Suffragette (9 page)

“You see, Dollie,” she said, kissing me goodnight. “We can win this battle with intellect and not aggression.”

I wish I could believe her!

26th December 1909

It has been a splendid Christmas. Yesterday morning I went to the hospital to visit Mother. All my brothers and their families were there. I wanted to run off but of course I
didn’t and everything was fine. We all got on quite well and Mother looked really relaxed.

“All my families together in one place,” she laughed.

Today, Celia came over for lunch. We had turkey and steaming baked potatoes and then talked in my room for ages. She told me all about her parents in Delhi and how much she misses them. She is
really nice. I think we might have more in common than I supposed.

3rd January 1910

According to the New Year issue of
Votes for Women
, working-class suffrage prisoners are being treated far worse than their more privileged sisters. Reading such articles
reassures me that I am right to fight with the WSPU.

24th January 1910

Saw Mother. She looked well and wanted to know what I have been up to. I told her all about Lady Constance Lytton who was in prison last year and who was released after two days
of hunger strike without being force-fed. “She believes that she was treated with compassion because she is an aristocrat.”

Mother frowned. “She probably was, but who cares about toffs like her?”

“She cares about us,” I replied.

“Oh, yeah?” she scoffed.

“This year she returned to prison under the name of ‘Jane Wharton’, went on hunger strike and was force-fed on numerous occasions before her true identity was discovered.
Yesterday she was released from prison. She has been giving interviews to the press. Her story has scandalized the nation.”

“People of our class have no rights, Dollie. I don’t have to be thrown in prison to learn that. It’s why I want you to do good at your school and stop this nonsense.”

“I do work at school but I also know that I have to fight for women’s rights and that MUST include the interests of working-class women. Think, if you could read and write
–”

“Keep your voice down,” she snapped. “You’ll wake the old girl in the next bed. You’ve the chance to rise above the abyss, Dollie. Grab it. Stop fussing about the
rest of it. Fight for yourself.”

Sometimes I think she’ll never understand how much this matters to me, and why.

31st January 1910

A committee has been formed to draft a parliamentary bill. It will be known as the Conciliation Committee Women’s Franchise Bill and,
if passed
, will offer voting
rights to property-owning women. Married women and working-class women, which would include me if I were old enough and my mother, will still not be eligible to vote. The reasoning is that if we
fight for all women, no one will get it.

I am disappointed by the narrowness of the Bill’s draft because it goes against everything I want to see achieved, but Mrs Pankhurst and Christabel feel that our only chance is to win our
rights by degrees. I trust them, so I will back them.

In order to help the Bill gain parliamentary support, Mrs Pankhurst has called a truce on all militant acts. We, the members of the WSPU, have agreed to uphold this. We will continue to lobby
vociferously but without militancy.

Flora has declared the truce an excellent move. I do not agree with her. I am incensed by the treatment of suffrage prisoners, particularly those of my own class, who are suffering far greater
measures of cruelty. But our debate on these issues today was friendly.

14th February 1910

I can hardly believe it! The Liberals have won the election, with the support of the Labour party. Perhaps this will force them to take notice of the women’s issue.

Celia told me that her grandmother doesn’t want her to get involved with any political organizations. I tried to persuade her just to come along and hear what it’s all about, but she
said she didn’t dare go against her grandmother.

20th February 1910

I believe Mrs Pankhurst is also troubled by the fact that this bill is so narrow, but she is keeping quiet because she does not want to upset the apple cart. She is determined
that, one way or another, a bill will go through. Her policy is to think practically. Once the vote has been won for a few women, it will pave the way for the rest of us. If it goes through I
shan’t cheer too loudly because ALL WOMEN OF EIGHTEEN AND OLDER should be allowed to vote.

17th April 1910

Mother has been released from hospital! At last! I went in a hansom to collect her and we travelled back to the East End together.

“Please stay a while at Flora’s?” I begged as we approached the slums.

She shook her head.

