Suffragettes with Lucy Worsley (2018) - full transcript

The year is 1913.

In Britain, women are burning

buildings and planting bombs.

And all this for something

that in 100 years' time

we'll completely

take for granted -

a woman's right to a vote.

You'll have heard

of the suffragettes.

You probably know the name

Pankhurst,

that they chained themselves

to railings,

and that one of them

was trampled by a horse.

But these women did so much

more than that,

resorting to outrageous

criminal acts,

fighting a decade-long campaign

of escalating violence.

I'm going to show you

how ordinary women

had been driven

to these extremes,

and how they've become

the single most prolific

home-grown

terrorist organisation

this country's ever seen.

Come on, hurry!

In 2018, it's 100 years

since women, well,

some of them at least,

won the right to the vote.

The story of how

that really happened

is much more difficult

and dangerous

than you could possibly imagine.

- Good morning, ladies.

- At the heart of that story

is an organisation

called the Women's Social

and Political Union,

or the WSPU,

and they're not

what you might expect.

Meet the suffragettes.

Some of these women

you already know.

The middle-class Pankhursts.

Emmeline, the matriarch,

and two of her daughters,

Christabel and Sylvia.

But there are others,

and this story also belongs

to them.

Women like Flora,

factory manager and

logistical mastermind.

Lilian, dancer

and undercover activist.

Mary, Canadian artist

turned ardent arsonist.

And Annie, millworker

and devoted militant.

Well, ladies, what else

have we on the agenda this

morning?

- Flora?

- Well, we've got two members

in Liverpool...

- In 1913, these women are

a force to be reckoned with.

So much so that they

actually pose a serious threat

to national security.

But how has it come to this?

I'm going to take you back

to the beginning,

to re-examine the chain

of events

that have led to them doing

these horrifying things.

And they are going to tell

you their story,

in their own words.

- I was extremely annoyed

at the difference between

the advantages men had

and boys had

to the ones girls had.

It irritated me simply

enormously.

Why should God be male?

- I want to tell you why,

as a wife and mother,

I am an organiser of this union.

It is because I want my sex

to be recognised as a person

in the eyes of the law,

and I want my political rights.

If I cannot change

the wicked law

which holds in bondage

the womanhood of this country,

I will at least die

in the attempt to change it.

- In Edwardian England,

life for women was governed

by a strict set of social rules.

Most working-class women

had access only

to poorly-paid jobs in factories

or domestic service.

Middle-class women

could set their sights

mostly on marriage.

None had any say in how

their country was governed.

Since the 1860s,

campaigners known as suffragists

had been trying to change

that fact,

but 40 years of asking nicely

simply hadn't worked.

In 1903, from their

Manchester kitchen table,

the Pankhursts and some

like-minded women

started a new,

more proactive organisation

- the WSPU.

The suffragettes

would demand change.

But change wouldn't come easily,

because this is what

they were up against.

Giving women the vote

would mean changing the law,

and the power to do that

rested with the all-male

politicians,

here at Westminster.

In May 1905,

a debate was planned

about women's suffrage,

so the WSPU led a large group

of suffragettes to Parliament.

But women weren't allowed

beyond these doors.

The issue had been debated

many times before.

So far, members of Parliament

had thrown out

19 suffrage bills.

Now, a Liberal MP proposed

a new bill,

to give women the vote.

Out there in the lobby,

Emmeline Pankhurst

and hundreds of suffragettes

were waiting to hear

what was going to happen.

But the bill got talked out,

which meant that MPs

deliberately spent

so much time talking about

another bill

that there was no time left

to discuss votes for women.

Hmm.

The suffragettes reacted

angrily,

and there was a scuffle

in the lobby.

The women got shoved out

onto the street.

They'd been quite literally

excluded

from the corridors of power.

The suffragettes had seen

enough.

There would be no more

asking nicely.

- We resolved to be satisfied

with nothing

but action on our question.

"Deeds not words" was to be

our permanent motto.

- With a general election

looming,

after ten years

of Conservative rule,

the Liberals were looking

likely victors.

The suffragettes decided

to pressure Liberal MPs

to commit to votes for women.

It was here,

at the Free Trade Hall

in central Manchester in 1905,

that Christabel Pankhurst

and Annie Kenney

came to a public meeting.

They wanted to ask about

votes for women.

At the meeting would be a man

who was at that point

a Liberal MP,

Winston Churchill.

Now, Churchill in principle

was in favour of female

suffrage,

but he was a pragmatist.

He cared more about getting

votes for his Liberal Party.

If women didn't have the vote,

their needs were pretty low

on his agenda.

The meeting was getting

towards its end,

and nobody had said anything

about female suffrage.

There sat

Christabel Pankhurst, 25,

self-styled leader and a

precocious student of law,

and her 26-year-old

working-class ally,

Lancashire millworker

Annie Kenney.

Very few women attended

these events,

and they would certainly

have been expected

to stay silent.

Annie got to her feet.

She wanted to ask her question

in front of this vast

audience of men.

We listened very attentively

to the speeches,

and then at the very end

the questions were asked.

Some Labour men

putting questions about

the unemployed.

Then I rose and put mine.

No reply.

The chairman asked

for other questions.

I rose again and was pulled down

by the enthusiastic Liberals

behind me.

Annie and Christabel

now did something

even more outrageous.

They unfurled a banner

which read, "Votes For Women".

Christabel said that the result

was explosive,

the meeting was aflame

with excitement.

The women were dragged out.

Hold still, please.

- On what grounds, sir,

have we been ejected?

Just hold still, madam.

- I wish to return to the hall.

We didn't hear an answer

to our question.

Madam, I cannot permit that.

- Christabel knows exactly

what to do

because of her legal training.

And what she'll do next

changes everything.

- The matter must not, I knew,

stay where it was.

For simply disturbing

the meeting,

I shall not be imprisoned.

I must use the infallible

means of getting arrested.

I must assault the police.

The vote depended on it.

- Madam, I cannot permit that.

It is a public meeting...

- Madam.

- And I...

- Madam.

- ..am a member

of the public.

Madam, hold still, please.

- In this single act,

the battle lines are drawn.

These women have been denied

access to political debate.

