Simon Webb counters popular view in his book The Suffragette Bombers: Britain s Forgotten Terrorists
He claims history has been kind to Emmeline Pankhurst and the other leaders of the movement
He argues that they carried out a widespread and sustained bombing campaign across the country
Activists also carried out arson attacks, including on tea house at Kew Gardens in Richmond, West London
Countess Markievicz, the fierce Irish revolutionary of the 1916 Rising, cultivated her romantic image by fusing a flair for theatrics with her great heart, earning forever a place in Ireland’s history and imagination. Constance Georgine Gore-Booth was born into County Sligo aristocracy, married into Polish royalty (hence the “Countess”), and was immortalized in poetry by W.B. Yeats who likened her to a gazelle. More a comet than a gazelle, Constance – once presented before Queen Victoria as “the new Irish beauty” – was, in 1916, sitting in Kilmainham Gaol, condemned to death by firing squad for “waging war against His Majesty the King.”
1 IT WAS the night of March 1, 1912, and 148 people were arrested in London for smashing shop windows. Amongst them were Glasgow suffragists Margaret McPhun and her sister Frances, members of the Women’s Social and Politican Union who used the slogan ‘deeds, not words’. The Glasgow Times’ sister newspaper The Herald, ran a snippy column from its London correspondent describing the actions of the women and their fellow campaigners. “The militant suffragists have smashed dozens of windows in the west end,” it said. “A more stupid exhibition of hysteria we have seldom seen.” 2 Margaret, born in 1876, and Frances, born in 1880, were the daughters of Bailie John McPhun, a timber merchant and a councillor in the city’s East End, who helped found the People’s Palace. Both women attended the University of Glasgow, Margaret studying psychology and Frances studying political economy. The sisters were both members of the University’s suffrage union and they joined the
Readers letters
Published:
8:30 AM December 19, 2020
A pair of barn owls were once reported to live in Canonbury Square
- Credit: PA Archive/PA Images
People Friendly Streets benefit our animals too
Simon Izod, Islington, full address supplied, writes:
Last week as I was walking along the newly implemented People Friendly Streets in Canonbury West, I saw a cat cross a road, which until recently was dominated by motor traffic. I thought about how many cats’ lives have ended unnecessarily early due to the dangerous road conditions they have confronted.
It led me to realise that as someone who has been campaigning for People Friendly Streets, I have had in mind the benefits to human beings and been forgetting the benefits to animals and plants.