Additional Material on the Suffragette Movement in Perthshire

See also: https://madeinperth.org/suffragette-movement-in-perth/

Preface

This piece draws upon the newspaper reporting of the time to describe the Suffragette events that occurred in and around Perth in 1913 and 1914.

Just before the First World War, Perth became the centre of attraction in Scotland for the political rights actions of Suffragettes seeking equal rights in voting, as part of the Votes for Women campaign. The sizeable protest incidents that occurred in Perth included at least two significant disturbances in 1913, during which the police drew their batons, and several Suffragette protests in the following year, during the King and Queen’s visit.

The opinions of city residents ranged from being supportive to indignant to outright hostility towards the Suffragettes’ cause. The Suffragettes’ actions in Perth, particularly the burning down of the cricket pavilion, aroused widespread resentment among the citizens towards them. The excitement and spectacle of the Suffragette events attracted not only those who were curious and gossips, but also young people, who were mainly ‘out to see the fun,’ which also included some mischievous elements hell-bent on stirring up trouble, if they could.

In 1910, only 58 per cent of men aged 21 and over could vote in Parliamentary elections. Those men needed to own or rent property above a specific value to qualify, leaving 42 per cent of men without a vote. Outlandishly, some male voters could vote at least twice: once in their home district, and then again in their university constituency or in the constituency where they owned property. British democracy was controlled by an ‘old boys’ network/club’, dedicated to preserving the position and advantages of the upper echelon social class, with only ‘capital fellows’ allowed to join.

The main reason Perth was in the spotlight was because of the Suffragette militant actions and the imprisonment and barbaric torture imposed by force-feeding of Suffragettes who went on hunger strike in Perth Prison and were not allowed any letters or visitors.

The first Suffragette to be force-fed in Perth Prison was Ethel Moorhead on 21 or 22 February 1914. This event caused considerable uproar, especially as up until now, Scotland, unlike England, had refrained from this practice. She was released on licence on 25 February 1914 following a dose of ‘double pneumonia’. Nonetheless, the Leith Police put out a wanted notice on 13 March 1914, ‘WANTED Ethel Moorhead, age 44, 5’6″, very dark hair, brown eyes + pince-nez, oblong face, receding chin, slim build, stooping shoulders. One address: Argyle Cottage, Liberton. Friend Miss Parker, 61 Nethergate, Dundee. Father & Grandfather were both soldiers. Solicitor Dalgleish & Dobbie, Charlotte Square, Edinburgh. (They never caught her.)

The force-feeding of the women was a shameful time in Scottish history, created by the civil authorities who treated the ladies not as political prisoners, but as being mentally ill, or mentally deficient, for not accepting what they thought was their rightful place in the male-dominated society of the time. The prison authorities referred to it as artificial feeding.

The Suffragettes were known to use pseudonyms to avoid revealing their real names. Ethel Moorhead was once asked in court why she had used another name, and she replied, ‘That is my militant name.’ The authorities were also concerned that they were torturing women who were related to the higher ranks of society, including perhaps the Royal Family.

Separate prisons for women only did not exist in Scotland until after 1882, when male prisoners from Duke Street Prison in Glasgow transferred to Barlinnie Prison. It then operated as the only women’s prison in Scotland until 1955.

Matters came to a head in Perth in April and June 1913, and again during April 1914, when the Suffragettes’ protests and actions attempted to disrupt the King and Queen’s Royal visit to the city.

Suffragists, Suffragettes and Politics

The organisations that campaigned for women’s voting rights were the Women’s Freedom League (WFL), the National Union of Women Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) and the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU).

The suffragists believed in achieving change through parliamentary means. They used lobbying techniques to persuade Members of Parliament sympathetic to their cause to raise the issue of women’s suffrage in debate on the floor of the Westminster Parliament. (Women’s suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections.)

The Women’s Freedom League

The Women’s Freedom League (WFL) was founded in 1907 by Teresa Billington-Greig and Charlotte Despard in a breakaway from the WSPU. The WFL were a reaction to Pankhurst’s anti-democratic, dictatorial control of the WSPU.

The WFL employed direct action, such as passive resistance to taxation and non-cooperation with the census, rather than resorting to violence against people and property. One tactic common to both the WSPU and the suffragettes was the chaining of themselves to railings. On 28 October 1908, for example, the three members of the WFL chained themselves to the grille covering the Ladies’ Gallery in the House of Commons. Women were only allowed restricted access into the House of Commons in the 19th Century. If they had one of the 25 tickets available each day, they were permitted to ascend to the attic and listen through the ventilator, gaining a highly restricted view of the proceedings through a grille that allowed them to see the feet of the M.P.s way down below.

On Tuesday, 14 November 1911, Charlotte Despard, one of the founders of the WFL, spoke to a large audience in the Lesser City Hall, Perth. Despard was said to have delivered an inspiring address. She was also the editor of the organ, The Vote.

The National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies

The National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS), also known as the suffragists, was founded in 1897 from the amalgamation of women’s suffrage societies in the United Kingdom. In March 1919, it was renamed the National Union of Societies for Equal Citizenship. Millicent Garrett Fawcett (1847-1929) was the president of the NUWSS for over twenty years (1898–1919). Despite the WSPU splitting away in 1903, the NUWSS continued to grow, and by 1914 it had branches throughout the country, with approximately 54,000 members.

In 1897, regional societies with no political party allegiances established to lobby peacefully for the Parliamentary vote came together to form the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS).

Millicent Garrett Fawcett published extensively on women’s issues and frequently spoke in public on women’s rights. She was married to an MP, Henry Fawcett, and regularly sat in the Ladies’ Gallery of the House of Commons to watch the debates. Her tactical and determined leadership of the NUWSS made it a substantial and influential force in the campaign for women’s votes.

Women’s Social and Political Union

In 1903, the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), which wished to undertake more militant action, split from the NUWSS under the leadership of Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughter Christabel Pankhurst. It was an organisation that fought for women’s suffrage and was known for its militant tactics and the slogan ‘Deeds, Not Words’. The WSPU held demonstrations and marches, smashed windows, committed arson, and deliberately broke laws to force their arrest. When imprisoned, they undertook hunger (and sometimes thirst) strikes, resulting in the authorities cruelly force-feeding them.

Note: The term ‘Suffragettes’ was coined by the press and was initially intended to belittle them. However, the WSPU adopted and embraced the name.

Note: The National Union of Women Suffrage Societies and the Women’s Freedom League worked closely with the Women’s Industrial Council and other groups campaigning for better pay and conditions for women workers.

Note: By 1910, women made up almost one-third of the workforce. In 1906, there were 167,000 female members of trade unions; by 1914, the number had nearly doubled to 358,000.

Politics

The political landscape of the United Kingdom was much different from what it is today. From 1908 to 1916, the Prime Minister was Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith (born September 12, 1852, died February 15, 1928). Asquith was the Liberal Party M.P. for East Fife from 1886, a seat he held for thirty years. Asquith opposed votes for women, fearing that granting women the vote based on a similar property-owning franchise to men would only produce more Conservative voters, and thus firmly opposed women’s equality.

The main opposition to the Liberals in Parliament was the Conservative & Liberal Unionists, which was a political alliance (1895–1905). The Conservatives were in Government for most of the years from 1885 to 1906. They merged with the Liberal Unionists in 1912, becoming the Conservative and Unionist Party.

Neither the Liberals nor the Conservative parties were in favour of votes for women, although some individual MPs were.

Political support for the Votes for Women campaigns primarily came from trade unions, such as the National Union of Women Workers and the Workers’ Union, which actively campaigned for women’s suffrage and equal pay.

The Labour Party, under the leadership of James Keir Hardie (15 August 1856 – 26 September 1915), also supported this cause. Hardie was born in Newhouse, Lanarkshire and is recognised as the founder of The Labour Party. As an Independent candidate, he first stood for Parliament in 1888 and, in the same year, helped form the Scottish Labour Party (a different party from the 1994-created Scottish Labour Party). He became an Independent M.P. in 1892 and the following year helped form the Independent Labour Party, and then in 1900, he helped create what was to become the Labour Party.

Keir Hardie was a strong supporter of the Votes for Women cause and, in April 1906, unsuccessfully attempted to introduce a bill to give women the vote. Many in the Labour Party consistently supported votes for women, including Keir Hardie. Hardie was close to the Pankhurst’s and lived with Sylvia Pankhurst for some time. However, the Party objected to the WSPU’s support for votes for women on equal terms with men, which still excluded most working men. Full adult suffrage, for all men and women, became Labour Party policy in 1912 and gained the support of the NUWSS. In 1908, Hardie resigned as the Labour Party’s parliamentary leader and spent his remaining years campaigning for causes such as women’s suffrage, Indian self-rule, and opposing World War I.

The year 1912 was a turning point for the Suffragette movement. The Conciliation Bill, 1910-1912, was designed to conciliate the suffragist movement by granting a limited number of women the vote, based on their property holdings and marital status. After a two-day debate in 1910, the suffragists were, as they saw it, betrayed by Herbert Henry Asquith, the Prime Minister. The Bill failed again in 1911 and 1912, and the WSPU responded by organising a more violent campaign.