These policemen

are the public face

of political power.

They've never had to police

respectable women

like this before.

Spitting at a policeman

constitutes assault.

The unladylike spit,

his hands on her.

By Edwardian standards,

this is rule-breaking

in the extreme.

For the first time,

this raises a question

for the authorities -

what are they going to do

about these women?

It's a question

they'll be asking

for the next nine years.

Suffragettes versus

the establishment.

The battle begins.

Both women were charged

with obstruction,

and Christabel, with assault.

Crucially, they refuse

to pay their fines

and this made Annie Kenney

and Christabel Pankhurst

the first suffragettes to go

to prison for militancy.

This was what 'deeds not words'

looks like.

But I don't think anyone

had any idea just how far

deeds would go.

The next day, the papers

were full of it,

and the suffragettes recognised

that the press furore

drew more attention to the cause

of female suffrage

than it had had in years.

In January 1906,

as predicted, the Liberals

won the election.

To ramp up pressure on MPs,

who would now be

Cabinet ministers,

the WSPU moved their

headquarters to London.

They organised rallies,

heckled MPs, attempted to get

into Parliament.

And while it was shocking

for women

to so openly break the law,

they made arrest

and imprisonment

their key tactic.

Many were brought to Canon Row,

the police station

closest to Westminster.

Get yourself arrested,

refuse to pay your fine,

have your day in court,

so that the newspapers

would report what you said.

This was the way

that the suffragettes

drew attention to their cause.

The suffragettes

are deliberately breaking

the law to get attention,

but prison is a high price

to pay.

The women,

like Annie and Sylvia,

will willingly go through

those doors,

sacrificing their

respectability.

Well, I think

it's quite remarkable.

The women you'd expect

to find inside

will probably have been

convicted

of crimes to do with poverty,

like vagrancy or prostitution.

But these women, they're not

the usual criminal type.

And nobody knows quite

what to make of them.

- We were marched about barefoot

from place to place.

Here to give up our money,

there to be searched.

Raising our arms in the air

whilst the officer

rubbed her hands over us

and examined our hair

to ensure we had nothing

concealed about us.

All the prisoners

seemed quiet now.

There was an atmosphere of...

fear.

You, undress.

Come on.

- When the women come

into the prison,

they're stripped

of their clothes

and their individuality

and their dignity.

The women have never experienced

anything like this before.

They've broken the rules...

they've crossed a line.

It seems to me that this

is a kind of baptism.

I think it's safe to say

that none of them will ever

be the same again.

Prison clothes,

prison food,

they'll all be treated

like common criminals.

But these women will

tolerate these indignities

because they're convinced

they have right on their side.

The cell is six feet

by nine feet.

And I just can't imagine

only being let out

for one hour a day.

But the thing is,

everyone's in the same boat.

In the prison,

the women meet as equals

and middle-class women

come face-to-face with poverty.

And this experience

will politicise them all

profoundly.

For some, like school teacher

Mary Leigh,

prison felt necessary.

We condemned ourselves

to prison.

Therefore it was no prison

to us.

We had a mission to pursue,

just as Joan of Arc pursued

her mission until she became

such a nuisance in the country,

that they had to burn her.

One comes out of prison

knowing that

the suffering for others

is essential

to the formation of character

and to the furtherance

of a great cause.

- Prison will change

these women.

Not only because of their

experiences inside,

but how they're treated

by their fellow suffragettes

when they get out.

- The joy of release,

it was almost worthwhile

going to prison

for the supreme happiness

of getting out.

Morning, welcome to the Savoy.

Nice to see you.

When the suffragettes

came out of prison, they got

almost the exact opposite

of the harsh treatment

they'd had inside.

They were greeted at the gates

and then they were

whisked off to a welcome banquet

at a lavish location

like this one -

The Savoy Hotel in the Strand.

Welcome breakfasts

and suffragette banquets

were pretty grand affairs.

Here's the menu for one of them.

You get eight courses

plus coffee.

There were 250 guests,

and here's the seating plan.

They were all set out

at these big, long tables.

The proceedings kicked off

with all the loyal toasts.

Toasts to His Most Gracious

Majesty, the King,

and the Queen and the

Prince and Princess of Wales

and the rest of all

the Royal Family,

before you got to success

to the women's suffrage cause.

And all this very

conspicuous loyalty

was witnessed by a lot

of other guests

who were members of the press.

Some of the suffragettes

would never have been

to such a fancy place before.

It must have made them feel

awfully special.

These banquets served

as a sort of graduation ceremony

for the suffragettes

who'd served their time,

and who'd proved

their commitment to the cause.

Through these rituals,

I think the WSPU

was creating a distinct

identity for itself.

Becoming a movement to which

increasing numbers of women

wanted to belong.

For me and for many other

young women like me,

militant suffrage

came like a draught of fresh air

into our padded, stifled lives.

It gave us the feeling

that we were part of life

and not just outside

watching it.

These arrests worked miracles

for the cause.

They inspired new recruits

and inflamed those older

in the fight.

They inspired deeds of daring.

In fact, jailbirds

created jailbirds.

Halls were crowded,

pockets were emptied,

prisons filled.

- In February 1907,

at the opening

of the new Parliament,

the suffragettes were

expecting female suffrage

to feature in the King's speech.

When it failed to appear,

they descended angrily

on Westminster

and 50 were arrested.

The largest number

at a single event so far.

But the men inside

were unimpressed.

Later that month,

another bill came before

the House of Commons,

but again, it got talked out.

There were angry protests.

Outside Parliament, this time

74 women were arrested.

In the months that followed,

324 women got themselves

arrested.

The mass arrests

were causing uproar

in the press, and yet,

the suffragettes' message

wasn't getting through.

They'd become

objects of ridicule.

Postcards,

the social media of their day,

caricatured them

as failed mothers and wives.

So the WSPU decided to try

to take back control.

- With the close of September

and the commencement of October

starts our great winter campaign

for the vote.

The first week will be spent...

- It's October 1907

and this is the first edition

of 'Votes For Women'

the suffragettes' own newspaper.

This was a foray into what

would become

a really key battlefield,

the public image

of the suffragettes.

They're also working

on a new publicity campaign.

