Womens Suffage

History

Women's Struggle for Emancipation, 1906-1914

Question 1 – Read the leaflet, The Case of Mrs Pankhurst

A) The leaflet, The Case of Mrs Pankhurst was published by the WSPU. On the bottom of the leaflet there is an address of where the leaflets can be obtained from and the purchase price. In reading the leaflet, the way it is written and the points that are highlighted, make me believe it was made to try to gain public support for the movement and to maybe even gain more members. It shows Mrs Pankhurst as hero of the movement, who has been badly treated by the Government and the Cat and Mouse Act in her many visits to prison. Being explained as “most devilish form of torture, that has been expressly devised for women”. The leaflet also gives a message and asks for the support of its members against the way the Cat and Mouse Act is being enforced and the way Emmeline Pankhurst was treated, “The members of the WSPU will not allow it; they dare the authorities to lay a finger on their beloved leader again ! They call upon those in the suffrage movement to rise as one woman, and protest against this abominable cruelty”.

B) This leaflet was written and printed close to the time and I would consider it to be a primary source of information and a reliable one. It contains true fact and dates and is quite an informative piece of writing. Being a WSPU leaflet though and printed and written by them, it has been dramatised slightly and written in a way as maybe to gain public favour and to rally support for their cause. It is a factual piece, but one I would say that has been written with some bias towards the women’s movement.

C)   To put a date to the leaflet, I would say it was produced in the last few months of1913. The main points addressed in the leaflet, the Cat and Mouse Act and the death of Emily Davison both happened in that year. The later being the death of Emily at the Derby in Epsom on the 4th June 1913.

Question 2 – Read the letter from...