During the new WSPU campaign across Britain, the Suffragettes held thousands of meetings and events. The more militant Suffragettes attempted and in some instances succeeded in attacking [examples are given in brackets], tennis courts (Wimbledon), golf courses, holes cut in turf (Dundee and Turnberry), Horse racing courses (Ayr and Kelso), cricket pavilions (Perth), boathouses (Henley), bowling green pavilions, mansion houses (St. Fillans), parks, bandstands, railway waiting rooms, letter boxes, school buildings, churches (St Paul’s Cathedral, London), Horse stables, timber yards (Ardrossan), post boxes (Dundee) and telephone wires (Norwich). They smashed windows, put dye in reservoirs, slashed portraits of the King (Edinburgh), set fire to three train carriages (Teddington) and one carriage (Cricklewood), smashed a Mummy case (British Museum), broke the glass containing the Wallace Sword (Wallace Monument), attacked castles (Ballikinrain at Balfron and Dudhope in Dundee), attacked water supplies (Glasgow), billiard rooms (Dundee), set fire to a private hospital (Dundee), and attacked observatories (Edinburgh). They set off a bomb at Northumberland County Offices and Manchester Free Trade Hall and made dummy bomb hoaxes (Dunning). They used Horse whips on prominent people on a few occasions; they refused to complete the 1911 Census and placed a bomb outside the Bank of England. In the history of that time, they are, however, most famous for chaining themselves to railings.

Note: The Scottish Labour Party’s first president and also one of the founders was Robert Bontine Cunninghame Graham (24 May 1852–20 March 1936). In 1928, Cunninghame Graham was the founder of the National Party of Scotland and the first president of the Scottish National Party (SNP) in 1934.

Note: On 9 May, the Liberals stood Winston Churchill in the safe parliamentary seat of Dundee, where he won comfortably. He lost the seat in 1922 when Dundee’s political allegiance changed to the Labour Party for most of the remainder of the 20th Century.

Note: An enigma from the time, reportedly unrelated, is that Wimbledon’s All England Club adopted, in 1909, the same colours as the Suffragette women’s movement: ‘purple for dignity, white for purity and green for hope’.

Note: The Suffragettes’ actions were not always violent; they were often very creative in conveying their message. One such example occurred in March 1910 in London. The WSPU hired a fire engine to advertise their meeting at the Albert Hall, and with it galloped through the streets of the West End. Miss Douglas Smith acted as the driver, and she and her six companions attired themselves in firefighters’ regulation uniforms, except for a skirt. The fire engine, decorated in the purple, white, and green of the union, was also adorned by the Suffragettes. The appearance of the ‘turn-out’, the galloping of the horses, and the loud report of the gong assisted the well-planned deception. The police officers on street duty instinctively held up traffic to let them pass.

Note: In 1867, one of the first suffrage societies to be formed in Britain was the Edinburgh National Society for Women’s Suffrage.

Suffragettes Suspected of Incendiarism

Perth had become the primary target of the Suffragettes’ protests and militant actions, due to there being several women imprisoned in Perth Prison on the Edinburgh Road. The jailing of these women led to several demonstrations and incidents in the city. In early 1914, the Suffragettes began being force-fed by the prison medical staff at Perth Prison.

Violent militant Suffragette action in Perth first came to a head during the spring of 1913. On Wednesday, 30 April 1913, an article in the Perthshire Advertiser, headlined: ‘PERTH IN A TEMPER’. This article summed up the events and emotions in Perth that week.

This outpouring of outrage in the newspaper by the author of the Perthshire Advertiser article was written as a one-sided, male opinion, taking a ‘how dare they’ attitude, with a condemning denunciation of the alleged burning down of what was the ‘men-only’ cricket pavilion on the North Inch. The burning down of the pavilion happened just a few days earlier on Sunday, allegedly by female ‘militant Suffragettes’.

The author of the article attempted to silence dissent and promote a male-dominated, one-sided narrative by using belittling language, thereby controlling the narrative. It described the Suffragettes as being militant, malicious, violent, and as disciples who engaged in wanton acts.

In those days, there were no female journalists in the Perth area to provide a balanced opinion. A rare breed in that industry: one female journalist from the Aberdeen Daily Journal was also a prominent Suffragette and honorary secretary of the Aberdeen WSPU branch, Caroline Phillips. When she was not smashing the glass ceiling in journalism, she was chaining herself to railings, smashing windows and organising trips to Suffragette rallies. Her activism riled her bosses at the very conservative Journal.

Perthshire Advertiser, Wednesday, 30 April 1913

PERTH IN A TEMPER.

This is proving to be a somewhat exciting week in Perth. The report of the destruction by fire of the Perth Cricket Club Pavilion early on Sunday morning was supplemented by the spreading of extraordinary rumours to the effect that ‘militant suffragettes’ were responsible.

No doubt the action of Mrs Pankhurst and the reports from other parts of the country as to malicious mischief being caused to draw attention to the ‘votes for women’ question have exercised a peculiar effect upon the public mind.

Sportsmen throughout the country have suffered inconvenience and loss as a result of acts alleged to have been committed by militant suffragettes. Very naturally, the people of Perth concluded that Perth Cricket Club had been made the latest victims of the violent means taken by disciples of Mrs Pankhurst to call attention to what they believe to be the wrongs of women.

Thus far, despite the search made by police and officials of the club, the message purporting to be that of the militant suffragettes, and other reports, nothing has been clearly established in connecting the destruction of the pavilion with a wanton act of the kind described.

Meantime, it is obvious that, combined with incidents elsewhere, that of the loss to Perth Cricket Club – a loss which is really irreparable – is bound to rouse a feeling of resentment in the city against those who publicly express themselves in favour of militant tactics to forward the cause of the women franchise. For this reason, it is desirable that the authorities should take steps to discourage and even prevent any attempts made to further inflame public opinion.

The scenes on Monday night were altogether disgraceful, and last night the crowds – mostly, it is true, composed of young people ‘out to see the fun’ if there happened to be any – were again in a mood to create disorder, and riot.

One, perhaps, cannot blame a Perth crowd in the present circumstances from somewhat losing its ordinary grasp of the fitness of things so far as the treatment of woman speakers is concerned, especially if the women do not seek to disavow ‘militant’ action as the proper policy to pursue in propagandist work, but many of those who allowed their feeling to overcome them on Monday evening will no doubt in their calmer moments see the danger of giving rein to a spirit of hooliganism, especially with women as targets. Only the prompt action of the police saved the situation from resolving itself into what might have proved a tragedy.

The ‘militant’ policy on behalf of the votes for women supporters has, it is to be feared, alienated the support of many from the cause which constitutional methods would very probably in a brief period carry to success. It has done what is worse, given the rougher element in human nature an incentive to besmirch what the great majority of men, as well as of women, must desire to see jealously guarded against attack – the womanly character generally.

If a few men and woman choose in propagating a political cause to employ means which bring odium on themselves alone, womankind generally are not to be held responsible. It would no doubt have been wiser on the part of the women who attempted, despite police warnings, to make speeches in Perth on Monday night, to have remained at home, but, notwithstanding the peculiar circumstances under which they attempted to speak, there was no justification for the outburst of hooliganism which might easily have swayed the mind of the crowd into dangerous grooves.

Hooligan methods, even on the part of militant suffragists, do not justify hooligan methods in retaliation.

The Strathearn Herald of 3 May 1913, reported under the Headline,

‘Perthshire Cricket Club Pavilion Burned – Believed to be the work of Suffragettes – Damage £1250’,

The Perthshire Cricket Club’s pavilion in Balhousie Castle grounds, adjoining the North Inch, Perth, has been burnt to the ground. About two o’clock last Sunday morning (27 April 1913), Constable Keay. While patrolling his beat in the vicinity of Balhousie Avenue, he observed a glare coming from the direction of the North Inch. he discovered that the cricket pavilion was on fire and that flames were issuing from the roof at the back of the premises. Other officers soon joined him, and the Fire Brigade was called out, but the pavilion, a wooden structure with brick foundations, was completely ruined before they arrived.

The Perthshire Courier of 29 April 1913 and the Perthshire Advertiser of 30 April 1913 provided more details about the events surrounding the burning down of the Cricket Pavilion.

On the Saturday afternoon before, a considerable number of members occupied the pavilion as the Second Eleven was to play a match against Auchterarder. The rain started to fall about an hour before the game and continued for most of the afternoon. At around 5 o’clock, they abandoned the game. The players left about an hour later, and the Groundsman, Tom Watson, locked up the pavilion about another two hours later.

The Perthshire Courier stated that Constable Keay noticed the blaze around 1.15 am, and Sergeant McLaren and Constable John Scott joined him. The picturesque pavilion was burning fiercely.

The theory that the Suffragettes were responsible was strengthened by a statement made to the City Police on Sunday, 27 April 1913. A gentleman residing in the Grand Hotel for the weekend had occasion to be in the vicinity of the North Inch on the Saturday evening. About 11:30 pm, he was retracing his steps back towards the city centre when he observed, lurking about the pavilion, two ladies and a gentleman, the latter carrying a portmanteau (a large, stiff leather travelling bag that opens into two equal parts). The woman and man, he said, avoided him as he approached, and on looking around, he saw that they had resumed their former place on the walk.

No Suffragette literature was found at the time lying about. In the absence of incriminating evidence, the opinion was held by many that ‘voteless women’ were not responsible for the existing debris.

Note: The Grand Hotel was on the corner of the High Street and Kinnoull Street.

Evidence in substantiating the belief that the Suffragettes were responsible for the fire was that the 25 April 1914 edition of The Suffragette newspaper was delivered by post on 28 April 1914, addressed to Mr A Latto, the Secretary of the Cricket Club. From inside the paper, a postcard fell out. On it was written, ‘Justice before cricket; let the Democratic Government play the game’. There was no clue as to the sender’s identity. The postcard was given to the police.

The Strathearn Herald, 3 May 1913, elaborated, saying that the postcard was addressed in disguised handwriting. Inside the newspaper, there was an editorial comment entitled “Bats, Nets, Bows, and Arrows,” which was marked with crosses made with a blue pencil. This comment was regarding the burning down of Tunbridge Wells Cricket Ground. The postcard wording was printed in a disguised, yet firm handwriting, which was not suggestive of a female’s handwriting.

The Forfar Herald, 3 May 1913, added that Suffragette literature was said to have been found in Hay Street, although none was found at the pavilion itself.