- Ready to go?

- This is a new suffragette

tactic,

chaining themselves to railings.

But this isn't quite

what it seems.

It's actually less about protest

and more about propaganda.

This iconic image created by

the suffragettes themselves,

will be made into postcards

and distributed.

There's something

really fascinating

about this imagery,

the women in chains,

the most powerful metaphor

there is

for oppression.

The really interesting thing is

that suffragettes only

chained themselves to railings

on a handful of occasions.

The images of them doing it,

though, were so widely

disseminated,

that they form our idea

of the suffragettes to this day.

I think this illustrates

just how canny

the suffragettes were

at controlling their image.

There's something very modern

about their mastery of PR.

In February 1908, back here

in the House of Commons,

another bill came and went.

Angered by yet another

failed bill,

the suffragettes are

planning a show of strength

the Government cannot ignore.

So if the columns

come together here,

we should be able to avoid

congestion,

and keep things moving

all the way through the park.

That should work.

That's Flora Drummond.

She left school when she was 14

and she trained to be

a postmistress.

But she ended up

as the manageress

of a typewriter factory.

She's bringing all of her

logistical

and organisational skills

to bear

on what's going to be

the biggest demonstration yet,

that the suffragettes

have organised.

Now, the speakers' platforms

are also some distance

from the main entrance.

- The suffragettes are spending

the modern equivalent

of 110,000 pounds

publicising their women's

Sunday procession,

fully expecting it to be

lapped up by the press.

The WSPU have chosen

the moment of the Women's Sunday

to launch their colours,

purple, green and white.

That's white for purity,

green for hope and purple

for dignity.

This is a genius piece

of branding.

The Pankhursts advised

the members

to always wear these colours

in a fetching,

charming and ladylike manner.

The point is, to show the world

that they're still real women,

that they've still

got feminine qualities,

and that this isn't incompatible

with having the vote.

On 21 June 1908,

seven separate processions

got ready to converge

on Hyde Park, and Flora,

who was now known

as the General,

wore a gold cap and epaulettes

to inspect each one.

On Women's Sunday,

which became known as

the day of the Monster March,

30,000 people took part

in the procession

and they were watched

by half a million more.

Hyde Park here

was absolutely packed.

The masterstroke was to ensure

that the march was captured,

not just by newspaper

photographers,

but also by newsreel cameramen.

Flora made sure they had

prime positions

from which to film the event.

By now, cinema audiences

were growing rapidly,

and feature films were preceded

by early forms of newsreel.

The women carried arrows,

like those on prison uniforms

as emblems of honour.

They created a spectacle,

watched not just only

by the crowds,

but by many millions more.

And the spectators

were impressed

by the womanliness of the people

taking part.

This journalist says that

"the dignity, the grace,

the beauty, the courage

"of the processionists

carried conviction everywhere.

"Scoffers were converted."

"Some who had evidently

come to jeer stayed to cheer."

This was a glorious day

for the public image

of the suffragettes.

- This organisation

is becoming so powerful

and so determined, and women

are coming in in every way,

coming forward to us

and giving all their lives

to gain this point.

The government can see

for themselves

that this agitation

is extending all over

the country.

- The Women's Sunday

had swung the public

in the suffragettes' favour.

Now they were determined

to use that force of numbers

to persuade

politicians to take them

seriously.

While the women's Sunday

was entirely peaceful,

the police are worried about

what the suffragettes

are going to do next.

Christabel, Emmeline

and Flora are planning

a sort of mass invasion

at the House of Commons.

They're calling it a rush.

The suffragettes have printed

50,000 leaflets publicising

their illegal assault

on Parliament.

- We're going to want to cut off

the bridges

and we need to make sure

we don't get a big crowd

gathering around

the house itself.

- It's supposed to take

place on the 13th of October,

but the police have come up

with a plan.

They're going to arrest

the suffragette leaders

in advance

in the hope that the rush

will never happen.

Two days before the event,

the WSPU held a rally

in Trafalgar Square,

imploring the crowd

to attend the rush.

Rather than arrest them

on the spot for incitement,

the police issued the leaders

with a summons to attend court,

which they ignored.

Mrs Pankhurst not here, then?

Back at six?

We'll have to wait then.

Make yourselves comfortable.

- What the police don't know

is that someone else

is waiting too -

a photographer, Arthur Barrett -

he's hiding in that cupboard.

Good afternoon, officers.

Ma'am. 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

liable to cause a breach of

the peace,

calling upon and inciting

the public to do

a certain wrongful

and illegal act.

As you wish.

- Knowing they were

about to be arrested,

they'd planted Arthur Barrett

in the cupboard.

Capturing the moment

and spinning it for publicity

was a provocative move

that worked.

This photo appeared in the

papers the next morning.

The leaders were found

guilty of incitement

and sentenced to two months

in Holloway.

Meanwhile, the rush

took place without them.

60,000 people descended on

Parliament Square,

only to be met by a cordon

of 5,000 policemen.

The numbers are huge.

They show how votes

for women had become

one of the most incendiary

issues of the 20th century.

Everyone was talking about

the suffragettes

and they were quick to

capitalise.

In May 1909, they staged

a women's exhibition

in Knightsbridge.

On the face of it, this was

a traditional Edwardian bazaar,

selling sweets, dresses,

ribbons and cakes.

But it was also rather radical,

with a mock-up of a prison cell

showing visitors

what their sisters inside

was suffering.

To me, this is a snapshot

of a world in flux.

We've got the womanly traditions

still held dear by Edwardian

ladies,

combined with the brave

new world

of independent, political women.

In March 1909, another bill

came before

the House of Commons.

This is the Electoral

Reform Bill.

It did pretty well, this one,

it got a second reading,

but the Liberal Prime Minister,

Herbert Asquith, abstained.

And this was despite

his public declarations

of support

for female suffrage.

What a cad.

In the eyes of the suffragettes,

this made Asquith

public enemy number one.

Six years of WSPU militancy,

the arrests, trials,

prison sentences,

the rallies and the rush

on Parliament,

all of it counted for nothing

if Cabinet ministers,

the men at the table of power,

still refused to budge.

So now the suffragettes

decided to set their sights

on them.

