Manchester, England. 1908.Wikimedia Commons
Hatcham, London. 1913.Hulton Archive/Getty Images
These women had come out to protest Prime Minister Henry Asquith's delays in passing the Conciliation Bill, which would have given property-owning women the right to vote. When the women tried to run past the police, it turned violent. 119 people were arrested.
Westminster, London. 1910.Museum of London/Heritage Images/Getty Images
Black Friday would be a turning point in the women's suffrage movement. From here on, Emmeline Pankhurst and her suffragettes would start using guerrilla tactics like arson and vandalism to fight for their right to vote.
Westminster, England. 1910.Wikimedia Commons
Many suffragettes protested their arrests by going on hunger strikes. Guards resorted to force-feeding them, a painful procedure that often involved shoving tubes up their noses.
London. 1911.Wikimedia Commons
Davison ran out onto the racetrack at the Epsom Derby and stood in front of King George's horse in protest (although some claim she had other motives), getting herself trampled to death in the process.
Surrey, England. June 4, 1913.LSE Library
There are countless theories about why Davison let herself get trampled to death by a horse. Some see it as an act of protest, like a self-immolation. Others think it was an accident and she was only trying to attach a banner to the horse. And some think she was simply suicidal, looking for a way to end her life with meaning.
Surrey, England. June 4, 1913.Wikimedia Commons
Hastings, England. 1913.Museum of London/Heritage Images/Getty Images
London. 1913.Library of Congress
London. 1913.Topical Press Agency/Getty Images
London. 1913.Library of Congress
Washington D.C. 1918.Wikimedia Commons
London. 1914.Wikimedia Commons
London. 1912.Museum of London/Heritage Images/Getty Images
New York City. 1911.Library of Congress
This fire wasn't the only one set outside the White House that day. One woman made an effigy of President Woodrow Wilson and set it aflame.
Washington D.C. 1919.Wikimedia Commons
Massachusetts, United States. 1911. Library of Congress
United States. 1908.Wikimedia Commons
London. 1912.Library of Congress
London. 1914.Flickr/Leonard Bently
London. 1911.Topical Press Agency/Getty Images
Leigh had one of the boldest track records of all the suffragettes. She was the first to smash windows, she tried to burn down a theater in the Dublin, and she threw an ax at the Prime Minister.
London. 1909.LSE Library
England. 1911.LSE Library
Washington D.C. 1918.Library of Congress
He joined a group of women who stormed the City Temple to interrupt a speech from the chief secretary for Ireland.
London. Circa 1907-1914.LSE Library
London. 1906.LSE Library
England. 1913.LSE Library
London, England. 1908. LSE Library
London. 1914.Wikimedia Commons
London. 1908.LSE Library
London. 1910.Museum of London/Heritage Images/Getty Images
England. 1911.LSE Library
London. 1909.Daily Mirror/Mirrorpix/Mirrorpix via Getty Images
Virignia. 1917.Library of Congress
When Mrs. Pankhurst went to jail and started her hunger strike, parliament panicked. They couldn't risk letting someone as influential as Pankhurst starve, nor could they let pictures of her getting force-fed go out to the public. They rushed through a law known as the "Cat And Mouse Act," which allowed them to let her go and then arrest her again the second she ate a morsel of food.
London. Circa 1908-1912.LSE Library
London. 1908.LSE Library
London. 1908.LSE Library
England. 1910.LSE Library
Women didn’t win the vote by holding up signs and waiting for men to give them permission. They took the fight to the streets – and, though history usually brushes over the dirty details, it was sometimes violent. Some of the more militant suffragettes smashed windows, set buildings on fire, and once even tried to assassinate Britain's Prime Minister.
These women largely came from the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), one of the leading organizations advocating for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom in the early 1900s.
For decades beforehand, women had generally tried to win their rights peacefully, but in 1903, that changed. That year, Emmeline Pankhurst formed the WSPU under the motto "deeds, not words.”
At first, most of the suffragettes’ “deeds” consisted of holding rallies and heckling politicians. Only a few were truly militant – like Mary Leigh, who started smashing store windows as a form of protest.
Leigh ended up in prison after one particular vicious day. She hurled an ax at Prime Minister Herbert Asquith, missing his head but wounding another man in his carriage. Leigh fled before they could find her, but was caught later in the day trying to burn a theater to the ground.
The suffragettes went guerilla in 1910, after a day that went down in history as “Black Friday”. When Asquith delayed passing the Conciliation Bill, which would have given property-owning women the right to vote, a group of 300 women tried to storm the House of Commons in protest. The police became violent, brutally beating the women and arresting 119 people.
From that day on, the suffragettes became increasingly violent. They took up Mary Leigh’s window-smashing campaign, walking through the streets with hammers and breaking every shop window they saw. They burned buildings to the ground, usually targeting the homes of politicians or clubs that only allowed men. Until they got the right to vote, they would make life for men hell.
Hundreds of women were arrested. In prison, many went on hunger strikes. Prison guards started force-feeding them to keep them alive, often having to jam tubes painfully up their noses to do it. Eventually, authorities passed the “Cat and Mouse Act,” a law that allowed them to set hunger-striking suffragettes free and arrest them the second they’d eaten a morsel of food.
Ultimately, World War I brought an end to the violence. The suffragettes called for a peace treaty during the war and, shortly after, women won the right to vote.
Time passed, and the memory of those militant days started to fade. Today, most of the stories we hear and photos we see of their movement are of women holding signs or handing out petitions – but it took much more than that to win the right to vote. It took a revolution – with hammers, axes, and fire.
Next, check out these photographs of the suffragettes who defended women's rights with jujutsu. Then, check out the vintage propaganda posters that people once used to try to stop women from gaining the right to vote.