Many historical documents, including scorebooks, photographs, and equipment, were lost in the fire at the cricket pavilion. The club had just decided to redecorate the interior of the building. About forty yards away, the Perth Bowling Club, with its straw thatched roof, was not affected. The pavilion was insured with General Accident for £1,000, and the personal property of members was insured for £250. As a temporary measure, it was suggested that a vacant house in Rose Terrace be rented for use as a clubhouse.

The cricket pavilion, which was opened on 24 May 1894, was regarded as one of the best-equipped clubhouses of its kind in Scotland. The pavilion was rebuilt and re-opened one year later, on Thursday, 9 July 1914, by Lord Kinnoull, who expressed that it was a happy thought to bring off the event during “Kings Week” in the city. The King and Queen visited the town on 8 July 1914.

The Perthshire Courier of 29 April 1913 also reported that currency had been gained from the suspicions of culprits in Perth. In their report, it was stated that on the Saturday before the burning down of the pavilion, an attempt had been made to wreck by burning a handsome stand and paddock situated within the grounds of Scone Palace. It was alleged that militant Suffragettes were seen within the precincts of the grandstand in the afternoon, but their attempt to do any damage was frustrated. The stand was situated about half a mile to the north-west of the palace, recently erected in connection with the Perth Hunt.

The First Disturbance in Perth

The Perthshire Courier of 29 April 1913 reported on the riot that occurred in Perth on Monday, 28 April 1913.

The headline read: Riot in Perth – Suffragettes’ Daring – Ugly Scenes – Police use their Batons.

The article’s opening lines:

Perth, in common with many other city and town in the country, has had little or no experience whatever of the wild doings of the Suffragettes, but the Fair City can now lay claim to the doubtful honour of having witnessed a riot of dimensions unparalleled in the memory of probably the oldest inhabitants of the burgh.

The scenes last night were, at certain periods, appalling. It was not difficult to ascribe the cause of the mob’s excitement.

Early that afternoon, there were indications that the Suffragettes intended to hold an open-air demonstration in the city that evening. For several hours, pavements were chalked with advertisements announcing the Suffragettes’ presence. They were identified as a Miss Parker and Miss Christie from Dundee.

Note: Miss Parker was Frances (Fanny) Parker, WSPU Organiser, 61 Nethergate, Dundee. The other’s identity, Miss Christie, is unknown. It may have been an alias, or possibly Jane Ann Christie, who was associated with the WFL Suffrage Centre, 302 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow. However, another report suggested Miss Christie worked in Dundee, not Glasgow. There is no Miss Christie, Suffragette, recorded or mentioned in other reports in Scotland at the time. It may have been another Suffragette using a pseudonym who did not want to be identified. A possibility was that it could have been someone like Ethel Moorhead. She was the best friend of Fanny Parker and a close friend of Mary Pollock Grant (2nd Riot), the triumvirate of the Suffragette ‘hard core’ in Scotland. Ethel had also lived in Dundee and Lochee since 1900. Ethel Moorhead was not in prison at the time; she had been arrested under the pseudonym of Margaret Morrison. She had been detained (before the 1st Perth ‘Riot’ on 4 February 1913) in Leven. She was convicted and released on license after a two-day hunger strike under the ‘Cat and Mouse’ Act. Ethel Moorhead was considered the leader of the Scottish Suffragettes and the most turbulent. Miss Christie did not come back a month later for the second ‘riot’ in Perth. Fanny Parker stated that she worked in Dundee, but by this time, she had moved to Edinburgh.

Note: The ‘Cat and Mouse’ Act, with this act, the government sought to address the issue of hunger-striking suffragettes through the 1913 Prisoners (Temporary Discharge for Ill-Health) Act. This Act allowed for the early release of prisoners who were so weakened by hunger striking that they were at risk of death. They were to be recalled to prison once their health had recovered, at which point the process would begin again.

At eight o’clock, a horse-driven cab with the ladies seated on the box beside the driver drove up to the High Street Port and stopped at St. Paul’s Church. Heavy rain was falling, and the crowd that had been eagerly awaiting eventualities surrounded the cab. Miss Parker, undeterred by the somewhat threatening attitude of the gathering, at once proceeded to speak. The only words she succeeded in uttering were “Ladies and gentlemen …..” when the crowd started booing and hissing. An egg was thrown, but it missed.

The driver of the vehicle thereupon prevailed on the ladies to resume their seats, and he endeavoured to drive off, but he had not proceeded many yards before the Horse was brought to a standstill by the dense assemblage. The ladies jumped down from the box seat and were immediately surrounded by the crowd, which by this time numbered many hundreds.

Shortly after, a large posse of police, who had expected trouble, arrived with Chief Constable Garrow. The police formed a strong bodyguard guiding the women along the High Street, Scott Street, and Scott Street to County Place with the mob hotly pursuing, shouting and hissing continuously.

A ruse by the police in County Place gave the ladies, followed by the police officers, time to enter a Scone tramway car. The tramway car set off but was stopped by the crowd in the middle of the High Street. The scene was indescribable, and the piquancy of the situation was accentuated by a fire which was at its height in a tenement building owned by a Mr. Thomas Clark at 158 High Street (opposite Perth Theatre). The fire originated in a cellar underneath the stairs and spread to the roof, which was destroyed.

The excitement rose to a fever pitch, and amid the loud hooting, the crowd clustered around the tramcar; it required all the efforts of the conductors and policemen to keep the vehicle clear. During the excitement, the Suffragette ladies remained remarkably calm and collected, coolly glancing at the sea of faces before laughingly whispering to each other.

The necessity of transferring the women to another tramcar arose due to the rails being traversed by a fire hose, with which the fire brigade was busy extinguishing the threatening blaze in a tenement adjoining the Post Office (located on the south side of High Street, at the corner of Scott Street). The occasion was another ugly rush on the part of the street concourse, but it was short through the intervening space between the two cars; the ladies, guarded by the police, were roughly jostled.

Despite the counter attraction of the fire, the crowd still clustered around the tram car. It required the efforts of a large staff of conductors and police to clear the people off the vehicle. At length, the tramcar moved off, strongly guarded by the police. A band of young folks still followed it for almost a mile.

The continued journey was not without a humorous touch. At Bridgend, an elderly lady entered the tram car and breathlessly enquired: “What’s the row aboot?”

A fellow passenger remarked, “Oh, don’t you know, the Suffragettes are in town, and two of them are seated beside you now?” Stark amazement was displayed on the face of the old lady, who gasped, “The bisoms,” and waving her umbrella in the faces of the strangers, she exclaimed, “Oh ye bisoms, if I had you doon at the North Inch I’d tear you limb from limb.” This remark was greeted with great laughter and even tickled the risible faculties of the Suffragettes. “You may laugh,” was the retort of the old lady, “but it’s gaun past a joke too set to fire folk’s hooses. Think shame o’ yersels.”

Upon reaching Fitzroy Terrace (Gannochy), the conductor informed the ladies that they could not travel further without making an extra payment, and accordingly, they left the car at this station. Many young people joined them, and as rain was falling heavily, the walk proved most disagreeable.

Upon reaching Bridgend, the ladies endeavoured to procure a cab to convey them to Perth, and pending the arrival of the proprietor, a press representative obtained a brief interview with the ladies.

“There is nothing wrong with the crowd,” said Miss Parker, as she shook her dripping overcoat. “It was entirely the fault of the cabman engaged by us for the open-air meeting. We told him to take us up to the High Street Port, but when we reached the Square (St. Paul’s Square), a sense of panic took hold of the driver. The cab owner told him to drive away. We had asked the man to stop, but, of course, we did not have the same authority over Jehu as his boss did. We had to leave the cab and were powerless to address the public from the street.

At this stage, the Bridgend cab proprietor intervened and informed the ladies that he was not prepared to give them a cab, indicating that he was afraid that it would be smashed.

“I don’t think it will be,” remarked Miss Parker, “the people are not so furious as that.”

“There are too many of your own sex outside,” observed the cab owner, “and they are worse than the men”.

Thanking the gentleman for his frank refusal, the ladies made their way to enter the street by the main doorway, when the proprietor suggested that they should take their departure by a side entrance. “Oh no!” Miss Parker laughingly made answer. We have nothing to fear. Surely you have not seen many Suffragettes before.”

Walking briskly into town, the ladies directed their course to King Edward Street, walking briskly into town. The ladies arrived, and in a surprisingly short space of time, the large Square in front of the City Hall was thronged with an excited crowd of people.

The Suffragettes first selected the base of the King Edward Memorial as a suitable stance. Still, a more elevated position presented itself nearby in the form of a garden seat, which they hastily occupied. Both ladies attempted to harangue the gathering, but the noisy demonstrations of the onlookers were of such a character that it was impossible to hear what they were endeavouring to say.

Handfuls of mud, several eggs, and garbage were thrown in the direction of the speakers, and several constables were hit in the face. The crowd made ugly rushes, and the ladies were toppled from their seats several times. Miss Christie, on one occasion, got her hat knocked off. Meanwhile, Miss Parker persisted in addressing the throng, but so exasperated did the crowd become that they made a final lurch, and the constables were compelled to draw their batons.

The sight of these weapons, and their judicious handling, succeeded in calming the mob, which, after all and to the credit of Perth, it can be said, was primarily composed of interested and amused spectators who would never have attempted any drastic steps whatever. The hustling which prevailed was only to be expected by a crowd of such character. The younger generation was primarily responsible for the throwing of the missiles.

By vigorously asserting themselves, the police, who had by then finally dispersed the meeting, successfully escorted the ladies to the Station Hotel, where Miss Parker again evinced a desire to address her followers, but ultimately, on the persuasion of the police, who threatened to withdraw their protection altogether, the Dundonians retired into the hotel.

Some missiles were thrown, and one of the small panes above the hotel door was broken. The Suffragettes were soon removed from the hotel to the waiting room at the Railway Station, where, for some time, a large crowd gathered around the entrance. However, as time wore on, they gradually dispersed, and at about 11:30, the ladies left the station in a motor car for Dundee without any further demonstrations.