- Morning, ladies.

- Morning.

- Let's see who you all know.

Now, first one.

- That one's easy,

Winston Churchill on the right.

Lloyd George on the left, there.

- Nice hats.

- Well done, Flora.

- Very good, Flora.

- That's Gladstone,

you'd recognise him anywhere.

Home Secretary,

likes to look after his own,

that one does.

Not sure he's a fan

of female suffrage.

The plan is to develop a new

militant tactic.

It's to be a campaign

of harassing and heckling

Cabinet ministers.

Not at public meetings,

but out on the streets.

Cabinet ministers don't have

any particular security.

You can get right up to them

and that's what this lot

plan to do.

Grey, Edward Grey.

Foreign Secretary.

They're all foreign to me,

the lot of them.

- Now this one,

if you don't know this one,

you can go home.

- Asquith.

- Asquith.

- At the forefront of assaults

on ministers

was schoolteacher Mary Leigh.

She was the leader

of the WSPU marching band.

She climbed onto a roof,

removed slates with an axe,

and threw them at Asquith's

car down below.

She was sentenced to four months

in Winson Green jail.

Over the next few months,

there were dozens more

attacks on Cabinet ministers.

Asquith was assaulted again

on a golf course,

and later with a catapult.

While Winston Churchill

was attacked by a suffragette

with a dog whip.

Heckling Cabinet ministers

was one thing,

physically assaulting them

was quite another.

Causing actual physical harm

to another human being

was definitely crossing

a moral line.

And if the suffragettes

were willing to use violence

as a means to achieving

their ends,

how far were they prepared

to go?

Right, so we've got

two new officers coming today.

We need to get them up to date

as quickly as possible.

- The assaults on ministers

have made the Government

take note,

but not in the way

the suffragettes might hope.

They've drafted in

Special Branch,

headed by Patrick Quinn,

experienced in dealing with

the terror threat

posed by Irish nationalists

and European anarchists.

The Home Secretary's

just approved

the recruitment

of 16 new officers,

just to give protection

to Cabinet members.

Cabinet Square.

- It's never, ever happened

before

that individual members

of the Cabinet

have needed routine,

daily protection.

And it's quite extraordinary

to think that

they needed it because of

the threat

from the nation's mothers,

daughters and wives.

The authorities have already

locked up

some of these mothers,

daughters, wives.

Among them, Asquith's attacker,

Mary Leigh.

But the Government aren't ready

for what these women

will do next.

One suffragette has come up

with a new weapon

in this war for women's rights.

This seems to be the first time

anyone's used refusing food

as a form of political protest.

In fact, you could say that

Marion Wallace Dunlop

invented the political

hunger strike.

The suffragette leaders

will be quick to see

the power of the action

and others will follow.

But it will all come

at a terrible cost.

- On my arrival at jail,

I protested against

the treatment to which I was

subjected,

and broke the windows

in my cell.

At nine o'clock in the evening

I was taken to the punishment

cell,

and was then stripped

and handcuffed.

On Thursday,

food was brought in.

But I did not touch it.

- I feel so weak.

Breakfast has just been put in.

I said I didn't want any,

God help me.

I wonder if those outside

are thinking of us?

I hear knocks on the walls

and all the prisoners

are shouting that they

haven't eaten any of their food.

Neither have I.

I am getting disinclined

to even write.

When you are on hunger

strike and thirst strike,

your suffering is very great.

Your tongue is swollen and

your lips are swollen,

the whole body twitches

and you have unendurable

sensations.

But you have no fear at all.

For you know perfectly well

you may never leave prison

alive.

- After just a few days

on hunger strike,

the women are so weak,

the prison authorities

are worried they might die.

The Home Office has ordered

their release,

ending their sentences early.

Now, the reason

that hunger strike

is such a potent and

much-copied form of protest

is that it shows that a person's

willing to die for their cause.

And you can see that it put

the Government

into a really tricky position.

Obviously they didn't want

women dying in prison,

but if they let them out,

it was making a mockery of

the criminal justice system.

The early release

of the hunger strikers

may have seemed to be

a victory for the suffragettes,

but they didn't bank

on what would happen next.

It's 24 September 1909,

and Mary Leigh about to be

the first suffragette

to face the Home Office's

new directive.

- Where are we going?

- Come.

- About noon on Saturday,

I was told the matron

wished to speak to me.

And was taken

to the doctor's room

where I saw the matron,

the wardresses and a doctor.

There was a sheet on the floor

with an armchair on it.

The doctor said

I was to sit down.

And I did.

While I was held down...

a nasal tube was inserted.

The sensation is most painful.

The drums of the ears

seemed to be bursting,

and there is a horrible pain

in the throat and the breast.

The tube was pushed down

20 inches.

One doctor inserted the end

up my nostril

while I was held down

by the wardresses.

During which process

they must have seen my pain.

- It seems to me that being fed

by force in this way

is the very definition

of torture.

To go through it even once

is unthinkable,

yet many of these women

will be forcibly fed

three times a day

for several weeks.

A few of them will go through it

more than 200 times.

So the nozzle turned

at the top of my nose

to enter my gullet.

It seemed that my left eye

was being wrenched

out of its socket.

The food was poured

into the funnel, and down

into my aching,

bruised, quivering body.

I felt as though

I was being killed.

Absolute suffocation

is the feeling.

I forgot what I was in there

for.

I forgot women,

I forgot everything

except my own sufferings,

and I was completely

overcome by them.

- Some sections of the press

were appalled by forcible

feeding,

and some supported it.

Postcards were produced

that made mockery

of the suffragettes yet again.

They, in turn, produced

their own images

depicting the horror

of what was happening.

In the escalating war

between suffragette and state,

this was a watershed moment.

Forcible feeding was

enormously controversial.

It had been done for a long time

in asylums on so-called

fasting girls.

Today they'd probably be

diagnosed with anorexia,

but the Government had never

sanctioned it being done before

on people of sound mind.

It really divided

the medical profession.

117 doctors all signed

a petition to the Prime Minister

saying, "Don't do this".

One of them felt so strongly

that he's added

a personal note saying

that it's an absolutely beastly

and revolting procedure.

