Suffragette Movement
In Memoriam Miss Emily Wilding Davison, B.A. Philp [sic] & Sons, [June] 1913. 12mo, single bifolium printed in black with photograph of Davison in scrollwork roundel. With a cutting from the Montreal Family Herald June 25 1913, headline 'Militants declare they are prepared to die to get vote'. Intriguingly, there is a piece on the reverse about a copycat incident at Royal Ascot by a disturbed man called Harold Hewitt, who appears not to have had a connection to the WSPU.
At the 1913 Derby, Emily Davison entered the racetrack and seized the bridle of the King's horse, Anmer. She suffered terrible injuries and died a few days later. Despite opprobrium amongst the wider populace, this propaganda piece very deliberately aligns Davison's death with martyrdom. Its rhetorical flourishes position her almost as a second Christ, a human sacrifice for the benefit of all. Although modern historians question whether Davison intended to commit suicide, the narrative of the noble death for a higher cause became a powerful rallying symbol for the Suffrage movement.