In the waiting room, the ladies were again interviewed by members of the press. “What is your opinion of the excitement tonight?” he inquired.

“The excitement,” said Miss Parker, “is probably due to the feeling engendered by the burning of the cricket pavilion.”

“Why did you come to the city tonight then?”

“We like to come to Perth,” she said.

“Do you think the burning of the pavilion was the work of the Suffragettes?” asked one of the pressmen.

“Perhaps we cannot deny that we have done it,” she said, with a twinkle in her eye.

The Perthshire Courier concluded their report with, ‘The police are to be congratulated on the tactful manner in which they handled the difficult situation in which they were placed.’ They showed extreme patience with the Suffragettes and the crowd, and even when the position looked ominous, they exercised good judgment and discretion.

Note: A Hackney Carriage cab stand was located at Gowrie Street, Bridgend. Watt and Ramsay, of the Strathmore Hotel, were listed as Hackney Carriage proprietors, and Hugh Dempster, of 41 Main Street, was listed as a cabman, which is the building next door to the Strathmore. Another cabman, John Shepard, lived nearby at 13 Main Street.

Note: In modern English, “Jehu” can refer to a fast or reckless driver, particularly of a cab or coach, stemming from the biblical account of Jehu’s swift chariot driving.

Note: The King Edward Memorial is the Perth Mercat Cross. It was erected in 1913 in memory of Edward VII; it was completed a year later. It was constructed during the construction of the City Hall, which was completed in 1914. The City Hall reopened as the Perth Museum on 30 March 2024.

Note: The police authorities at Ayr established the identity of one woman who attempted to set fire to the Burns’ Cottage in Alloway. Janet Arthur was charged with having, along with another woman, attempted maliciously to destroy Burn’s Cottage on the morning of 8 July 1914. The two women had been surprised by the night watchman in the act of setting fire to a fuse attached to two bombs containing 4 lbs of gunpowder, which had been placed close to the walls of the cottage. Shortly after two o’clock in the morning, his attention was attracted by a noise as of something heavy being laid on the ground outside. On going out of the door on the west side of the cottage, being the rear of the building, he saw two women who had just placed two canisters in the gutter formed by flagstones which surrounds the building. The women made off through the garden, which forms part of the cottage grounds, and the watchman gave chase. He came up with them as they were attempting to get over the garden fence into a field beyond. He succeeded in getting hold of them both, and a violent struggle ensued. One of the women, apparently with the object of distracting the man’s attention, shouted to him to run and take the canisters from the building because they would explode.

The real name of the woman arrested was later revealed to be Janet Parker; she was the niece of Lord Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener. That report was not precisely correct; she was, in fact, better known as Frances ‘Fanny’ Parker, the organiser of the WSPU in Dundee until 1913. Fanny Parker was imprisoned on several occasions for causing property damage. Using the alias Janet Arthur, she appeared in court in Ayr on 9 July 1914, accused of trying to blow up Burns’ Cottage in Alloway. Fanny Parker at court refused to enter the dock and would not recognise the court’s jurisdiction. She shouted a quotation from Burns: “Liberty’s in every blow, let us do or die.” She sang Scots Wha Hae and added, “You Scotsmen used to be proud of Bruce. Now you have taken to torturing women.” A reference to the torture of suffragists in Perth Prison.

At times, she was somewhat violent, and the police had to use force to restrain her, but the Sheriff asked them to be as gentle as they could with her. Fanny Parker was wearing a fawn waterproof coat, a brown skirt, and a blue toque hat, and was of a slim build, approximately 40 years of age, as shown in the picture below. A considerable crowd of people had assembled at the gates of the Ayr County Buildings and witnessed her removal back to prison in a cab, into which she had to be forcibly pushed. She was later force-fed in Perth Prison seven times after going on a hunger strike. News of her condition, she was medically examined and found to be ‘in a state of pronounced collapse’, reached her influential family, who negotiated her release from Perth Prison on 16 July 1914, to a nursing house. Her trial in Ayr was scheduled to take place on 27 August 1914, but it never occurred. World War I had commenced.

Note: Fanny Parker wrote an account of her personal experience in The Suffragette newspaper – Votes for Women, which is available to download at the Scottish Archives for Schools.

Note: On 7 August 1914, following the outbreak of World War I, iconic recruiting posters appeared all over the UK, featuring the image of Lord Kitchener with the words “Your Country Needs YOU.”

The Second Disturbance in Perth

On Tuesday, 3 June 1913, Frances ‘Fanny’ Parker, accompanied by Miss Grant, arrived in Perth to address a meeting in the city. Miss Grant was Mary Pollock Grant, who disrupted a meeting with Lloyd George in Aberdeen Music Hall in 1912 and was imprisoned at Perth Prison.

The Courier, Wednesday, 4 June 1913, reported that it was hinted several days ago that the militant women were to pay another visit to the Fair City. The general opinion was that they should be cautious about coming to Perth after their hostile reception a few weeks ago. Such was not the case, however, and all doubts were set aside when it was made known that the ladies were waiting in the Waverley Hotel until the hour for the commencement of the meeting. Shortly before eight o’clock, the militants left the Waverley Hotel on their way to the High Street Port. They had not proceeded far before they were “spotted,” the crowd recognising Miss Parker as one of the ladies who had visited Perth on the previous occasion with Miss Christie. The voteless women, Miss Parker and Miss Grant, were followed by a hostile crowd from the Waverley to their meeting place. Miss Grant was carrying a brown paper parcel containing a few dozen copies of The Suffragette newspaper.

The Courier said that Miss Christie did not risk another journey to the Fair City, and it was Miss Grant who accompanied Miss Parker that night. Francis Parker wrote to the editor of the Courier, and her letter was published on 5 June 1913.

Sir, when reading your account of our meeting in Perth, I was more particularly struck with the unfairness of one remark about Miss Christie.

Instead of being unwilling to “risk another journey to the Fair City,” Miss Christie was extremely anxious to go. Unfortunately, the evening trains from Perth to Dundee are not convenient, and she would have to take the train at midnight, as she has to be at work at a very early hour in the morning.

Those of us who could stay the night comfortably in Perth, persuaded her to let us go without her, – I am, etc., F. M. Parker, 61 Nethergate, Dundee, 4 June 1913

Miss Parker was the first to attempt to address the meeting, but this lady possesses a relatively weak voice, and her speech could not be heard above the howls and catcalls which came from several youths in the crowd.

GIVES IT UP

Finding it impossible to continue speaking audibly, Miss Parker, in a few minutes, gave way to Miss Grant. Miss Grant continued to succeed for some time, interrupted occasionally by volleys of rotten eggs, orange peel, and decayed vegetables. One of the missiles struck the militant on the face, while the hats of the two women were hit several times. Several small stones were also thrown, and the windows of St. Paul’s Church ran narrow escapes from being broken.

Several rushes were made, but a strong police cordon successfully kept the speakers in check, preventing the angry mob from gaining control. The mob were not quite so hostile as on the previous occasion when the Suffragettes visited the city, although had it not been for the protection afforded by the police, the women would have doubtlessly come in for a rough handling.

A traction engine loaded with about 20 tons of potatoes passed along South Methven Street, and a threat was made to cut the bags and thus obtain ammunition with which to pelt the militants. This idea, however, did not materialise.

This situation continued for nearly an hour, and all the while Miss Grant was speaking, Miss Parker was busily engaged selling copies of the Suffragette, all of which were eventually disposed of. In the course of her speech, Miss Grant stated that she had experienced a hunger strike and had found out it was not all beer and skittles, as some people imagined.

AN EVASIVE ANSWER

At the close of her address, Miss Grant asked if there were any questions, and several written questions were handed up to her by the police. One of the queries ran: –

“Who burned the pavilion?”

To which Miss Grant gave the following unsatisfactory reply, “Would you like to know?” at the same time tearing up the paper and throwing it on the ground.

An ugly scene was witnessed at the close of Miss Grant’s speech. Immediately, the militants got off their perches, the crowd made a rush, but the women were surrounded by the police, who, after considerable difficulty, succeeded in keeping the crowd back.

Amid a shower of rotten eggs, pease-meal, orange peel, potatoes and vegetables, the Suffragettes were surrounded by a strong force of police. Made their way up the Old High Street and were eventually escorted into the Waverley Hotel by the bar entrance in Caledonian Road.

Had it not been for the protection afforded by the constables, the two Dundee enthusiasts would have been literally torn to pieces by the excited populace.

The crowd waited for a considerable time outside the Waverley Hotel, but seeing that the Suffragettes were in safety, they gradually disappeared. The woman spent the night in the hotel and returned to Dundee in the morning.

Note: Miss Grant was born in Partick, Glasgow, and worked as a Church of Scotland missionary in Scotland and India. At the outbreak of war in 1914, she enlisted as a nurse in Dundee, served as a police officer in a munitions factory at Gretna, and then in London, reaching the rank of sub-inspector. She attempted, but failed, to become a Member of Parliament on three occasions in the 1920s. She was educated at the High School of Dundee and in Nordausques, France.

Suffragette Meetings in Perth

The Perthshire Constitutional & Journal, Monday, 23 June 1913, reported that on Friday evening (20th), a Miss Muriel Matters from London, who was Australian born, addressed a crowded open-air meeting in King Edward Street, under the auspices of the non-militant Suffragettes movement, the Women’s Freedom League (WFL). A Mr. J. B. Saunders presided, and Miss Matters, who was described as a charming orator who combined wit with eloquence, had a most attentive hearing, speaking for over an hour on the women’s position in the world and the movement for emancipation.