And that sooner or later,

there will be fatal results.

On the other hand though,

this doctor,

who was a member of the

Royal College Of Physicians

that was then based

in this building,

it's now the Canadian

High Commission,

he wrote privately

to the Home Secretary

saying that force-feeding

was fine.

He said that hundreds of lives

have been saved by it

and that in some cases,

the patient grows positively

fat.

So the Government went ahead.

It continued with

the forcible feeding.

And this was a pivotal decision,

both for the Government

and the suffragettes

there would be no turning back.

Suffragettes persisted

with hunger strikes

and on their release from

prison,

the WSPU rewarded them

with welcome breakfasts

and specially-made medals.

This one belongs to Elsie Duval,

and it was awarded for

hunger strike.

I'm very struck by the fact that

the medal says "For Valour,"

exactly like The Victoria Cross.

The hunger strike, then,

was becoming an extra

rite of passage

for the suffragettes.

And these medals made them

look like war heroes in the eyes

of the other women.

They'd become soldiers

for the cause.

If you experienced brutality

in prison

and then, when you came out,

got rewarded

by the suffragette leadership,

I can see that you might

very well become radicalised.

It's a modern word, but I

think it's relevant here.

The forcible feeding didn't

break the suffragettes -

it made them stronger.

Forcible feeding was fuel

to the fire of their militancy,

and the flames of that fire

were getting ever harder

to contain.

I go deeper and deeper in my

enthusiasm to the women.

And even for their tactics,

as I understand it more

and more.

Not only what they do,

but what has been done to them

to drive them to these tactics.

Holloway has been the greatest,

most wonderful experience

of my life.

- And if these women

were being radicalised

by hunger strikes

and forcible feeding,

what would be next?

Now, this is a letter

from the head of the

Metropolitan Police

to the Home Secretary,

and he says

there have been reports

of two suffragettes

practising with revolvers

at a shooting range

that then stood here

on the Tottenham Court Road.

Incongruously, its name

was Fairyland.

He said that he fears

the real possibility

of the Prime Minister's

being fired at

at the entrance

to the House of Commons.

And he says that there's

something nearly amounting to

a conspiracy to murder.

By the end of 1909,

things were in danger

of spinning out of control.

The violence had grown,

and demonstrations

and deputations, to assaults

and forcible feeding.

Then, to the suffragettes'

astonishment,

it looked like the Government

was finally

willing to find a peaceful

resolution.

Out of the turmoil,

a special Parliamentary

committee

was formed of 54 MPs,

to try to solve this question

of female suffrage.

They came up with

the Conciliation Bill.

It was the best chance

of change for 50 years.

After so many failed bills,

there was a genuine desire

on both sides for this one

to succeed.

The suffragettes called off

militancy,

and the Home Office stopped

force-feeding.

Both sides declared a truce.

It's spring, 1910.

The Conciliation Bill

is being considered

by Parliament,

and the suffragettes

who've been on hunger strike

are slowly recovering.

- It's votes for women.

- In six years,

the WSPU had come a long way

from the Pankhursts'

kitchen table.

They now counted celebrities

in their ranks,

like the goddaughter

of Queen Victoria,

Indian princess

Sophia Duleep Singh.

They occupied 23 rooms

of their headquarters,

with 110 paid staff,

including men,

in all departments

from editorial and advertising

to duplication and dispatch.

They were a sophisticated

set-up,

hoping that all this hard work

was about to pay off.

On the 12th of July,

the Conciliation Bill passed

the first hurdle,

a majority of MPs,

more than 100 of them,

voted that it should get

a second reading.

But then, political differences

between the Liberals

and the Conservatives

meant that it didn't go

any further.

The Government had

something else

at the top of its agenda -

poverty.

The Liberal Party's big project

was the people's budget,

designed to improve the lives

of the nation's poorest

through a fairer

distribution of wealth.

In order to get the mandate

he needed

for the people's budget,

Asquith decided to call

another general election.

This meant that the other

big social reform project,

votes for women,

got side-lined.

Yet again.

The suffragettes had held to

the truce for almost a year,

but the failure

of the Conciliation Bill

reignited their anger.

There was not one of us

who would not have gone

to our death at that moment

had Christabel so willed it.

It was a mercy

for the militant movement

when the truce was broken.

- On Friday, 18 November 1910,

300 women marched

on Westminster.

Anticipating trouble,

extra police officers were

drafted in from the East End.

Women tried repeatedly

to get into parliament,

but were kettled by the police.

They were contained within

Parliament Square.

What happened next

was violence

of a whole new order.

In this moment,

the battle lines between

suffragette

and state are redefined.

Drafting in police

from a rougher part of town

has introduced a dangerous

ingredient.

Where before,

handling these women at all

broke Edwardian rules

of respectability,

this deliberate sexual contact

was totally transgressive,

and deeply shocking.

After six hours

of running battle,

there were 119 arrests,

and many injuries.

Was he wearing a uniform?

No, but I'm sure he was police.

He had that look about him.

He didn't look me

in the eye once

while he did what he did.

The police rode at us

with their horses.

So I caught hold of the reigns,

and would not let go.

A policeman caught hold

of my arm,

and twisted it round, and round,

until I felt the bone

almost breaking.

That's Henry Brailsford.

He's a journalist.

He walked out of his job

at the Daily News,

when the paper came out

in favour

of the forcible feeding

of suffragettes.

He's come here today

to take down testimony

from the women who experienced

Black Friday.

Can you tell me what

happened to you?

Several times constables

and plain clothes men

who were in the crowd

passed their arms around me

from the back,

and clutched hold of my

breasts from...

in as public a manner

possible.

And men in the crowd

followed their example.

I also had my chest pummelled,

and my breast clutched by

one constable from the front.

As a consequence,

three days later,

I had to have medical

attention, as...

my breasts

were discoloured...

and very painful.

One policeman put his arm

around me

and seized my left breast.

Nipping it, and wringing it

very painfully.

Saying as he did so,

"You have been wanting this"

"for a long time, haven't you?"

One gripped my thigh,

and when I demanded that he

should cease

doing such hateful action

to a woman, he said,

"Oh, my old dear,"

"I can grip you

wherever I like today."

