Emily Davison

File:Emily Davison.jpg

Emily Davison

Emily Wilding Davison (11 October 1872 — 8 June 1913) was a militant women's suffrage activist in the King George V's horse Anmer at the Epsom Derby on 4 June 1913, and died four days later.

Biography

Suffragette, Emily Wilding Davison memorial issue of the newspaper edited by Christabel Pankhurst

Davison was born in Blackheath, London, the daughter of Charles Davison (of Morpeth, Northumberland) and Margaret Davison (of Longhorsley, Northumberland), with two sisters and a brother, and many half-siblings (from her father's first marriage) including a half-brother, retired naval captain Henry Jocelyn Davison, who gave evidence at her inquest.

She was a good performer at school and had a university education, having studied first at Royal Holloway College in London; unfortunately, she was forced to drop out because her recently widowed mother could not afford the fees of £20 a term. She then became a school teacher in enough money to study English Language and Literature at St Hugh's College, Oxford, and obtained first-class honours in her final exams, though women were not at that time admitted to degrees at Oxford. She then obtained a post teaching the children of a family in Berkshire and joined the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) in 1906, and immediately involved herself in their more militant activities.

She was arrested and imprisoned for various offences, including a violent attack on a man she mistook for the Chancellor of the Exchequer, David Lloyd George. She went on hunger strike in Strangeways Prison and was force-fed. In Holloway prison, she threw herself down an iron staircase as a protest. She landed on wire netting 30 feet (10 m) below, which saved her; however, she suffered some severe spinal damage.

Commemorative plaque in the Palace of Westminster

On 2 April 1911, the night of the 1911 census, Davison hid in a cupboard in the Palace of Westminster overnight so that on the census form she could legitimately give her place of residence that night as the "House of Commons". Tony Benn MP placed a plaque there to commemorate the event. The 1911 census documents that were uncovered state that Emily Wilding Davison was found 'hiding in the crypt' in the Houses of Parliament.

In 1913, she planted a bomb at Lloyd George's newly built house in Surrey, damaging it severely.

Fatal injury at the Epsom Derby, 1913

Davison falling to the ground unconscious after being struck by Anmer.

Davison's purpose in attending the Derby of 4 June 1913 is unclear. Most say that she was trying to put a suffragette poster on a horse, but misjudged it and was hit full on. Much has been made of the fact that she purchased a return rail ticket and also a ticket to a suffragette dance later that day, suggesting that martyrdom wasn't her intention. A possibility of her reason for entering the race track was that she was trying to attach a flag to the King's horse, so when the horse crossed the finishing line it would quite literally be flying the suffragette flag. Evidence for this was that she had supposedly been seen in the weeks before stopping horses in the park near her house. However, this is only one of many theories.

Pathe News captured the incident on film, showing her stepping out in front of the horse, Anmer, as it rounded Tattenham Corner, with Davison carrying the banner of the WSPU. But instead of stopping, Anmer knocked her to the ground unconscious. Eyewitnesses at the time were divided as to her motivation, with many believing that she had simply intended to cross the track, believing that all horses had passed; while others reported that she had attempted to pull down the King's horse.

She died four days later in Epsom Cottage Hospital, due to a fractured skull and internal injuries caused by the incident. Herbert Jones, the jockey who was riding the horse, suffered a mild concussion in the incident, but was "haunted by that woman's face" for much longer. In 1928, at the funeral of Emmeline Pankhurst, Jones laid a wreath "to do honour to the memory of Mrs Pankhurst and Miss Emily Davison". In 1951, Jones was found dead by his son in a gas- filled kitchen. Anmer returned to racing.

Commemoration

Emily Wilding Davison's funeral, June 1913

Davison is buried in the church yard of St Mary the Virgin, Morpeth in a family plot, her father having died in 1893. The cemetery is close to Longhorsley, where she had lived with her mother. The funeral attracted a large crowd. Her gravestone bears the WSPU slogan, "Deeds not words". A funeral was held in London on 14 June 1913 and her coffin was brought by train to Morpeth for burial on 15 June.

Legacy

It is possible that in attempting to advance the cause of women's suffrage, Davison damaged it. By some accounts, Davison's act at the Derby so horrified those in charge that they were even more against giving women the right to vote: if a highly educated woman was willing to do what she did, what could society expect of less-educated women? Giving the vote to women might plunge Britain into bedlam.

She is the subject of a song by American rock singer Greg Kihn, whose elegy "Emily Davison" is included on his first album, 1976's Greg Kihn.

External links

• A transcript of the Morning Post, June 5 1913, describing the incident that led to Emily Davison's death.
• History Learning Site Bio
• Writer Barbara Gorna on Women's Parliamentary Radio claiming Emily's death to be a tragic accident not suicide
• Picture of the plaque placed by Tony Benn in the House of Commons
• Film of the 1913 Derby, showing the collision (at approximately 4:02).