The meeting was orderly for the most part, although occasionally missiles were thrown; most missed their mark, but one did hit Muriel Matters on the face. After the meeting in Perth, Muriel was presented with an unusual souvenir. Among the missiles thrown at her was a ham bone, which was later inscribed “N.U.W.S.S., Perth 20-6-13” and presented to her. (NUWSS – National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies)

Notes: Later, on 28 October 1913, protests were held at the British Houses of Parliament, outside St Stephen’s Entrance, in the Old Prison Yard, and inside the House of Commons. A symbol of women’s oppression was the “grille”, a piece of ironwork that obscured the view of parliamentary proceedings from the Ladies’ Gallery in the attic. Muriel Matters and Helen Fox chained themselves to the grille. Muriel Matters began loudly proclaiming the benefits of enfranchisement to the elected M.P.s down below. Violet Tillard lowered a proclamation using pieces of string, and a man in the Stranger’s Gallery below threw handbills onto the floor of Parliament. That day, fourteen women were arrested, one of them a seventeen-year-old. Barbara Duval was released after she stated that she would not participate in any further protests until she was 21 (i.e., an adult).

On 26 February 1909, Muriel Matters hired a small dirigible (airship) emblazoned with “Votes for Women” on one side and “Women’s Freedom League” on the other. The intention was to drop 56 lb (25 kg) of handbills on the Palace of Westminster. The airship never made it to Westminster, but it flew all over London, and the flight made headlines around the world.

On Friday, 14 November 1913, in Perth City Hall, a speech was delivered by Thomas Power O’Connor, M.P., P.C. (Privy Council), an Irish nationalist politician and journalist. O’Connor was an M.P. in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland for nearly fifty years. The speech subject primarily focused on Irish Home Rule, and it appears that no women were allowed to participate or ask questions. T.P. O’Connor, described as a distinguished politician, was loudly cheered, having spoken only a few words when he was interrupted by a Suffragette, who shouted, “Why do you support a government ——.” She was promptly ejected.

There were further interruptions, as a woman asked him how he dared address the meeting, and she was also excused from further participation in the proceedings. Later, several men and women were forcibly carried outside, one woman for making a noise, the others for their senseless conduct. The meeting concluded with the audience standing, resounding cheers, and the enthusiastic singing of “He’s a jolly good fellow.”

On Thursday, 20 November 1913, Miss Louisa Lumsden LL. D, a Scottish pioneer of female education, addressed a Women’s Suffrage meeting in the Lower City Hall. Louisa Lumsden became President of the Aberdeen Suffrage Association in 1908. Louisa Lumsden, in her student days, was denied the right to compete for the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Louisa Lumsden was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) by the University of St Andrews at its Quincentenary celebrations in 1911.

Suffragettes at Perth Prison

The Perthshire Courier, Tuesday, 14 July 1914, reported that the Suffragettes, concentrating their attention on Perth, held a demonstration on Tuesday night (7th) to protest forcible feeding.

Miss Muriel Scott, the sister of Arabella Scott, now in Perth Prison, addressed a massive crowd at the High Street Port (outside St. Paul’s church). During a poignant appeal on behalf of her sister, Muriel became so moved that she was compelled to pause for a moment, while many in the audience were also visibly affected. At the close of the meeting, an opportunity was afforded to sign a petition that will be forwarded to Mr. A. F. Whyte, M.P., for the city protesting forcible feeding and calling upon him as representative of Perth to take immediate steps to release Miss Arabella Scott.

Muriel Scott invited her hearers to follow her and her friends to the prison where she was to attempt to see her sister. Followed by about 300 people, the waggonette in which the Suffragettes were seated proceeded slowly towards the Penitentiary. By the time they reached the Edinburgh Road, the crowd had swelled to nearly 2,000 people, with another report stating that several thousand more were present. At the prison gate, Miss Scott again addressed the gathering, and on her call, three cheers were raised and a couple of verses of “Scots Wha Hae” were sung. Thereafter, Miss Scott attempted to ask permission to see the Governor. Her request was refused. Returning to the waggonette, she announced that she was determined to see her sister and would repeat her request at an early date. Miss Scott asked the crowd to disperse quietly, and they did.

The following morning, Wednesday the 8th, an application was made to the Governor of Perth Prison for an interview, and Mr. Grant arranged to meet one of the ladies at 11.45 am. The Governor declined to make any statement and referred the lady to the Prison Commissioners. The lady, as she made her exit from the prison, was weeping bitterly. Some of the prison-protesting Suffragettes had lodgings near the South Inch, close to St. John’s Kirk, and on the Dunkeld Road.

Open-air meetings were vigorously conducted in the evenings; it was suggested that the South Inch had become the Hyde Park of the North. Two members of the cause created a mild flutter of excitement in the King’s Cinema house in South Methven Street. After the first picture, one of the two women rose to her feet and said in a loud voice that while the audience was enjoying themselves witnessing the pictures, several women who were being subjected to forcible feeding in Perth prison were being tortured. The two ladies were ejected, bundled out into the street. Another report stated that after being asked to leave by the manager, they did so quietly, remarking that their purpose was served.

The next day, Thursday the 9th, Lord Kinnoull re-opened the newly rebuilt Perthshire Cricket Club pavilion on the North Inch after Suffragettes had burned it down one year earlier.

On Saturday, 18 July 1914, there was a second interview with Mr. James Grant, the Governor of the Perth Penitentiary. James Grant declined to be drawn into a discussion on the question of forcible feeding by the lady who saw him. The chief prison official, however, consented to hand a bouquet to Miss Arabella Scott, who was serving a nine-month prison sentence at the time.

Outside the confines of the prison, the assistant prison surgeon, the young Doctor Thomas Lindsay, was buttonholed. Still, the ladies gleaned little information beyond the remark that Miss Scott was in reasonably good health and spirits.

The Perthshire Courier, Tuesday, 21 July 1914, reported under the Headline:

The Wily Women’s Ruse – Scenes at Miss Arthur’s Removal – City Member Puts Question in House

Whatever may be said against the Suffragettes now monopolising attention in Perth, they must be credited with courage. A brake containing several persons was being driven from the station to the prison. (The Brake was a horse-drawn prison or police van, known commonly as a ‘Black Maria’)

One of the militant suffragettes followed in a motor car. As the prison gates were opened to allow the brake to pass, the car raced in before the prison warder in charge could see that the vehicle contained a Suffragette. The Suffragette succeeded in obtaining an audience with the Governor.

Night and day, the Suffragettes carried out picket duty at the prison entrance, maintaining a 24-hour vigil. On Sunday, 7 July 1914, when three young girls were engaged in their weary perambulation, several young men made them the butts of their banter. The young girls, one of whom was a girl with her hair still in a plait (braiding), were in no way disconcerted.

In The Perthshire Advertiser of 22 July 1914, the text read: As predicted in our issue of Saturday, the Suffragette invasion of Perth has come to pass. With the advent of the Glasgow Holidays (Fair Holidays), a miniature army of militants arrived in the Fair City.

The Suffragette Newspaper on 31 July 1914 reported that on 22 July 1914, during the evening performance at La Scala Picture House, Perth (Scott Street), when the lights had been turned on after a picture had been shown, a woman rose and addressed the audience, saying, “Friends, while you are enjoying yourselves, forcible feeding is going on in Perth Prison.” She was at once seized roughly by some attendants, one placing his hand over her mouth, and she and her companion were then thrown out with great violence.

Miss Arabella Charlotte Scott was released from Perth Prison on Sunday afternoon, 26 July 1914. Scott was forcibly fed three times a day for five weeks in prison because she went on a “hunger strike”. Arabella Scott had been released on licence from the Calton Gaol in Edinburgh on 8 May 1914, as she was ill following a previous “hunger strike.” On 17 May 1914, she went to London to help with the WSPU campaign against a Liberal candidate in the Ipswich by-election. She was due to return to prison on 22 May 1914 and was found on 19 June 1914 during a raid at a Suffragette house. She was imprisoned the following day in Perth Prison.

Arabella Scott was taken out very quietly from the prison in a closed cab to a house in Charlotte Street, where she could recover. Most likely, it was the home of Katherine MacPherson, LLA (Ladies’ Literature in Arts), who lived at 3 Charlotte Street, Perth. Katherine MacPherson was the wife of ex-Bailie Thomas MacPherson (who requested open-top cars for the Royal visit) and Secretary and Convenor of the Women’s Freedom League (WFL). (Graham & Sibbald, Chartered Surveyors and Property Consultants, currently occupy 3 Charlotte Street.)

The home of Mrs Jessie Crichton was nearby at 7 Charlotte Street. In 1912, she agreed to serve as the local secretary of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU).

Note: Mrs Crichton reported to a WSPU meeting in November 1912 that there had been spontaneous enquiries about membership, work and The Suffragette. On 7 November 1913, the newspaper sold 40 copies a week in Perth, in addition to those sold at meetings. Meetings were held indoors in the Guildhall every month that winter.

Note: The Guildhall was at 102–106 High Street, Perth. The corner of the High Street and King Edward Street. The previous two-storey Guildhall building was demolished in 1907, and today’s three-storey building was opened on 29 August 1908. The hall suffered collateral damage in 1988 due to construction work on an adjacent building and was subsequently sold by the Guild for development. The Guildry Incorporation of the City of Perth used the proceeds of the sale to purchase premises at 5 Atholl Street.

Most of the suffragettes who had been protesting left the city the following day, but it was understood that the campaign in Perth was to continue.

A well-attended meeting was held on the North Inch on Sunday, 26 July 1914. under the auspices of the Perth and District Trades and Labour Council by Mr J. M. Rae, Secretary, presiding. Mr Rae explained that the object of the demonstration was to give the citizens an appropriate opportunity to protest the practice adopted in Perth Penitentiary of force-feeding political prisoners. After reading several extracts from articles by eminent medical authorities, describing the process as forceable feeding as inhuman, torturous and illegal, Mr. Rae said that he was delighted to inform them that Miss Scott had been released from prison. (Applause.)