My skirt was lifted up,

as high as possible.

And the constable attempted

to lift me off the ground

by raising his knee.

This, he could not do.

So he threw me into the crowd.

And incited the men to...

to treat me as they wished.

- The report, compiled by

a female doctor, Jessie Murray,

and Brailsford, makes for

quite distressing reading.

He interviewed 135 women,

and 50 of them said that

they experienced injuries

that gave them pain days

or weeks afterwards.

And 29 of them made claims

that they'd suffered

from indecent conduct,

which means a sort of

sexual assault.

Brailsford used

all this evidence

to call for a public inquiry.

He wanted to know how far

the police had been

instructed to behave like this.

The Home Secretary,

Winston Churchill, refused.

He said that the police

had behaved

with the forbearance

and humanity

for which they'd always been

distinguished.

And he repudiated the

"unsupported allegations

"of that copious fountain

of mendacity,"

"the Women's Social And

Political Union."

Despite the fact the Government

tried to have the negatives

destroyed,

this photograph appeared

in the papers the next day.

This was bad press

for the men in power

at Number Ten Downing St,

who were more accustomed

to having the newspapers

on their side.

As you walk up the staircase,

you pass centuries worth

of British Prime Ministers,

and it goes without saying,

that they're all

man, man, man, man,

until you get to

Mrs Thatcher, right at the top.

When it was Asquith's turn

in power,

all the members

of Parliament were men too.

So were the lawyers,

the police officers,

and the bishops.

Not only were women excluded

from the establishment,

but some of these men

colluded with each other

to keep it that way.

Now, here is an excellent

example of a cosy,

chummy relationship

between one politician

and a press baron.

Lord Northcliffe owned a

whole string of newspapers,

including The Observer,

and The Times.

And he was pretty friendly

with Winston Churchill.

He sent Churchill a present,

and this is Churchill's

thank you letter.

He says, "My dear Northcliffe",

"thank you very much

for the beautiful"

"and sumptuous walking stick."

He says he's going to use it

as a weapon to be applied

to the suffragettes.

Then he goes on to say,

"Really, your papers have been

"very good to me" this year.

What about some golf?

"PS, When do you want me"

"to take you down

in a submarine?"

He'd become a British icon,

but Churchill,

like many politicians

of his age,

closed ranks and made light

of the harsh treatment

of the suffragettes.

They, in turn, resolved to

scale up

their response

with a new offensive.

Hello, ladies.

- Welcome.

- So, choose your weapon.

- Rocks, or hammers?

- After Black Friday,

women are reluctant

to put themselves in harm's way.

But there are still hundreds

of them

ready to sign up for this

latest assault.

Normally, the suffragettes

announced

their demonstrations in advance,

but this time, they secretly

coordinated a mass action

that's going to take

everybody by surprise.

I want you to continue,

do not stop.

God speed, ladies.

On 1 March 1912,

an army of women made their way

to central London

to await their cue.

I took up my station

with others outside Liberty's

windows.

We walked up and down,

and tried to look interested

in the goods displayed.

Throughout the West End

shopping area,

with a unanimity that was

near to being magical,

as the first stroke of Big Ben

boomed out the hour of 11,

100 hammers came out of

handbags,

pockets and sleeves.

- In an unprecedented,

coordinated attack,

hundreds of women vandalised

property throughout

the West End.

They'd smashed windows before,

but never on this scale.

It is quite true,

I used a hammer and stones

to break windows.

Because I realise that that

is the only

effective means of protest

left to us.

Votes and riot are the only

two forms of appeal

to which this Government

will respond.

They refuse us votes, therefore,

we fall back on riot.

Do not mistake our object.

It was not an attack

upon West End shopkeepers.

But upon the Government,

through the medium

of insurance companies.

- The damage was estimated

at 6,500 pounds.

Equivalent to about

500,000 pounds today.

9,000 police were called

to the area,

that's almost half of the

Met's entire force.

And over 200 women

were arrested.

Clearly, the suffragettes

putting themselves in harm's way

was a serious business,

but now they were attacking

the property of other people.

The response was

to decapitate the WSPU -

Special Branch raided

the WSPU offices

and arrested the leadership.

And they were charged

with incitement,

and sentenced to nine months

in Holloway.

This time, the suffragettes

had found a way

of hitting the establishment

where it hurt.

The Government was in no mood

to negotiate.

Shortly afterwards,

when another revised

Conciliation Bill came before

the Commons,

it was categorically defeated.

The MP Sydney Buxton

said that if the House

of Commons pass this bill now,

it would be an endorsement

of the methods

and the actions

of the suffragettes.

So militancy was

increasingly divisive,

and even at the heart

of the WSPU

there were concerns

that it was alienating

public opinion.

Some members opted to leave,

and set up other groups.

To avoid arrest, Christabel

had gone into exile in Paris,

but tried to keep control

over those who remained

through her right-hand woman,

Annie Kenney.

- Then started my life

of real responsibility.

The editors of the paper,

the most eloquent speakers,

and the creative leader

all swept away.

What a responsibility for me.

- Special Branch

are now watching

the suffragettes' every move

to try to

pre-empt further militant

action.

When there's due cause,

the Special Branch have

the power to intercept

letters and telegrams.

By now, and it's March 1912,

these powers have been

enormously extended.

The Home Secretary

has given them permission

to read every single telegram

sent either to or from the WSPU.

In total, 262 of these

telegrams will be

forwarded to the Director

of Public Prosecutions.

This is classic intelligence

gathering.

The Government was clamping

down on the suffragettes.

Then, in June 1912,

a month into her prison

sentence,

Emmeline Pankhurst went on

hunger strike.

Reluctant to forcibly feed

one of the figureheads

of the movement,

the authorities released her.

Soon afterwards, at an

Albert Hall meeting,

Emmeline addressed the doubters.

She reminded the audience

of the cause,

and she said explicitly

that she was going to incite

ever-greater militancy.

"We have a great mission,"

she said to the audience.

- The greatest mission

the world has ever known.

I incite this meeting

to rebellion.

Be militant, each in your

own way.

I accept the responsibility

for everything you do.

- For the core of committed

militants who remained,

this was a clear call to arms.