“You have nothing to worry about,” I assured her. I reminded her of the money I shall receive when I am 21, and I promised, as I always do, that I will look after her. I offered
again to move her to comfortable lodgings.

Her response was a shrug. “This is where I belong,” she answered.

At least my brothers were there to greet her and welcome her home. But I left feeling troubled.

7th May 1910

The most unexpected news yesterday was the death of our king, Edward VII. He was not a supporter of our work and some say that he positively encouraged the government’s
decision to begin force-feeding, so I do not feel a great desire to mourn.

Visited Mother. She seems settled back at home but it worries me that the lack of comfort will make her sick again.

20th May 1910

As a mark of respect for the King, the mammoth peaceful suffrage demonstration that had been scheduled for the 28th of this month has been postponed until Sunday 18th June.

Saw Mother today. She was in one of her difficult moods. I think I grew over-enthusiastic again about my work with the WSPU. She retorted with dismissives about what she describes as “the
crowd” I am involved with.

“Education has got you nowhere, my girl,” she said to me. “Out in the streets with banners, ranting and raving about women’s rights. I don’t know what fancy notions
have got into that head of yours. A woman’s place is in the home with her family.”

I sighed and attempted to explain again. “You were the one who sent me away. You were the one who thought that an education would give me opportunities.”

“Yes, but I didn’t think it would fill your head with all this nonsense and make you dress la-di-da. I hope you’re not getting yourself into trouble with all your talk about
women in prison. If I thought…”

“I am fighting for you!”

“But what’s the point, Dollie? I don’t vote.”

“Because you don’t have the right to, Mother.”

“But even if I did, I wouldn’t. What damned difference would it make to the likes of me? Poor is poor, whoever is running the show.”

“Not necessarily! Think how different your life might have been if you had been offered an opportunity to study. If you could have earned your own living and not been forced to rely on
Father. I know what he put you through,” I said. “If you had been independent you could have chosen to leave.” It is the first time I have ever dared to broach the subject and she
pounced on me like a reptile after a fly.

“You watch your mouth, my girl! I won’t hear a word said against your father in this house.”

It was plain how she still misses him, though he has been dead for over six years now. Whenever I visit, she talks of him. “The life of a docker, the stresses and the booze sent him to an
early grave. Just past 40-years old, he was, when he died. He was a good man,” she says, more to herself than to me.

And so to change the subject and because it was almost time for me to leave, I stroked her cheek and said, “Next time I visit I would like to invite Flora, if you will welcome her. She has
expressed a desire to see you again. May I?”

“You’ll do as you will, whatever I say. You have high-class attitudes and think you know better than your own family, but if she wants to come then I’ll not stop
her.”

“And perhaps you might consider coming to the West End and visiting us.”

“Not bleedin’ likely! And have all them posh Bonnington folk saying, ‘She’s not one of us.’ No, I know my place, thanks all the same, Dollie. But yer a good girl.
You’re bright and I’m proud of yer.”

I nearly fell over. She has never complimented me like that before.

14th June 1910

Great good news! At last the Bill is to be debated in the Commons. It will make Sunday’s march an upbeat affair. I have persuaded Mother to accompany us.

“It’s only to see,” she said. “And to stop yer nagging me about not knowin’ what’s what.”

I am so looking forward to sharing such an important part of my life with her. Celia has agreed to come along too.

“What about your grandmama?” I asked her, but she assured me that her grandmother sees it as a harmless “bit of fun” and a celebration of the new king.

18th June 1910

We marched from the Embankment to the Albert Hall. It was a glorious day. The sun shone warmly. Everyone was in good spirits. More than 10,000 people had come from all over the
world and there were dozens of bands playing. It was incredible. Even Mother looked happy, she who has been so opposed to my involvement with the WSPU. I think the fact she agreed to march with us
pleased me more than anything else. Her face was full of wonder. I had to take good care of her, though, so that the press of people did not harm her. She is still so frail.