Perth Trades Council Secretary J.M. Rae stated that the large crowds were now sympathetic to suffragists due to the force-feeding, and that the WSPU staged a 24-hour picket attended by 2,000 people. A resolution, protesting against forceable feeding and calling upon His Majesty’s Government to put a stop to it, was moved by Mr Rae, Mr Hugh Sinclair seconded, and Rev. Pastor Russel supported the motion, which was adopted.

The Suffragette newspaper reported Friday, 7 August 1914, Miss Arabella Scott, the last of the five suffragettes imprisoned in Perth, has fought her way out to freedom. The special campaign is therefore at an end, but several meetings are still held every week. Perth is thoroughly awake on the question of Woman’s Suffrage and the torture practised on the women in prison. The Suffragette had a marvellous sale, and five newsagents are stocking it. Clergy and doctors have been canvassed, and several of the former, Sunday by Sunday offered prayer for the tortured women.

At the same time Arabella Scott was imprisoned, her fellow suffragettes Fanny Parker (1st Perth Riot) and Frances Graves, aka Frances Gordon, were also enduring the extreme forcible feeding torture. Frances Gordon, along with Arabella Scott, broke into Springhall House, a mansion house in Lanarkshire, to set fire to it. Frances Gordon was locked in the kitchen, while the other managed to flee. The police found three-quarter-gallon flasks of paraffin oil, matches, and suffrage literature. At the High Court in Glasgow, Frances Gordon was sentenced to one year’s imprisonment. The High Court’s records mention three women being charged with contempt of court “in respect that they interrupted the proceedings of the Court by shouting and yelling (or by throwing missiles in the direction of the bench)”. The three women refused to give their names to court officials.

During a question raised on Thursday, 16 July 1914, in the House of Commons, the Secretary of State for Scotland said that the prison doctor stated that Francis Gordon had undergone a course of systematic drugging before entering the prison. She was found to be suffering from sickness and vomiting shortly after admission.

Mr F. Whyte MP for Perth asked, ‘Why have all these women prisoners in all recent cases been sent to Perth Prison?’ (Laughter)

The Secretary of State for Scotland replied that the reason is that we have doctors there who are thoroughly skilled in the matter of forcible feeding.

Note: Ethel Moorhead was the first woman in Scotland to be force-fed. The procedure in the Calton Gaol was carried out by Dr James Dunlop, medical adviser to HM Prison Commissioners for Scotland from Morningside Asylum on 21 (or 22nd) February 1914. Dr Hugh Ferguson Watson took over for the next four days (8 times). Watson had volunteered to force-feed Ethel Moorhead. He earned his doctorate less than a year earlier, in 1913, and then assumed the role of medical officer at Peterhead Prison. Ethel was released on licence, suffering from double pneumonia. Watson force-fed Arabella Scott, Mary Richardson, Frances Gordon, Maude Edwards and Fanny Parker.

Three weeks after the release of Arabella Scott, on 10 August 1914, the Secretary of State for Scotland announced that, following the outbreak of World War I, all Suffragette sentences that were passed in Scottish courts were mitigated.

Suffragette protests during the King and Queen’s visit

The Royals were requested to visit in an open-top motor car for a civic reception at the council offices in the High Street, followed by a procession through the city, and then to open the new Perth Royal Infirmary. The municipal, political, and police authorities at the time were concerned about the safety of their majesties due to the possibility of Suffragette disruption. Expected in the city were a goodly number of militant Suffragettes.

Initially, the plan for the royal motorcade was to travel in closed motorcars, the reason given being the climatic conditions. Perth’s former Baillie, Thomas MacPherson, expressed the fervent hope that the King and Queen would graciously see their way to travel through the city in an open motor car, provided the conditions permitted—a concession that they then made, which MacPherson said was greatly appreciated by the citizens.

On the day of the visit, the royal visitors travelled through the city in what was locally reported as a closed-top motor car. Several people who had rented rooms in tenements with a high window outlook were disappointed that they were unable to view the royals. The Scotsman, 11 July 1914, reported that the King and Queen’s motor car was partly open, and Princess Mary followed behind in a closed motor car.

Note: This royal open car tour of Perth, as history later revealed, happened just over two months before the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Queen Sophie, in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. They were travelling in an open-top car. The killing of the Archduke and his wife was the primary cause, the ‘casus belli‘ of World War I.

The presence of militant ladies in the city was a matter of great concern. The Perthshire Advertiser of 8 July 1914 published an article, headlined:

Perth Prepared – Final Arrangements for the Royal Tour – Suffragette Fears – Glasgow Police to be called in

The County and City of Perth Royal Infirmary was opened by King George V and Queen Mary, accompanied by Princess Mary, on 10 July 1914. During the visit, the king was invited to plant a copper beech tree, which still stands at the entrance of the hospital on Taymount Terrace. Before the new infirmary, it was in York Place, now part of the A K Bell Library. During the First World War, the old infirmary was converted into a Voluntary Aid Detachment Hospital for the duration of the war.

The authorities earlier learned that the Suffragettes were to organise their forces for a great rally at Perth on Tuesday, 7 July 1914. They regarded this as a warning to anticipate trouble. In Nottingham, Irene Casey, a well-known Suffragette, had just been sentenced to fifteen months, having been found carrying explosives in the city marketplace just before the arrival of the King and Queen on 24 June 1914.

Earlier that day in Dundee, a Suffragette act occurred in Victoria Road. A young woman dashed out from the kerb and threw a bundle of leaflets at the Royal car. They struck the side of the vehicle and rolled underneath. The Queen and Princess Mary showed some alarm. The princess sank back in her seat, and the Queen raised her parasol as if to defend herself from injury. The footman seated on the left side leaned down and pushed the Suffragette off, who responded by raising her umbrella as if intending to strike the footman. The Suffragette Miss Olive Walton also carried a cane. Attached to it was a piece of paper with the words “Torture and drugging.” She was released that afternoon.

From the railway station to the Royal Infirmary, decorations, streamers and flags were hung without a break in every street. At the station, a large Royal pavilion, draped in white and blue and carpeted for the visitors. The procession left the station by way of Marshall Place and Princess Street.

The pillars of the County Buildings at the bottom of the High Street had been wreathed with evergreens. At St. John’s Kirk, fir trees had been planted, and at the South Street Port, a lighted arch had been erected representing the old town gate. On each side were portraits of the King and Queen. At the entrance to Rose Crescent (from the Glasgow Road), there was a second arch, with electric lights and the legend “Welcome.” Even the tramcars were decorated. The younger school children were assembled at the corner of Marshall Place and Princess Street, the older children at King Edward Street.

In Perth, the first attempt of the suffragettes to attract the attention of His Majesty was made in Marshall Place, where a roll of paper wrapped in a copy of The Suffragette newspaper (1 July 1914) was thrown towards the royal car. It fell short and was picked up by a constable; the incident was said to have passed unobserved by their Majesties.

Then, from a window in North St. Johns Place, a burst rubber ball, which had a piece of paper attached, with the words “To remind his majesty King George V, that women are being tortured because they are demanding freedom.” The ball failed to find its target but was observed by the Queen, who was startled.

At St. Johns Place, a placard was prominently displayed from a tenement window, with the inscription “Visit your Majesty’s torture chamber in Perth Prison.” The lady who lived above, and not a suffragist, drenched the placard with water, which she distributed in liberal quantities from an earthen vessel; one or two ladies who put their heads out of windows had to beat a hasty retreat to avoid a drenching. With the aid of a ladder, a police officer tore down the placard.

The most determined and daring attempt to get in touch with His Majesty was made at South Street Port, where the largest crowd was assembled. Chief Constable Scott, who was sitting beside the chauffeur, warded off the Suffragette who was trying to break the glass of the car windows with his outstretched arm. The woman was just about to touch the door handle when a constable pulled her back before she could succeed.

The crowd in the vicinity of South Street Port assumed a hostile attitude towards the Suffragette, but Scottish Horsemen surrounded her. Afterwards, she was taken to the police station on Tay Street. There, a petition to the King was found on her; this Suffragette from Glasgow was later released.

These last incidents were reported differently by The Scotsman on 11 July 1914. The burst rubber ball was thrown in County Place, where a stylishly dressed woman leaned over a first-storey window and attempted to throw a petition into the Royal car. The roll of paper struck the glass front (wind-shield), falling to the ground and was promptly picked up by a policeman. It continued saying that this interrupter attempted to speak, but a woman at a window immediately above raised much laughter by pouring a jug of water over her head. The object thrown was found to consist of a small India rubber ball, and around it was wrapped a piece of cloth, and then a paper on which was written “To remind His Majesty King George V. that women are being tortured because they are demanding freedom.” It was tied together with a piece of a slight cord in the purple, white and green colours of the Women’s Social and Political Union.

Regarding the placard displayed from a tenement window, The Scotsman reported that a policeman went up the stairway to the house but was unable to gain admittance. A ladder was brought out, and the poster was removed in this manner.

Regarding the Suffragette attacking the Royal car, it was reported that a young lady attired in black rushed out from a point where the crowd was most dense, placed her foot on the step of the Royal car, and vigorously struck the windowpane. The King and Queen were at first startled, but they maintained their composure. The Scotsman of 11 July 1914 reported that the lady was dressed in Suffragette colours, specifically purple, white, and green.

The Perthshire Courier, 14 July 1914, reported that the lady who attempted to board the Royal car was dressed in deep black and a thick veil, giving her name as Rhoda Fleming, aged 27, of 502 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow. This was the name of one of the heroines in the Victorian-era author George Meredith’s novel, which also bore the same title. The Perthshire Courier stated that the book dealt with the sex question; it was more accurately described as exploring the lives of two sisters, Dahlia and Rhoda, as they navigate love, societal expectations, and personal aspirations in their rural Kentish setting. (It is available for free download on Project Gutenberg.)

