Suffragists claimed the mocking word ‘suffragette’ and made it their own
A reporter coined the term 'suffragette' to mock militant women who demanded the right to vote. But these militant women claimed the word and made it their own...
Read moreA reporter coined the term 'suffragette' to mock militant women who demanded the right to vote. But these militant women claimed the word and made it their own...
Read moreOn 28 October 1908, Muriel Matters and Helen Fox chained themselves to the grille of the Ladies' Gallery of the House of Commons. This protest inspired events in my novel Death at Crookham Hall. But why did the suffragettes hate the Gallery?
Read more100 years ago, on 22 September 1921, Margaret Wintringham became the third woman to be elected as a Member of Parliament. She was the first female British-born MP and the first-ever female Liberal MP.
Read moreWomen's football teams enjoyed great success in the first decades of the twentieth century. But in 1921, the Football Association introduced a ban that stayed in place for 50 years...
Read moreNewspaper reports of the force-feeding of suffragettes on hunger strikes caused outrage at the time. Public opinion began to turn in favour of the suffragettes and against the government.
Read moreCryptic ads for abortion pills, claiming to quickly 'correct all irregularities' and 'remove all obstructions' were commonplace in newspapers during the early part of the twentieth century...
Read moreThousands of women worked in munitions factories during the First World War. Prolonged exposure to the chemical TNT turned the women’s skin a lurid yellow colour. As a result, they became known as the canary girls...
Read moreThe first woman to be commemorated with a statue in Parliament Square was the suffragist campaigner Dame Millicent Garrett Fawcett...
Read moreOn 21st May 1914, Emmeline Pankhurst was arrested at the gates of Buckingham Palace. She was trying to lead a delegation to see King George V - but more than 2,000 police officers were sent to stop her.
Read moreIn the early part of the twentieth century, the establishment used mocking cartoons and posters to undermine the suffragettes. But the suffragettes fought back with their own imagery, and the tables were turned…
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