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The Suffragette (newspaper)

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The Suffragette
The Suffragette memorial issue to Emily Wilding Davison, 1913
EditorChristabel Pankhurst
Annie Kenney
CategoriesNewspaper
FrequencyWeekly
Circulation17,000
PublisherVictoria House Printing Company
First issue1912
Final issue
Number		20 December 1918
271
CountryUnited Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
Based inLondon
LanguageEnglish

The Suffragette was a newspaper associated with the women's suffrage movement in the United Kingdom, as "the Official Organ of the Women’s Social and Political Union" (WSPU). It replaced the previous journal of the organization, Vote for Women, in 1912, and its name changed to Britannia after the outbreak of World War I.[1]

History

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Until 1912, Votes for Women, edited and financed by Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence and Frederick Pethick-Lawrence, 1st Baron Pethick-Lawrence,[2] was the official newspaper of the WSPU. The Pethick-Lawrences were expelled from the WSPU in 1912,[3][4] as they objected to the militant tactics that were beginning to be used by suffragettes, and thereafter they published Votes for Women independently.[5][6]

The replacement WSPU newspaper, The Suffragette cost 1d,[7] and was initially edited by Christabel Pankhurst, daughter of Emmeline Pankhurst.[8] The first issue was published on 17 October 1912,[8] and The Suffragette's business manager Agnes Lake often liaised with Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst about improving the publications content and layout during its run.[9]

Princess Sophia Duleep Singh lived in a grace and favour apartment in Hampton Court Palace and had a pitch outside where she sold The Suffragette.[10] Copies were also sold at public events like the Henley Royal Regatta in July 1913.[11] In 1913, a memorial issue was released commemorating the death of Emily Wilding Davison.[12][13]

Sophia Duleep Singh selling The Suffragette outside Hampton Court Palace.

On 30 April 1913, the newspaper business manager Agnes Lake was arrested alongside Beatrice Sanders, Rachel Barrett, Harriet Kerr and Flora Drummond, in a police raid of the WSPU headquarters.[14][15] On 2nd May 1913, Sidney Granville Drew, the managing director of Victoria House Printing Company who printed the newspaper, was arrested.[16] Another subsequent printer, Edgar Whitely, was also arrested and was charged for inciting people to commit crime and join the WSPU.[7] All of the copy being set up for printing was seized by the police.[17] To avoid arrest, editor Christabel Pankhurst fled to France, but continued to provided editorial lead to The Suffragette through visitors such as Annie Kenney and Ida Wylie who crossed the Channel for her advice.[18]

Annie Kenney and Christabel Pankhurst, editors of The Suffragette

After the raids on the WSPU headquarters and the publishers,[17] The Suffragette was temporarily published by the printers of the Daily Herald,[2] then outside of London by the National Labour Press in Manchester and the Scottish Newspaper Company in Edinburgh.[17] Several news publications condemned the government raids on the newspaper and it's publishers, such as the Manchester Guardian, the Nation, and even Votes for Women.[17]

At the outbreak of World War I, in September 1914 Christabel Pankhurst returned to Britain and the Suffragette newspaper was renamed Britannia on 15 October 1915.[19] The paper supported the war effort, advocated to pause the campaign for women’s suffrage,[1] and called for the military conscription of men and industrial conscription of women into national service. It published articles covering the skills of "women munition makers" and encouraging women to study science and engineering.[20]

A women's suffrage activist handing out The Suffragette newspaper to British servicemen on 16 April 1915

When the Representation of the People Act 1918 was passed, Britannia produced its final copy on 20 December 1918.[1]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c Loudermelk, Shana (2018). "Vote for Women / The Suffragette / Britannia (1907-1918)". Towards Emancipation? Women in Modern History Digital Exhibition and Encyclopedia, History Department, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Retrieved 18 January 2025.
  2. ^ a b Chapman, Jane L. (15 March 2013). Gender, Citizenship and Newspapers: Historical and Transnational Perspectives. Springer. pp. 124, 148. ISBN 978-1-137-31459-8.
  3. ^ Harrison, Brian (6 January 2011) [23 September 2004]. "Lawrence, Emmeline Pethick-, Lady Pethick-Lawrence (1867–1954), suffragette". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/37846. Retrieved 21 January 2025.
  4. ^ Harrison, Brian (6 January 2011) [23 September 2004]. "Lawrence, Frederick William Pethick-, Baron Pethick-Lawrence (1871–1961), politician". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/35491. Retrieved 18 January 2025. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  5. ^ Cowman, Krista (9 December 2010). Women in British Politics, c.1689-1979. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 62. ISBN 978-1-350-30703-2.
  6. ^ Holton, Sandra; Purvis, June (4 January 2002). Votes For Women. Routledge. p. 126. ISBN 978-1-134-61064-8.
  7. ^ a b "The Suffragette Newspaper". The National Archives. Retrieved 18 January 2025.
  8. ^ a b Purvis, June (6 January 2011) [23 September 2004]. "Pankhurst, Dame Christabel Harriette (1880–1958), suffragette". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/35375. Retrieved 21 January 2025.
  9. ^ Purvis, June (18 January 2018). Christabel Pankhurst: A Biography. Routledge. p. 101. ISBN 978-1-351-24664-4.
  10. ^ "Duleep Singh, Princess Sophia Alexandra (1876–1948)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/1010955. Retrieved 18 January 2025. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  11. ^ "Selling The Suffragette newspaper at the Henley Regatta". Topical Press Agency. Retrieved 18 January 2025 – via Google Arts & Culture.
  12. ^ Patrick, Adele (2017). "Glasgow Women's Library". In Willems, Noortje; Bultman, Saskia; Holla, Sylvia (eds.). Gender and Archiving: Past, Present, Future. Yearbook of Women's History, vol. 37. Uitgeverij Verloren. p. 87. ISBN 978-90-8704-651-4.
  13. ^ "Emily Davison: A Life Overlooked". Medium. 25 October 2024. Retrieved 21 January 2025.
  14. ^ Crawford, Elizabeth (30 April 2013). "WALKS/Suffrage Stories: The Raid On WSPU Headquarters, 30 April 1913". Woman and her Sphere. Retrieved 18 January 2025.
  15. ^ Crawford, Elizabeth (2 September 2003). The Women's Suffrage Movement: A Reference Guide 1866-1928. Routledge. p. 751. ISBN 978-1-135-43402-1.
  16. ^ Simpkin, John (August 2014). "The Suffragette". Spartacus Educational. Retrieved 18 January 2025.
  17. ^ a b c d Tusan, Michelle Elizabeth (2005). Women Making News: Gender and Journalism in Modern Britain. University of Illinois Press. pp. 176–181. ISBN 978-0-252-03015-4.
  18. ^ Atkinson, Diane (8 February 2018). Rise Up Women!: The Remarkable Lives of the Suffragettes. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 436. ISBN 978-1-4088-4406-9.
  19. ^ Larsen, Timothy (2002). Christabel Pankhurst: Fundamentalism and Feminism in Coalition. Boydell Press. p. 9. ISBN 978-0-85115-905-8.
  20. ^ "The Suffragette Newspaper". IET Archives blog. 19 October 2017. Retrieved 21 January 2025.
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