As Rhoda Fleming was taken to the cells, Helen Crawfurd, who was seated in a corner of the room, asked if she might accompany her. On being refused, Mrs Crawfurd angrily shouted: “If there had been half a dozen drunk men, you would have put them in together, but you won’t let me go with her.”

Another attempt was made in County Place, a hundred yards further on, near the junction with the New Row. Suddenly, two women dashed out from the crowd and made towards the King’s motor car. One of them threw a bundle of papers at the vehicle with the intention, presumably, of depositing them inside the back half of the vehicle, which was lower.

The papers rebounded from the glass window and rolled onto the street, where they were seized by one of the constables. Simultaneously, one of the women jumped on the footboard of the motor, resisting as she did so an attempt by Chief Constable Scott to shove her off. There was a temporary stoppage of the procession, and some sensation was caused as the police attempted to arrest the two women. Angry cries were heard from all sides; it was said that the Royal party scarcely noticed it.

She began to smash the glass window with her fists. Three Glasgow constables, Sergeant Cumming (Eastern Division), Constable Logan (Western Division) and Constable Kerr (Queen’s Park Division) seized hold of her before she succeeded in breaking the glass. She then dragged the handle of the door and was dragged along for a few yards until she was forced to let go.

She was secured by the three constables and marched off to the Police Office, followed by a dense mob of angry spectators. The woman who threw the papers managed to disappear into the crowd amid the confusion. The King and Queen were said to be greatly startled, but outwardly, they remained calm.

At one point, the crowd was so great that as it surged backwards and forwards, several people were forced through a shop window (the location of which is unknown). The sound of glass crashing on the street caused further alarm, accentuating the confusion and adding to the fury of the hostile mob that surrounded the woman being escorted to the Police station.

At times, the escort and mob got dangerously mixed up that horses of the Scottish Horse were faced about, and the crowd gently pushed backwards by the knees of the prancing steeds. After an anxious march, the constables succeeded in getting the women through the swing doors of the Police Office, helped by the soldiers riding their horses up in two lines towards the entrance to ward off the crowd, which was shouting, jostling and scrambling to get near the prisoner.

Within the crowd were sympathisers with the Suffragette cause, who gave vent to indignant cries of protest at the attitude of a section of the crowd, and they ejaculated angry remarks at the police who were escorting the woman. Several of the woman’s friends visited the Police station, and she was liberated at 8 p.m.

Note: During the afternoon, the past hunger striker, Helen Crawfurd (26) from Glasgow, who had been released from Duke Street, Glasgow prison in March 1914, was rearrested under the “Cat-and-Mouse” Act and taken to the Perth Police Office. She was in St. John’s place in the crowd, and in what was described as a pre-emptive strike, she was arrested just before she approached the Royal Procession. On Tuesday, 21 July 1914, The Perthshire Courier reported that Mrs Crawford had been released and had left for Glasgow. Whilst in Perth Prison, is also went on hunger strike but was not subjected to force feeding. Helen Crawford, during the King and Queen’s visit, had been arrested under the 1913 Prisoners (Temporary Discharge for Ill-Health) Act 1913, which was nicknamed and more commonly known as the “Cat-and-Mouse” Act. Helen Crawfurd’s husband had died just over a month previously, on 31 May 1914.

Note: The address in Sauchiehall Street was misprinted; it should have been 302 Sauchiehall Street. This was the address of the Suffrage Centre, opened in 1907 by Teresa Billington-Greig and Charlotte Despard of the Women’s Freedom League (WFL) when they broke away from the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU). The Suffragette Centre had an ‘artistic’ hall, which served as a tearoom, meeting place, lending library, and shop. The Glasgow School of Art is behind it on Renfrew Street. In December 1912, students raided the WSPU premises and broke a quantity of furniture and fittings. Miss Jane Ann Christie said there were about 200 students who arrived just after midday. First, the youths smashed the window, then broke the glass panels in the door. They shouted to Miss Christie to clear out and stole a flag in the Suffragette colours of purple, white and green.

Note: In the evening of the King and Queen’s visit to Perth, the Lord Provost held a dinner in the Station Hotel. Invited to the entertainment, with many toasts to the King and Queen and speeches appreciating the treatment of their subjects, was a company of 120 gentlemen; no women were invited or attended.

Note: The Perthshire Constitutional & Journal 13 July 1914, gave a complete description of the Day’s Proceedings during the Royal Visit to Perth. Under the headline, Notes and Comments, it described the Suffragette getting on the royal car as a minor event: “The suspected suffragette intrusions were of a minor character, and Chief Constable Scott acted wisely in the one who endeavoured to reach the royal car in order to bring a petition before the attention of their majesties.”

Note: During the Royal Visit, no fewer than four burglaries took place. Two in Barossa Place, at numbers 10 and 12, and two on Letham Road. Some pocket-picking issues were reported by those viewing the royal event.

Link: https://madeinperth.org/helen-crawfurd-political-activist-suffragette-and-red-cydesider/

Suffragette Church Protests

The Suffragettes who invaded Perth for the King and Queen’s visit paid a visit to various churches to recite their own prayers for the two Suffragettes who were confined in Perth Prison.

St. Ninians

On Sunday, 19 July 1914, the week before Arabella Scott was released, five suffragettes attended the forenoon service in St. Ninian’s Cathedral. The Suffragettes’ visit was anticipated. According to a report in The Perthshire Advertiser, 22 July 1914, Stewards were positioned at various parts of the building ready to cope with any disturbance, and they did not have to wait long.

Two versions of what happened in St Ninian’s were reported. The suffragettes occupied the pews in the centre of the church, and when the Reverend Provost Smythe had finished reading the first lesson or Matins had just been repeated, two of the suffragettes rose and chanted a prayer, “O God, save Grace Roe, Arabella Scott and all those who are suffering for conscientious sake. Open the eyes of Thy Church to protest against this torture.” The last part was also reported as “Open the eyes of Thy Church that it may understand the spirit of this movement.”

Church officials, accompanied by the verger, approached them and beckoned them to leave, taking hold of one of them by the arm, and remarking that he did not wish to hurt them. Having said what they desired to say, the suffragettes left with no resistance. The other suffragettes then rose and left. The other report said that the ladies who were once ejected complained of rough handling, which Cathedral officials denied.

The Scotsman newspaper, 20 July 1914, reported that the suffragettes alleged that the women were seized with great violence, thrown out of the church, and the door was locked. One man, they stated, showed great brutality, seizing one of the women by the neck and placing his hand over her mouth. The Suffragettes also stated that some of the members of the congregation protested against his brutality.

The Suffragette newspaper, 31 July 1914, reported that Suffragettes were present for a second time on Sunday, 26 July 1914, at the morning service at St. Ninian’s. During the prayers, at the close of the first lesson, they rose and in loud reverent tones prayed, repeating the previous week’s prayer: “O God, save Grace Roe, Arabella Scott and all those who are suffering for conscientious sake. Open the eyes of Thy Church to protest against this torture.” The women were asked to leave, which they did upon concluding their prayer. None of the disgraceful treatment of the previous Sunday was shown to them.

Note: Grace Roe was a prominent Suffragette who was in Holloway Prison, London, at that time, undertaking a “hunger strike” and being force-fed.

St. John’s

The week before, what was described as a somewhat untoward event took place in St. John’s East Parish Church again at the forenoon diet of worship. No fewer than six members of the cause occupied pews grouped in two companies of four and two each. According to The Perthshire Courier, 14 July 1914, the Reverend Mr. Lee had just finished a thanksgiving prayer for the safety and welfare of the Royal family, when four Suffragettes stood up and chanted a prayer for their imprisoned sisters in Perth Penitentiary.

After they had finished, one of the elders stood up as if to proceed in their direction, but the minister gave him a significant look, and no further notice was taken of the incident, which naturally created a little excitement in the congregation and formed the subject of much comment when the service was over.

Note: The 11 May 1559 John Knox sermon, and the sacking of Perth’s religious houses (Greyfriars, Blackfriars, Whitefriars, and Charterhouse), set alight the Scottish Reformation. In the new Presbyterian order, large congregations were divided into smaller units. St. John’s Kirk was split into three churches: East, Middle, and West, each with its own minister. Towards the end of World War 1, a committee was established to restore the building to a single church and to incorporate within it a memorial to those who had lost their lives in that conflict.

St Stephens

The Perthshire Courier, Tuesday, 7 July 1914, reported under the headline:

‘On the Warpath – “Suffs” Interrupt Church Services – Prayers for Imprisoned Sisters’.

The Suffragette who was detailed for duty at St Stephen’s UF (United Free) Church (Paradise Place, off King Street) took her seat well forward in the area. The Reverend Mr Elliot had just concluded prayer, previous to beginning his sermon, when the Suffragette rose and in a reasonably loud voice spoke the words, ‘Oh Lord, hasten the liberation of our sisters in prison’.

She resumed her seat, and although the congregation anticipated that the interruption would be repeated, the Suffragette made no further attempt to take part in the service. The congregation were said by The Suffragette newspaper, 17 July 1914, to be greatly impressed.

St Leonards

The Suffragette newspaper, 17 July 1914, stated that a Suffragette offered up the following prayer during Evening Service at St. Leonard’s U.F. Church in Marshall Place : “O Lord bless and strengthen all who are being tortured in prison for conscience’ sake, and help those who are suffering for their principles.” The Suffragette then left the church, and when outside was insulted by the church caretaker, who attempted to hit her, and also picked up stones, but finally went back to the church. (Known now as St. Leonards in the Fields.)

Suffragette Local Meetings and Protests

Abernethy

The Strathearn Herald, Saturday, 23 October 1909, reported that Mr. Winston Churchill, M.P., addressed a large gathering at Abernethy on Saturday, 14 October 1909. He devoted his speech to the question of the Budget, expressing the familiar to this day choice that the Chancellor of the Exchequer could either tax wealth or wages.