I introduced her to Miss Baker and to Mary Richardson, and all of them to Celia. They were all lovely to Mother. We read some of the slogans aloud because she couldn’t read them for
herself.

We waved banners, carried flowers, sang along with the tunes. Hundreds who have been imprisoned for our cause marched together in a powerful band. It was all very rousing to the spirit. I felt
proud to be a woman, proud to be alive, proud to be a part of a movement that is fighting to make a difference.

When we arrived at the Albert Hall, Mrs Pankhurst rose to speak first. Cheers rang out from all around us. She opened with the statement: “One word: Victory!” And then she read an
address calling upon the government to grant facilities for the Women’s Suffrage Bill before the end of the summer session.

The crowds cheered her once again and laughed and shouted.

“Gosh, I can see why you’re so enthusiastic,” Celia shouted to me through the din. “Your friend, Miss Baker, has offered to tell me all about what’s going on, and I
think I should be involved.”

I was so glad she wasn’t disappointed.

Then a collection was taken for the Cause.

“Is that her then?” my mother asked. “Is that yer famous leader?”

I nodded. “What do you think?”

“Well, she’s distinguished and she’s got a way with words, I grant you that.”

And I knew then that Mother was on her way to being won over. I stood watching as she gazed all around her, taking it all in, with astonishment. Her eyes were bright as round blue buttons.
“I thought it’d be a load of toffs,” she murmured, “but it’s a real mixed bag, all right. See over there.”

I turned to where she was pointing and saw a gaggle of young women giggling and chattering together.

“Them’s a bunch of seamstresses from the East End. I ’eard ’em talking back near that Marbled Arch.” She smiled at me and we hugged one another tight.

A sea of women, and men too, rallying for a new future. It seemed to me as though we could taste victory this afternoon.

19th June 1910

The procession of yesterday was two miles long and the collection raised £5,000 for the WSPU campaign. We are all quite staggered and exhilarated.

Mother was exhausted by the time I got her home last night, but admitted to having enjoyed it much more than she had expected.

I’ll make a suffragette of her yet!

12th July 1910

The Bill has passed its second reading in the House today with an excellent majority of 109. Not surprisingly, both our Prime Minster, Mr Asquith, and his Chancellor of the
Exchequer, Mr Lloyd George, voted against it! And Mr Churchill has also voted against it. If that does not prove how anti-suffrage the leaders of this country are, I don’t know what does. But
with a healthy majority, we can still get this bill made law.

School broke up for the summer today. I invited Celia to the rally next week, but her parents have just arrived from India and they are taking her to Italy for six weeks. “But I will come
again,” she promised. “It was great fun last time.”

23rd July 1910

Another splendid rally today, out under the blazing-hot sun. This time the march took us to Hyde Park. There must have been close to a quarter of a million people present. There
were Men’s Leagues and Women’s Leagues from all over the world, banners in every direction brilliantly displaying our Union colours and large signs inscribed with the word
Justice
. Flora and Elizabeth Robins led the Actresses’ Franchise League.

Everything remained peaceful and people are sticking to the truce, but there was an air of restlessness and concern. Asquith is creating obstacles for the Bill; he is stalling for time. Many
believe that these are tricks of his to block the Bill’s hearing before the end of the summer session.

24th July 1910

I was at Clements Inn this morning when I heard the news. Asquith has announced that the Conciliation Bill will be given no more time this session. This means that, at the very
earliest, we must wait until the House reconvenes in the autumn.

Everyone was bitterly disappointed. Emily Wilding Davison, a brilliant woman and one of our most militant and devoted members, and Mary Richardson were among those who called for the truce to be
lifted and a return to militant acts of demonstration, but Mrs Pankhurst said no. “Let us wait and see what happens in the autumn.”

So even the most extreme among us have agreed to wait, but it is deeply frustrating.

The offices will operate for most of August with only a skeleton staff because many of the women, including Mrs Pankhurst, are going away. I have agreed to lend a hand.