In the early hours of

13 July 1912,

a suffragette was arrested

outside the house of a

Cabinet minister.

Court records show

that in her basket

she had firelighters,

pick locks,

tapers, matches,

and two cans of inflammable oil.

There was also a chilling

little note, it read,

"I've taken part in every

peaceful method

"of propaganda and petition,

"but I've been driven to realise

"that it's all been of no avail."

"So now I have done

something drastic."

This new tactic of arson

is a big shift in gear.

The aim is to inflict

maximum damage to property,

and the point isn't to get

arrested,

the point is to get away

with it.

So what kind of women

are prepared to commit

these crimes?

Lilian Lenton,

a carpenter's daughter

from Leicester,

she heard Emmeline speak

and vowed to sign up

when she came of age.

Mary Richardson,

raised in Canada,

moved to Britain at 16,

imprisoned,

force-fed, and clearly

radicalised.

Arson.

The word had haunted me so long,

I had known I should not

escape in the end.

I must pay the full price

demanded of a suffragette.

I had no home, so there was

no one to worry over me,

and over whom I should worry.

I had to do more than

my fair share

to make up for the women

who stood back from militancy,

because of the sorrow

their action would have caused

to some loved one.

I was at suffragette

headquarters and announced

that I didn't want to break

any more windows,

but I did want to burn

some buildings.

And I was told that another girl

had just been in

saying the same thing.

So we two met,

and the real serious fires

in this country started.

- The suffragettes may only be

targeting empty properties,

but this is a dangerous,

illegal act.

I do understand how they got

to this point.

The right to vote depends on

a man's ownership of property.

Looked at in a certain way,

Edwardian society

puts more value on property

than it does on women.

You can see why they might

want to burn it down.

Come on, hurry.

- But it's hard to imagine

that this violence is going

to persuade

the Government to give women

the vote.

By spring 1913,

suffragettes were targeting

exclusively male sites

like cricket pavilions.

But they also sabotaged

postboxes with ink or acid,

they cut telegraph wires

and they damaged paintings.

Most famously,

Mary Richardson would use

a hatchet

to smash a nude by Velazquez.

It seemed nothing was

off-limits.

The suffragettes are serving

longer prison sentences,

they're still going on

hunger strike

and being forcibly fed.

But many will reoffend just

as soon as they're released.

The authorities are

desperate to keep track

of what has become

a dangerous band

of wanted women.

The prison authorities regularly

take mugshots of convicted

criminals.

But the suffragettes know

that if they move about

and struggle

when the photograph's

being taken

it'll come out blurred,

exposure times are still

relatively long.

So the prison governors

have decided that they're

going to photograph

the suffragettes secretly,

without their knowledge,

or consent.

The suffragettes have gone

to great lengths

to control their public image,

how the world sees them.

And now the tables have

been turned, once again.

Covert photographs of

suffragettes

including Lilian Lenton

and Mary Richardson

were distributed to warn

police stations, museums

and galleries.

These were Edwardian women

as they'd never been seen

before.

I think the forces

that created them

were propelling them towards

ever-greater extremes.

It was not long to wait

before I heard what my new

task was to be.

Once again, my companion

and I were called upon

for the almost superhuman effort

of remaining calm and collected,

while all the time,

the hot terror of what lay

in front of us

burned in our brains.

- You might well be wondering

where the suffragettes have

learned their

bomb-making skills.

Well, one of them has got

a husband who's a chemist.

Edwy Clayton is a member of

the men's league

for women's suffrage.

I think he's been giving

them lessons.

Even if there's no intention

to endanger life,

clearly, bomb making

is a high risk tactic.

It's terrifying that things

have escalated this far.

In February 1913,

a bomb damaged a house

that was being built

for the Chancellor of the

Exchequer, Lloyd George.

The damage may not have been

extensive,

but it was hugely significant.

I can see how years of

frustration and ill-treatment

may have driven them to it,

but the suffragettes

had crossed a line...

into terrorism.

That night, there was a big

suffragette meeting,

and Emmeline Pankhurst took

full personal responsibility.

"I have advised," she said,

"I have incited,

I have conspired."

That gave Special Branch

grounds to arrest her again

for incitement.

This time she was sentenced

to three years penal servitude.

Already in poor health,

she immediately

went on hunger strike again.

With Emmeline Pankhurst

in prison,

and on hunger strike,

the authorities were getting

increasingly anxious that she,

or maybe some other suffragette,

might die while on their watch.

So they came up with a new act,

the Prisoner's Temporary

Discharge For Ill Health Act.

This meant that when the

suffragettes got too weak,

they'd be released from prison,

they'd be allowed to build up

their strength,

then they'd get rearrested

to finish off their sentences.

Now, unlike all the other bills,

this one got a very swift

journey through Parliament.

The act solved one problem,

but it created others.

The authorities spent

considerable time and resources

tracking released suffragettes

who went to great lengths

to evade them.

It became known

as the Cat and Mouse Act.

Using disguises and a

network of safe houses,

Lilian Lenton became one of

the best-known suffragettes

on the run,

and her exploits were avidly

followed in the press.

When I was released

from Armley Jail in 1913,

I was taken to the home of a

local suffragette in Leeds.

When I got there I noticed

large numbers of detectives,

both at the front door,

and at the back -

it was a terraced house -

whose job it was not to let me

get away.

Nevertheless,

within a few hours,

I was out, I got to Edinburgh,

and walked up to a policeman,

and asked him the way

to somewhere,

so I could get to this house.

So then he says, "Let me

carry your case for you."

He was a very polite man.

It struck me as a joke

to let the policeman carry

the bombs,

so I said, "Thanks very much,

it is rather heavy."

The suffragettes set their

sights on empty houses,

train stations, and some

high-profile targets

in the centre of London.

On the 14th of April,

the so-called milk can bomb

was discovered just here,

outside this side entrance

to the Bank of England.

The Times newspaper reported

that this bomb was

"an ingenious and elaborate

mechanism".

Inside the milk can

there was a watch timer,

a battery, there was

blasting powder,

and it was all connected

together using hairpins.

Then a few weeks later,

on the 7th of May,

something happened

in St Paul's Cathedral.