Four Suffragettes who attempted to speak in the vicinity of Mr. Churchill were roughly handled by a hostile crowd and subjected to a fusillade of mud and sods.

The Secretary of Abernethy National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) in 1913 was Miss Williamson, Ochil View, Abernethy, Perthshire.

Dundee

The following Tuesday in Dundee, there were extraordinary scenes of rowdyism which took place at Mr. Churchill’s meeting. A crowd of several thousand gathered in Reform Street and attempted to rush the barricades and police cordon on several occasions, keeping Bank Street clear.

The melee at one time became so serious that the constables received the order to draw their batons and charge. This they did with success. Five suffragettes and two men were arrested and lodged in the police cells. Four of them were arrested in a garret (attic room) which overlooked the Kinnaird Hall, from which missiles were thrown, breaking the roof lights of the building and interrupting Mr. Churchill in his address.

The five suffragettes were fined £2 each, or ten days in prison, for creating a disturbance. They went to jail, declaring their intention of going on a hunger strike and resisting being fed by force.

Note: In the 1908 by-election in Dundee during Winston Churchill’s campaign speech at Blackness factory, Mary Molony, “the belle with the bell,” of the WFL famously rang a bell to drown him out. His meeting had to be aborted. Mary Molony’s real name was Horatia Dorothy Moloney Lancaster, although she was born Horatia Charlotta O’Connor. Her surname was sometimes spelt Maloney or Moloney.

Note: As a young man Churchill argued: As a young man he argued: “I shall unswervingly oppose this ridiculous movement (to give women the vote)… Once you give votes to the vast numbers of women who form the majority of the community, all power passes to their hands.”

Note: In November 1909, Adela Pankhurst was arrested for “breaking the peace” along with three others for interrupting a talk by Winston Churchill at his constituency in Dundee. Pankhurst slapped a policeman trying to evict her from the building. She was imprisoned for ten days in Dundee Prison, and although she went on a hunger strike, she was not forcibly fed.

Note: Ethel Moorhead pelted Churchill with an egg during a political meeting in 1910, while another Suffragette jumped into his carriage at Tay Bridge Station and harangued him.

Note: Suffragettes made attempts, it is believed, on Thursday, 26 June 1913, to set fire to the contents of eight post pillar boxes in Dundee.

Note: Farington Hall, Perth Road, Dundee, was reduced to ruins following an arson attack at 11 pm, Friday, 9 May 1913. The Chief Constable of Dundee received a copy of the newspaper, The Suffragette, with a handwritten message which indicated that the burning of Farington Hall was a response to ‘British tyranny’ and the actions of ‘Asquith and company.’

Blairgowrie

The Strathearn Herald of 18 September 1909, reported on:

Suffragettes at Blairgowrie – Their Fighting Tactics

On Tuesday afternoon, Mrs Pankhurst and the Hon. Mrs Haverfield, two of the militant suffragettes, addressed meetings at Blairgowrie.

Questions were invited, Mrs Blair-Oliphant of Ardblair, asked Mrs Pankhurst, “if she did not think militant actions had gone far enough. Was it necessary to continue them?”

Mrs Pankhurst replied, “That she was absolutely satisfied that if they stopped, the whole interest in the women’s suffrage would go down. The members of the Cabinet were the only people they were fighting, and they were only a handful of men; but if the agitation were stopped tomorrow, the Government would prophesy that the whole thing had come to an end.

They did not want to go and shoot down their opponents, or throw bombs at them, or do anything of that sort, and the only alternative was to suffer themselves or allow others to suffer. When men wished their wrongs righted, and could not get a hearing, the first thing they did was to break one another’s heads.

The suffragists would be only too glad to stop their tactics tomorrow if the Government gave way and told them they were to get the vote.” (Applause)

Another meeting was addressed by the same ladies in the Public Hall in the evening.

Notes: Mrs Emmeline Pankhurst was back in prison on 8 July 1914. In Holloway Prison, London. Under a new rule, she was stripped and thoroughly searched; this was because Suffragettes had tried to smuggle in an emetic (which induces vomiting) to Grace Roe. Mrs Pankhurst was greatly offended by this and was charged with being abusive and using offensive language towards the matron. After being subjected to this humiliating degradation, only indigestion pills were found. Mrs Pankhurst continued to resist and went on a hunger strike. On 11 July 1914, she had become so poorly that she was released on a four-day licence under the terms of the “Cat & Mouse” Act. Re-arrested again on 17 July 1914, she was so weak that she was released on license. At the end of July, she escaped Britain to avoid being sent back to prison. On 1 August 1914, in St. Malo, France, she was part of the crowd that gathered to hear the mayor of St. Malo read Germany’s declaration of war against France. She notified her WSPU headquarters in London to halt all activity until the crisis was resolved.

Note: The Representation of the People Act, passed in 1918, gave some women the right to vote for the first time in Britain. For the first time, votes were given to all men over 21, and some women over 30, about 40%. It would take another 10 years for women over 21 to be given the vote; the Representation of the People Act 1928 extended that right to women aged 21 and over.

Note: In 1918, government minister Lord Cecil admitted in Parliament that the age limit was introduced to prevent women from being the political majority: “That is the reason why the age limit of 30 was introduced… for fear they might be in a majority in the electorate of this country.”

Longforgan

The Perthshire Courier, Tuesday, 25 November 1913, reported that the Suffragettes made their appearance for the first time at a political gathering at Longforgan on Friday night.

William Young M.P. (Liberal) was addressing a large meeting of his constituents. The Chairman, anticipating trouble, remarked that one of the duties of the Chairman was to maintain order, and, as for interruptions, would not be tolerated.’ (Applause.) ‘He did not think, he said, that anyone would admit that it was polite, lady-like, or gentlemanly to interrupt a meeting.’

Mr. Young had scarcely completed his first sentence, in which he maintained that he had always done his best to represent the views of his constituents, when a young man rose to his feet and asked: “Why did the speaker not denounce forceable feeding?” The interrupter was hustled to the door with more speed than ceremony.

The Chairman expressed the hope that there would be no further necessity for ejections. And Mr Young said it was very regrettable that anyone should be compelled to descend to such methods to defend a cause, even if he believes in it.

A woman spoke: “Is it good enough?” She was also ejected with haste, while the Chairman ejaculated, “Gently, gently.”

A member of the audience appealed for a fair and square hearing for Mr Young, who replied that “this further incident having been satisfactorily dealt with, we may now perhaps proceed.” (Laughter)

Within a minute, however, there was a further interruption, a woman rising and shouting: “Do you consider it your duty to support a government which forcibly feeds women and tortures them?” She was also ejected.

Continuing, Mr Young said, ‘he would like to draw attention to what had been done by the Government since they came into power.’

Another woman said, “They have cheated women, that is what they have done. We are waiting for them to do some good to women.” A burly agriculturist carried her out.

The Chairman said, “I hope we will proceed now without further interruptions. This is scandalous, and I am really vexed to see it.” Mr Young said: “I ought to consider myself highly honoured to receive such marked attention from the very charming and cultured ladies.” (Laughter.)

The week before, William Young M.P. presided over a meeting in the City Hall, Perth, on 17 November 1913, under the auspices of the Scottish League for opposing Women’s Suffrage. Amongst the many speaker replies, a Mrs Colquhoun stated, “that a great deal of domestic legislation came through the Imperial Parliament, but contended that men’s interest were women’s interest. Men also had a right, she said, to control children as well as women.”

In conclusion, a resolution was moved, “That in the opinion of this meeting the grant of Parliamentary franchise to women would be neither in the interests of women nor the state.”

Epsom Derby

The Perth incidents were just two months before the horrific fatal incident of a Suffragette at the 4 June 1913, Epsom Derby Horse race, sometimes referred to as the ‘Suffragette Derby’. The 134th running of the Derby was overshadowed by the death of Suffragette Emily Wilding Davison, who ran out in front of the King’s Horse, Anmer. With a Suffragette flag in her hand, she tried to grab the reins of the Horse. It trampled her, and she was fatally injured. She died four days later, never regaining consciousness. Newsreel footage of the incident was available within days from British Pathé. It was shown in cinemas, including the Empire Picture and Variety Palace (formerly the Empire Music Hall) in South Methven Street, about three days later, on 7 June 1913.

Note: In May 1914. The Empire Picture and Variety Palace later became the King’s Cinema. On the night of 22/23 July 1914, it caught fire and almost a hundred square yards were reduced to ruin. No suggestion is known of Suffragette involvement.

Note: Emily Davison was arrested for Suffragette protests on nine occasions. She was sentenced and imprisoned in Holloway, London and Strangeways, Manchester. She went on hunger strike seven times, was force-fed 49 times, and once, when she barricaded herself in her cell, she was hosed with water for a quarter of an hour. Emily Davidson’s last arrest and imprisonment was in November 1912 (before the Epsom Derby), when she attacked a Baptist minister on a stationery train at Aberdeen station. She had mistaken the man for David Lloyd George, who went on to become Prime Minister in 1916.

All the Suffragettes arrested were granted amnesty when World War 1 was declared.

References

Close, Ajay, A Petrol Scented Spring, Sandstone Press (Dingwall), 2015, ISBN 978-1-910124-61-1. (This is a fictional account, but the story is rooted in actual events and describes in graphic detail the barbaric suffering of the suffragettes in prisons)

Leneman, Leah, The Scottish Suffragettes. Edinburgh: NMS Publishing Ltd., 2000.

Leneman, Leah, Martyrs in our Midst. Dundee: Abertay Historical Society, 1993.

Leneman, Leah, A Guid Cause. The Women’s Suffrage Movement in Scotland. Aberdeen: Aberdeen University Press, 1991.

British Newspaper Archive.

Research by Ken Bruce