Suffragette (11 page)

16th March 1911

The Second Conciliation Bill is due to have its first reading on 5th May. Again it is disappointing because, as with the first,
if
it goes through, it will only allow the
vote to women who are householders. The argument remains the same: its narrowness will secure its success.

Mrs Pankhurst has a new car. It is a Wolseley and jolly smart. She has her own driver, too – a woman, and the first to be admitted to the Automobile Association. Well, that is a move in a
good direction, I suppose.

When my inheritance is paid, I might buy myself a car. I won’t have a chauffeur, though. I rather fancy being at the wheel. I will be able to take Mother out, too. Anything to get her out
of that horrid area.

19th March 1911

A national Census is due to be taken on 2nd April.

A boycott has been planned by all the various women’s groups, constitutionalists and militants alike. Instead of completing the form, the recommended response, written boldly across it,
is, “No vote. No Census.”

It’s an excellent idea. It appeals to Flora, too, and her passive approach.
The Times
, of course, has criticized us.

20th March 1911

Over breakfast this morning, Flora read aloud Mrs Pankhurst’s reply to
The Times
, which is terrific!

“The Census is a numbering of people. Until women count as people for the purpose of representation in the councils of the nation as well as for the purposes of taxation and of obedience
to the laws, we advise women to refuse to be numbered.”

YES!

“What will you write on our household form, Flora?” I asked.

She laughed at my earnestness. “If Mr Asquith has not pledged, on or before the beginning of April, to allow women’s suffrage I shall do as Millicent, Emmeline and Christabel and
like-minded suffragists are advising. I shall write in large letters right across our form: No Vote. No Census. There, Dollie, does that please you?”

“Perfectly!” I cried.

3rd April 1911

I am EXHAUSTED. Last night was Census night.

No pledge had been forthcoming from horrible Asquith, so suffrage supporters held an all-night vigil. Flora and I attended a concert organized by the WSPU at the Queen’s Hall (where the
Exhibition was held two years ago). Afterwards, about 1,000 of us walked around Trafalgar Square in a circular procession for ages. It was magnificent. Everyone was so united. And then we went to
the Scala Theatre, where there was entertainment until three in the morning. I have never been up so late before. Flora performed a pro-suffrage poem. What a splendid actress she is! After that,
many of the supporters went on to the Aldwych Skating Rink for all-night skating, but we returned home. We walked all the way to Bloomsbury in the cold air, arms linked. Passers-by, who were
nothing to do with us, waved and shouted their support. Even a few bobbies called out, “Good on yer!”

We stopped at an all-night café for mugs of scalding-hot tea and sticky buns.

“Your performance tonight was great, Flora. I would have loved my mother to have heard you,” I said as we walked on.

“Thank you. Yes, I was surprised when you said she wasn’t coming.”

“She’s been sick again. It’s nothing serious but she does have to take care. I wish she’d leave that cottage. The damp gets in to her bones. But she seems happy and John
is kind to her, even if he thinks I have become a ‘stuck-up missie’. Lord, Flora, I hope I haven’t.”

Flora roared with laughter and hugged me tight. We were shivering with cold. “Is that why you are so passionate about all this?” she asked softly. “Is it all for your
mother?”

“Maybe,” I answered, but I wasn’t able to explain more. It’s funny; even after all this time I have never been able to open up to Flora about what drives me to this work.
The only person to whom I ever confided the terrors of my childhood was Lady Violet.

The fact is that everything I am fighting for, the women’s battle I am committed to, is fuelled by memories that will always haunt me. Those nights when Father came home drunk or deadbeat
or out of work and took his moods and frustrations out on my mother. Sometimes he would hit her and those nights were the worst. I would lie in my bed, wanting to die. Sometimes I would get up and
rush at him and beg him to stop, tears streaming down my face, but then he would turn on me, too.

I would lie awake listening to her sobbing and it devastated me that there was nothing I could do for her. Nothing that she could do for herself. Yet, even today, I do not believe that Father
was a cruel man. My parents were caught up in a situation that they could not get free of.

