Suffragettes: How Britain’s Women Fought & Died for the Right to Vote

A century ago, Britain was caught up in one of the most extraordinary events in the country’s history - the struggle of its women to obtain the right to vote. While there had been petitions and discussions of the subject throughout the Victorian era, by the beginning of the twentieth century it was time for stronger action. Centralised organisations formed behind Millicent Fawcett and Emmeline Pankhurst. Protests, marches, civil disobedience and arrests followed as the campaign gained momentum. Women chained themselves to railings, smashed windows, committed arson, and Emily Davison died under the hooves of the king’s horse on Derby Day 1913. The turning point was the First World War: after it women over the age of thirty obtained the vote at last, and full suffrage came ten years later. The suffragette movement forced every woman in early twentieth-century Britain to think about her place in society: this book looks at issues of vital importance to your ancestors of a century ago. Frank Meeres presents all the important developments in the suffrage movement in a succinct chronological way, bringing the history of the time vividly to life.