In the early hours

of the morning,

the under verger, Mr Harrison,

was checking things out,

and doing a bit of dusting

when he heard an ominous

ticking sound.

It was coming from just here,

underneath the Bishop's chair.

It was a square box,

about six inches across,

and wrapped in brown paper.

Another bomb. He took it to

the verger's office,

where they put it

in a bucket of water

and then rushed it

out of the cathedral.

Underneath the brown paper

the bomb was then wrapped

in a page torn

from the suffragette newspaper.

And under that, there was

a metal mustard tin

packed with enough dynamite

to have caused

a very serious fire,

right here in the heart

of the cathedral.

At a time of deference

and faith,

bringing a bomb into a building

as sacred as a cathedral

was profoundly shocking.

It shows the suffragettes

had lost all regard

for the very institutions

like the Church of England,

and the Bank of England,

upon which society was built.

Now, this is the actual

mustard tin

that was discovered

underneath the Bishop's chair.

It says on it,

Keen's Mustard, London.

It's surprisingly heavy.

And here on the top

is a very sophisticated timer

that you twist.

And this here, well, this is

the milk can

from the Bank of England.

You can just make out

the word 'dairy'

on the top of it.

And these two items

are highlights

of the City of London

Police Museum.

What strikes me is the way

that they are made

out of such domestic items,

the mustard, the milk,

the hairpins.

It seems particularly

appropriate

for bombs that were made

by women.

Although, they were

no less deadly for that.

Christabel is in exile.

Annie is in-and-out of jail,

and taking turns

as acting leader.

And the bombing campaign

is intensifying.

- Militancy will be

more furious than before.

You, who sympathise

with the militants,

surely will come forward tonight

and join the militant ranks

and give, in your name,

to do one deed

within the next 48 hours.

There are many things

you can do.

You don't need me to tell you.

You all know.

When you have done it,

don't forget that you have got

to get away,

so that you can do it again.

- From piers to pavilions,

to MP's houses,

in April 1913 alone

there were 33 bomb

or arson attacks.

The object was to create

an absolutely impossible

condition

of affairs in the country.

To prove that it was

impossible to govern

without the consent

of the governed.

It was a rule that we must risk

no one's lives but our own, but,

if you take a bomb somewhere,

however great the precautions,

you can't be 100% sure.

I hated the whole business.

We all did.

And would much rather

have had the vote than do

this sort of thing to get it.

- In response to the bombing

campaign,

the authorities struck back

at the WSPU,

pursuing women under

the Cat and Mouse Act,

and seizing documents,

and their newspaper

was censored.

In these first months of 1913,

several properties of the WSPU

will get raided by the police.

The headquarters gets a

going over,

and so, too, does

Annie Kenney's house.

So, with censorship

and surveillance,

and police raids,

and women on the run,

that question that was asked

way back

at the Manchester Free Trade

Hall,

of "What are we going to do

about these women?"

is clearly testing the powers

of the state

to their very limits.

It was starting to look like

an impossible situation

where neither side could afford

to capitulate.

But then, on 4 June 1913,

one event occupied

all the headlines.

Emily Wilding Davison

died after attempting

to attach a banner

to the King's horse

at the Epsom Derby.

The suffragette leadership

had not been party to her plan,

but they took charge

of her funeral,

a spectacular event watched

by millions.

Her death spurred

the militants on,

but there were fears

on all sides

that it would just be

a matter of time

before there'd be further

loss of life.

In May, June and July,

there were 60 bomb

or arson attempts.

And when all the suffragette

militancy is added together

this is what it looks like.

In total, there were

more than 160 attacks.

In October, Annie made a speech

just there in

the Pavilion Theatre.

The police came onto the stage

and arrested her.

She was sentenced to 18 months

in Holloway,

but she immediately went on

hunger strike,

and had to be released after

four weeks

on the grounds of ill health.

Annie made two more speeches

after that,

but by now she was so weak

that she had to do it

from a stretcher.

- The only way you can stop

militant methods

is by giving women the vote.

And the sooner you realise that,

the better.

We shall go on, and on,

and go to prison,

and come out of prison,

and be as bad as ever,

in fact, we shall go

from bad to worse.

There is something

in this movement

that no power of opposition,

whether of the government,

or the people, can stop.

- The suffragettes went on

to attack Buckingham Palace,

Westminster Abbey and

Holloway Prison.

The total cost of damage

caused by bombs and arson

has been estimated at

56 million pounds

in today's money.

By February 1914,

1,241 prison sentences

had been served

by the suffragettes,

and 165 women

had been forcibly fed.

There was a real sense

that militancy,

and the Government response

to it,

had become something

of a runaway train.

The Home Secretary said

that this was a phenomenon

absolutely unprecedented

in our history.

And after a decade

of protest, and arson,

and bombs,

the suffragettes seemed

as far away

from getting the vote as ever.

But then, everything changed.

Overnight, the war transformed

the political landscape

of Britain completely.

The WSPU ceased militancy,

and the Government released

all imprisoned suffragettes.

While some sought to keep

the flag of women's suffrage

flying,

many suffragettes,

like Emmeline and Christabel,

focused solely on the war

effort.

But as men left for the front,

the Government's attitude to

women's place in society

began to change,

by necessity.

More than a million women

joined the workforce,

and the value of their

contribution

could no longer be denied.

On 6 February 1918,

Parliament passed

the Representation of

the People Act.

Finally, after more than

50 years of campaigning,

and a decade of militancy,

it gave women over 30,

who met a property requirement,

the right to vote

for the very first time.

The ten years

of suffragette militancy

forms one of the most

important chapters

of British history.

Once you understand

the chain of events

that led to the escalating

violence,

you can't excuse

their more extreme acts -

violence is always wrong -

but they do raise

some important questions.

Who should have a voice

in society?

How far should they go

to get their voice heard?

When does the end

justify the means?

And what would you do

to defend your rights?

Whatever you may think about

the suffragette violence,

they themselves believed

that the right to vote

was worth the fight.

- The standard set was high...

and we lived up to it.

The discipline stern,

we accepted it.

The work hard, we did it.

The oppression fierce,

we overcame it.

The dangers many, we faced them.

And in the end, we won.

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