquith, left the theatre. Earlier that day, Leigh hurled a hatchet towards Asquith, which narrowly missed, instead cutting Irish MP John Redmond on the ear. The four suffragettes who carried out the attack on the Theatre Royal were subsequently charged with offences likely to endanger life.
Arson attacks continued for the rest of 1912. Also vandalism attacks such as the damage to the royal Balmoral golf course having hole flags replaced with purple suffragette slogans against the Cabinet ministers, and vandalism to the memorial fountain on the Ballater to Braemar road, also attracted press attention.
On 25 October, Hugh Franklin set fire to his train carriage as it pulled into Harrow station. He was arrested and charged with endangering the safety of passengers. On 28 November, post boxes were booby trapped across Great Britain, starting a 5-day long pillar box sabotage campaign, with dangerous chemicals being poured into some boxes. In London, meanwhile, many letters ignited while in transit at post offices, and paraffin and lit matches were also put in pillar boxes.'Hundreds of Letters Are Damaged', Dundee Courier, 29 November 1912"Suffragette Outrages", North Devon Journal, 5 December 1912 On 29 November, a bystander was assaulted with a whip at Aberdeen railway station by Emily Davison, as she believed the man was politician David Lloyd George in disguise. On 17 December, railway signals at Potters Bar were tied together and disabled by suffragettes with the intention of endangering train journeys.
The increasing number of arson attacks and acts of criminal damage was criticised by some members of the WSPU, and in October 1912 two long-standing supporters, Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence and Frederick Pethick-Lawrence, were expelled from the Union for voicing such objections. In November 1912, a car thought to be carrying the Chancellor of the Exchequer David Lloyd George in Aberdeen was attacked by a woman, who jumped on the running board and struck the window with a stone. By the end of the year, 240 people had been sent to prison for militant suffragette activities.
Christabel Pankhurst set up a new weekly WSPU newspaper at this time named The Suffragette. The newspaper devoted double-page spreads to reporting the bomb and arson attacks now regularly occurring across the country. This became the method by which the organisation claimed responsibility for each attack. Independent press also began to publish weekly round-ups of the attacks, with some newspapers such as the Gloucester Journal and Liverpool Echo running dedicated columns on the latest "outrages".
January 1913 escalation Despite the outbreak of violence, at the start of January 1913 suffragettes still believed that it was possible to achieve the vote for women by constitutional means. A "Franchise Bill" was proposed to the House of Commons in the winter session of 1912–13, and it was drafted to allow a series of amendments which, if passed, would introduce women's suffrage. However, after an initial debate on 24 January, the speaker of the house ruled the amendments out of order and the government was forced to abandon the bill. In response, the WSPU stepped-up their bombing and arson campaign. The subsequent campaign was directed and in some cases orchestrated by the WSPU leadership, and was specifically designed to terrorise the government and the general public to change their opinions on women's suffrage under threat of violence. In a speech, leader Emmeline Pankhurst declared "guerrilla warfare".
The suffragettes invented the letter bomb, a device intended to kill or injure the recipient, and an increasing number began to be posted. On 29 January, several letter bombs were sent to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, David Lloyd George, and the prime minister Asquith, but they all exploded in post offices, post boxes or mailbags while in transit. In the following weeks, further attacks on letters and mailboxes occurred in cities such as Coventry, London, Edinburgh, Northampton, and York, and in Aberdeen, thick black ink was used to obliterate addresses in postal boxes.
On 6 February five postmen were burned, four severely, in Dundee after handling a phosphorus suffragette letter bomb addressed to Asquith. On 19 February, there was a suffragette bomb attack on Lloyd George's house, Pinfold Manor, with two bombs planted perhaps by Emily Davison. Only one exploded, seriously damaging the building but causing no injuries. The explosion occurred shortly before the arrival of workmen at the house, and the crude nature of the timer – a candle – meant the bomb had been likely to explode while the men were present. WSPU Leader Emmeline Pankhurst was arrested for planning the attack on Lloyd George's house and sentenced to three years in prison. Between February and March, railway signal wires across the country were deliberately cut, further endangering train journeys.
Some of the inspiration for the suffragettes' attacks came from the earlier Fenian dynamite campaign of 1881 to 1885. Although more sophisticated explosive devices were used by suffragettes, inspiration was taken from this campaign's tactic of targeting symbolic locations, such as the Bank of England and St Paul's Cathedral.
In May 1913, the Ashley Road Public School in Aberdeen had its roof destroyed by fire, with arson materials and The Suffragist newspaper found. Amongst the other targets selected by suffragettes were sporting events: there was a failed attempt to burn down the grounds of the All England Lawn Tennis Club at Wimbledon, while a plot to burn down the grandstand of Crystal Palace F.C.'s football ground on the eve of the 1913 FA Cup Final was also foiled. During the year the grandstand of the Manor Ground football stadium in Plumstead was also burned down, costing £1,000 in damages. The destroyed ground was the home of then south London club Arsenal (known as Woolwich Arsenal until 1914), and the same year the financially-troubled club moved from south London to a new stadium in an area of north London, Highbury, where they still remain today. Suffragettes also attempted to burn the grandstands at the stadiums of Preston North End and Blackburn Rovers football clubs during the year. More traditionally masculine sports were specifically targeted in an attempt to protest against male dominance. One sport that was often targeted was golf, and golf courses were often subjected to arson attacks. During some of these attacks prime minister Asquith would be physically assaulted while playing the sport. Additionally, some politicians' private gardens were vandalised with plants pulled out or grass burned with acid and slogan 'Votes for Women' left, including at the home of Aberdeen's Lord Provost, Adam Maitland.
Response to Emmeline Pankhurst's imprisonment