My mother has sacrificed her life for him and the family. But I ask myself how it would have been if she had been educated and could have found independence, if she had not been financially
dependent on him. Or how might it have been for him if she could have carried the financial load with him? What shame did he suffer knowing he could not feed his family?

4th April 1911

The news is that all across the country supporters held the all-night vigil to boycott the Census. A large midnight feast took place on Wimbledon Common where they tucked into
roasted fowl, boiled ham, coffee and lashings of hot tea. What a fun way to protest!

Emily Wilding Davison hid herself in the Houses of Parliament. It had been her intention to rush into the House first thing on Monday when the Prime Minister appeared and shout, “Mr
Asquith, withdraw your veto from the Women’s Bill and women will withdraw their veto from the Census.” Unfortunately, she was found by a cleaner in the crypt of St Stephen’s
Chapel. The police were called but she was not charged, though her name has been added to the Census numbers.

How daring, to stay there alone in the dark. I would have been absolutely petrified.

23rd April 1911

There was a meeting at the Queen’s Hall this evening, which I missed because I had a mass of homework to catch up on. I heard later that Mrs Pankhurst gave a rip-roaring
speech which finished with: “We believe that this cause of the emancipation of women is not only the greatest cause in the 20th century, but we believe it is also the most urgent and the most
necessary.”

Yes! It reminded me of Celia saying, “We are making modern history.” I miss her.

5th May 1911

The revised Conciliation Bill passed its second reading in the House of Commons today with a truly excellent majority – 88 votes against and 255 in favour.

It looks as though, AT LAST, a handful of women are soon to win the vote.

The news was announced at a mammoth meeting at Kensington Town Hall, which Flora and I attended together. She accompanies me when she feels that the mood is determined but peaceable. I love it
when she’s there; it forms a bond between us.

Let’s work as we have never worked before to get this bill passed during this session of parliament. That was the gist of Mrs Pankhurst’s call to us all. Our cheers must have been
audible all the way to Hyde Park.

Afterwards Miss Baker, Flora and I were invited to dinner with Emmeline Pethwick-Lawrence and her husband, Frederick. Their house is terribly posh but they are really nice and very generous and
so committed to Christabel and Mrs Pankhurst and the Cause. Flora and Miss Baker started up a heated but friendly debate during the meal about the continuation or not of the present truce against
militant action. Miss Baker and I were the two who most favour militancy. The Pethwick-Lawrences counselled caution and Flora remains firmly against it.

29th May 1911

Mr Lloyd George confirmed in the Commons today that Mr Asquith will make no time for a second reading of the Second Conciliation Bill this session. It will have to wait until
1912.

I hate those politicians. We have been cheated. This could end the militancy truce and might well affect the King’s Coronation procession next month.

12th June 1911

Christabel informed a large gathering of us at the office last night that she has received sound reassurance that at next year’s session our bill will be given all the
time it requires to make certain of its successful passage. I think this news, coming from her, who would normally countenance militancy, has quietened the angry hearts of a few. Personally, I
cannot help asking myself why the promises always remain somewhere far-off in the distant future.

17th June 1911

A stupendous procession took place today, which, although sponsored by us, was supported by 28 other suffrage groups. We named it the Women’s Coronation Procession. It was
the best ever. All the various suffrage groups united, and it went off without any violent incidents.

It began at the Embankment. Everyone walked seven abreast or rode on horseback – horses had been loaned to us by supporters everywhere. I spotted a chestnut mare eating the daisies off the
straw hat of a girl in the crowd lining the pavements. When I pointed it out, my row got the giggles.

It was a cold, bright day but the exercise kept us warm. As we approached Piccadilly there were roaring salutes and cheers. I was puzzled. Then I spied an old lady sitting on a balcony, decked
out in our colours. An inscription on the railing read:
The Oldest Militant Suffragette Greets You
. I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was Elizabeth Wolstenholme Elmy. She has been a
fighter for our cause for the past 50 years and was a great friend of Lady Violet’s.

It brought home to me for how long and tirelessly women have been fighting for the right to be acknowledged as the equals of men.

22nd June 1911

Today was the official Coronation day. The crowning of King George V. In my opinion it was a shadow of our spectacular Women’s Coronation Parade last Saturday; everybody
is still talking about the immense support we received. Our procession was seven miles long!

24th August 1911

A very worrying article has appeared in the latest issue of our
Votes for Women
newspaper (which I am no longer selling because Harriet Kerr has promoted me to a summer
typing job). It states that Lloyd George, speaking on behalf of the Prime Minister, has broken faith with the Conciliation Committee by suggesting that another bill of a similar nature could be
given facilities next session. Our journal states that if he betrays women’s suffrage societies, the WSPU will “revert to a state of war”.

Mrs Pankhurst is away so we have not yet received her opinion. I haven’t quite understood the implications. Harriet sincerely hopes that we won’t be forced back to aggressive
tactics. Christabel warns that we must be wary of Lloyd George, that he is an enemy of women’s suffrage.

The problem seems to be that Lloyd George wants the Conciliation Bill to offer voting eligibility to a broader band of women. On the face of it, that sounds splendid. However, Miss Baker advises
that this would almost certainly lead to the Bill’s defeat. “The Liberals are terrified. Women all over the country have campaigned tirelessly against them because they have refused to
give us suffrage rights. If this bill goes through, they know that every woman with a voice will vote against them and they will lose the next election. So, they have no intention of making it
law.”

7th November 1911

Asquith has announced that a Manhood Suffrage Bill, which would give the vote to a wider section of the male population, is to be introduced into the next session. The Bill will
allow for an amendment, if the House of Commons supports it, for certain classes of women to be enfranchised.

Christabel has cabled the news to her mother, who left for the United States a month ago on a speaking tour.

We have been betrayed!

10th November 1911

It is my birthday. I went and had tea with my mother. Two of my brothers and their families were present. One of them took me aside and ticked me off, saying that I caused my
mother “nothing but worry with all your talk about women’s rights”.

I was speechless. I was sure Mother was beginning to support us.

12th November 1911

News from Mrs Pankhurst in the States affirms new and more militant activities. Christabel has announced that the WSPU is returning to an anti-government policy.

Flora was most upset when I told her this evening. “It will do you no good getting involved with illegal acts. You must think of your education and your future.”

“It is no future,” I rejoined, “if I grow up into a world where women are not recognized as citizens and are not free to follow the professions they choose. A world where the
majority of them cannot read, write or earn their keep.”

17th November 1911

A deputation, led by Christabel and Mrs Pethwick-Lawrence, of nine suffrage societies, including the Actresses’ Franchise League, was received by Asquith today, but he
stressed that women’s suffrage will not become a government measure while he is in power. The only path he will follow is the Manhood Suffrage Bill.

Flora was very depressed when she returned this evening, but she still maintains that militancy is not the direction. I DISAGREED WITH HER! We had a horrid argument and here I am in bed, writing
my diary, feeling upset.

18th November 1911

The WSPU has issued an official statement. Hostilities are to be resumed.

2lst November 1911

Mrs Pethwick-Lawrence led a march from Caxton Hall to the House of Commons today. I did not participate because I accompanied a smaller group of other militant friends,
including Miss Baker. Armed with bags and pockets laden with stones – some of us had hammers – we smashed the windows of several city-centre stores. I broke the glass of two windows of
Lyons’ Tea Shop. Swan & Edgar, the department store, was damaged, as was Dunn’s Hat Shop.

Others targeted newspaper offices, the
Daily Mail
and
Daily News
, while several men’s clubs came under attack.

Over 200 were arrested, including Mrs Pethwick-Lawrence and Mary Leigh. I was caught, too, but when the bobby learned my age he let me go and I legged it home. I said nothing to Flora.
She’d be livid if she knew. I have never indulged in illegal deeds before and I am shaken by the force of my anger today. Also, I have a deepish cut between my wrist and my left thumb. Still,
I don’t regret my actions. This has to be done.